Words of Welcome

  Mourners, Pran Nath Mago, 1947 (National Book Trust, India) Lamentations 1:1-6 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 a...

Lamentations 3:22-33 I don’t think I’ve ever preached from this book of poems called Lamentations that sits between Jeremiah and Ezekiel.  Jeremiah and Ezekiel spoke for God during the time of exile, offering both words of judgment and hope.  Although tradition suggests that Jeremiah is the author of these poems, that’s rather unlikely, but it’s clear that they were written during the exile.  They speak of that day when the people of Judah watched the Babylonians destroy the city of Jerusalem and  its Temple, and then carry off its king and the leading members of society into exile. These were trying times and so a book of Lamentations seems appropriate.   Although we may not use words like “lamentations” or “lament” very often in our daily speech, because they have a variety of meanings they can be useful words.   Lament can mean “I’m sorry.”  I’ve done my share of this kind of lamenting. It can also refer to mourning or gri...