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| Mourners, Pran Nath Mago, 1947 (National Book Trust, India) |
It is said that American Christians struggle with laments. We like our religion to be positive and uplifting. I understand why. We often go to church when life is difficult, hoping to be inspired, but there are times when we need to be in a community where it’s okay to weep. We need places where it’s okay to share our concerns as well as our joys, a place where we can acknowledge that there are things happening in our world that trouble us.
Because we are a religious community, when bad things happen to other religious communities, we’re affected as well. We can empathize with them. So, when news came last Sunday that a man drove his truck into the front of the LDS church in Grand Blanc, shot and killed four members, while wounding eight others, before setting the church on fire, we feel their pain. Next time it could be us. There were also two other mass shootings that day, one in North Carolina and the other in Texas. These kinds of tragic events can cause us to ask: Where is God in this? While prayers are important, sometimes we need to add our tears as well.
Fortunately for us, there are passages throughout the Bible that give us permission to weep, lament, complain, and ask God tough questions. As the preacher in Ecclesiastes puts it: “There is a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance” (Eccl. 3:4). Yes, there is a time for everything, even lamenting what is happening in our world.
While it’s unlikely that Jeremiah wrote the poems and prayers that form the Book of Lamentations, they do reflect the kinds of messages he delivered to the people of Judah. This is why this week’s reading from Lamentations falls right in the middle of a series of lectionary readings from Jeremiah. I will draw on one of those readings from Jeremiah in next week’s sermon.
Like Jeremiah, the Book of Lamentations focuses its attention on the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BCE. Both Jeremiah and the author of these prayers lamented the destruction of Jerusalem along with the fall of the kingdom of Judah. The first lament begins by crying out: “How lonely sits the city that once was full of people.” What was once a bustling city had become a ghost town after the Babylonian army breached the walls of the city and set it aflame. So, like a widow, the city “weeps bitterly in the night” because there is no one to comfort her.
While the author of Lamentations grieves over the destruction of Jerusalem, we may have similar feelings when we suffer losses and feel as if there’s no one there to comfort us. We might even feel as if our friends have become our enemies. We might feel like life is out of control and we don’t know how to respond. It might be the political divisions and uncertainties at home or the many conflicts raging abroad. We may feel estranged from friends and family because of political and religious differences. So, like that widow, we may find ourselves weeping bitterly.
I realize my sermon this morning may feel a bit dreary, but don’t worry, before I close the sermon, I will share a positive word. But before we get there, we need to give ourselves permission to grieve our losses.
Every biblical passage has a context. This reading is no different. Even if Jeremiah didn’t write these poems, he also wept over the destruction of Jerusalem and the exile of its people in the sixth century BCE. Things began to turn against Jerusalem around 600 BCE when Nebuchadnezzar attacked Judah, exiled its king, and put in his place a puppet king. When that puppet king rebelled, Nebuchadnezzar had his army finish the job. They captured and burned the city while carrying treasure and a bunch of exiles back to Babylon. When that happened, no one came for the religious festivals, while the priests groaned at their situation. So, you can understand why the residents of Jerusalem and Judah might feel betrayed and abandoned, even by God. Yes, while Judah’s enemies prospered, Zion lost its majesty. When you read these verses, you can hear and feel a sense of hopelessness.
I already mentioned last Sunday’s attack on the Mormon church in Grand Blanc. But there are other reasons to weep and lament. There is the ongoing war in Ukraine that is now in its third year. Then, a few days from now, people in Israel will mark the second anniversary of the October 7th massacre, while the people of Gaza face insurmountable odds as the Israeli military continues its attacks that have killed tens of thousands and essentially destroyed Gaza’s infrastructure. Then there is the government shutdown that makes life uncertain. So, all across the globe, people feel like they’ve been caught in the middle of an ongoing nightmare. We respond by weeping bitterly about the state of things, while wondering where we might find a word of hope.
While this morning’s reading from the first chapter of Lamentations doesn’t end on a positive note, if we jump to the third chapter, we will find that word of comfort. In chapter 3, we find another lament, but right in the middle of it, we hear a word of comfort. In verses 19 through 23 the poet offers this promising word that we can take hold of as we navigate our sense of loss.
19 The thought of my affliction and my homelessness is wormwood and gall!
20 My soul continually thinks of it
and is bowed down within me.
21 But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope:
22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,
his mercies never come to an end;
23 they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness. (Lam. 3:19-23)
Even though their beloved city and its Temple lay in ruins, creating a sense of despair, a word emerges about the steadfast love of God. The faithfulness of God is great. Despite everything happening around us, there is room for hope because God is both loving and faithful. This may be a slender thread to take hold of, but it stands as a lifeline for those who put their trust in God.
The best place to experience this steadfast love that never ceases is in the community of faith. Even if at times we feel abandoned by God and even our friends and family, we can find strength in the body of Christ. In his discussion of the body of Christ, which is made up of many members, but one in the Spirit, Paul offers this word of encouragement: “If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it” (1 Cor. 12:26).
Although we aren’t celebrating the Lord’s Supper this morning, for obvious reasons, this is World Communion Sunday. World Communion Sunday is celebrated across the globe as a reminder that as followers of Jesus, we’re connected to one another as we share the bread and cup at the Table of the Lord. When we gather at the Table, we do so in anticipation of that heavenly banquet the Book of Revelation speaks of. Although Christians still haven’t figured out how to completely overcome the divisions that keep us from celebrating the Lord’s Supper with all our siblings in the faith, this meal continues to serve as a witness to our oneness as the Body of Christ. As we struggle to figure out how to share Christ’s meal together, it is good to remember that there will come a time when we all gather at the same table in fellowship with one another because of the steadfast love and faithfulness of our God.
With this promise in mind, I wish to share this word from William McClain who connects our future with the message of the Table:
When we begin to understand that our future is tied to the future of the city, we will welcome the strangers (foreigners, visitors) and invite them to gather with us around a common table, a community bound by a common Creator, Redeemer, and Host! And the table will be the “Welcome Table” that my grandmother believed in and sang about. In these in-between times, it is a table where all of God’s children can gather around in one Communion, at a common earthly meal as a rehearsal for the eschatological banquet. [Preaching God’s Transforming Justice, pp. 412-413].
Yes, it is good and right to grieve what has been lost, but it’s also important to hold fast the promise that God’s love is steadfast and that God is faithful. We do this every time we gather together at the welcome table that Jesus established as a reminder of the love expressed for us in the cross and in the resurrection.
The author of Lamentations wept because his beloved city had become a ghost town. He also found hope in God’s steadfast love and faithfulness. May we do the same?
As for the prophet Jeremiah, who also wept over the destruction of Jerusalem and the nation of Judah, it is good to remember that he also offered the people living in exile from their beloved city a word of hope. So, next Sunday, we’ll explore that word of hope when I preach from Jeremiah 29, where the prophet tells the people living in exile to settle in by building homes and praying for the welfare of the city where they lived in exile, because it is in the welfare of that city that they will find their welfare. But more about that next week!
Preached by:
Dr. Robert D. Cornwall
Pulpit Supply
First Presbyterian Church (PCUSA)
Troy, MI
Pentecost 17C
October 5, 2025
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