Lenten Reflection and Psalm 137 on Ezekiel 40
God’s people experienced a season of exile – in which many were sent away from their homes; the temple was destroyed; an enemy was in power of their land. In this time, God’s people wondered, among MANY OTHER questions, things like: How long will this last? Where is God? How can we be God’s people in this context?
Exile is an experience of being separated from your home – not just the place where you live but the places and people that help you be YOU, your most complete and authentic self. Exile is a time of being separated from those you love – from family, friends or community. Exile is a season of having the world as you have known it completely disrupted by forces out of your control, leaving you with no solid idea of how to get back to “normal.”
Although many of us have spent A LOT of time at home over the past year, many of us also have been experiencing a sense of loss. We haven’t been able to go to familiar places, gather closely with those we love, or worship in our church together. We’ve had to think about how to adjust to the disruptions in our life, how to adapt as individuals and as a community, how to preserve a sense of who we are and whose we are.
In the Bible, God’s people spent time in Exile offering a Lament – they cried out to God in sadness or anger or confusion to name their sadness, pain and even experience of injustice. They knew that God could handle it. But they also had confidence that God would hear them and that God was good. They trusted that God would right the world’s wrongs and renew their hope in God’s promises.
This week we will explore the spiritual practice of Lament together – reading a Psalm of Lament, praying our problems and our hopes. We will also name this season of loss and hope creatively, by painting a rock that symbolizes our absence from our church building, but the unity of our church family nonetheless. We hope you will bring your painted rock to ELPC for our outdoor Palm Sunday Processional, as our stones will be placed in the Sanctuary on Easter morning – a visual representation of the steadfast reality of our unity in Christ, even in a season of feeling scattered.
This Week’s Spiritual Practice: Prayer of Lament
Ezekiel was a prophet who preached during the time of Israel’s exile in Babylonia. From atop a mountain, God gave him a vision of Jerusalem and of the rebuilding of the Temple there, a prophesy that provided great hope and blessing for the Israelites. His vision of restoration and of a future was desperately needed, as the Israelites were lamenting the destruction of Jerusalem:
“By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down and there we wept when we remembered Zion…How could we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?” Psalm 137
Lament is a form of sacred prayer that can be found throughout the Bible, from the book of Lamentations to the Psalms to the words of Jesus as he hung on the cross. This week we will seek to name some of our deepest pains and bring them before God as we write and address our laments to God, trusting that God hears us and welcomes our honesty and boldness. Laments generally include 4 sections: Name and describe the grievance or concern and express this to God, affirm one’s faith in God’s love and mercy, call upon God to act, and restate your confidence in God’s faithfulness and sovereignty.
Rather than being a list of complaints, the lament offers a means to express the kind of sorrow or pain that comes from events or experiences that are out of our control and that seem irreparably damaged. Instead of surrendering to anger and paralyzing grief, the act of lament enables us to name the grief and to acknowledge that the Kingdom of God is not yet a reality in our daily life. We know God is loving and just, but we also know that pain is part of the human experience. Consider the opening verse of Psalm 13:
“How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?”
Yet even amid such pain, one who laments before God does so as an act of faith in God and also as an affirmation of one’s relationship with our ever-present God. We boldly name the injustice and pain, and we dare to ask for God’s comfort and help. Biblical lament often includes a statement of trust that God will change the situation or right the injustice, which one might call the “But…” moment. After the vivid description of one’s grief comes the recognition of one’s reliance on and affirmation of God’s faithfulness. The “But…” moment later in Psalm 13 puts it this way: “But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord because He has dealt bountifully with me.”
And finally comes the confident call upon God to act with grace, as in Psalm 10: “Rise up, O Lord; O God, lift up your hand; do not forget the oppressed.”
Try writing your own lament, referring to the 4 sections outlined above.
1) Name your pain or concern:
What is the pain upon your heart this day? What troubles your soul?
How does this affect you? How does it make you feel?
If you were sharing these emotions with a dear friend, how might you describe them?
2) Affirm your faith in God’s love and mercy:
What experiences in your past remind you of God’s faithfulness to you?
What evidence of God’s glory and sovereignty do you see in others or in nature?
What Scripture passage brings you encouragement and hope?
3) Call upon God to act:
What do you want God to do?
What specific outcome would you like God to direct?
How can you make this request in the most honest and trusting way?
4) Close your lament with a statement of assurance that God has heard your petitions and that you trust God to act with mercy and justice, or perhaps voice the new hope and strength you’ve received through your “conversation” with God.
Additional Lent Resources
To read this week’s Facing Systemic Racism resource, terrarium instructions, and focus for families with teens please check out the entire Lenten Devotional here.
Families with children can follow along with the Sunday School at Home curriculum that follows the themes and activities as our all church devotional.