Reading Psalm 137 (especially the last verse) confronts us with a reality that we generally ignore when we are in church. Created in God's image, we have a wide range of emotions going on inside us. Yet we sometimes feel as if we have to keep all the negative ones bottled up inside to ourself.
Who would ever say publicly in church something like, "Happy is...he who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks!" What!? I can hear someone respond instantly by asking, "How could we even think something like that!? We are supposed to love our enemies!"
Well...an unspoken assumption in most of our corporate worship times is that the only legitimate expressions of worship are positive and joy-filled. Thus, in class we explored the appropriateness of LAMENT in our gatherings. Instead of just having conversation about a praise team, what if we also worked to have a lament team?
Even though this brings a little bit of laughter, I wonder how (and when) we could seriously entertain the idea of encouraging lament among us.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION:
- What would it look like to have a corporate lament service? Have you ever experienced this?
- Based on a closing question in class, do we need to reconsider what we do in our funeral services? How so?
- Why do you think most people are so uncomfortable with sharing any discontent about God with others in church?
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