As I have been pondering the events of the last few weeks here in my own home church and processing the pain and the confusion I have come to ponder on what it means to lament. Dictionary.com defines a lament as: 1) To fell or express sorrow or regret for, 2) to mourn for or over. The Bible is full of examples of both kinds of lament. The first definition is a lament in a reactionary sense. One such example is in 2 Samuel 12 vs. 1-13. David’s sin with Bathsheba had been found out and Nathan was ferreting out all the details. David than expressed regret and said “I have sinned against the Lord” (vs. 13)

So often our lament is like that of David. We sin and we sin, we wrestle with it and we try to get rid of it. What happens though is that God eventually does get his hands on us and presses us to repentance. The second type of lament, to mourn for or over is much less common, but I believe it needs to be practiced more, and that God has called His people to his purpose and that we must lament and grow.

When Job was being oppressed, he and his friends lamented. (Job 3: 11-13) As best as Job could tell he had done nothing to bring this calamity onto his family. He was your average God fearing man. When everything that the Lord allowed to happen took place he lamented and mourned not because he had done anything wrong, but because God had removed his hand of blessing. We, as a church body, need to make sure that we are mourning like Job and not like David. It is easy to internalize the sins of our leader and make them our own, but we can not. God is calling us higher and higher, not into the depths.

As a body of believers it is time to put on the sacloth, it is time to pour dust over our heads, and to mourn and lament collectively as a body. Friends need to reach out to friends, fathers to sons, pastors to the flock and so on.

Here is the great news that we all need to hear straight from the book of Lamentations:

22 Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed,for his compassions never fail.23 They are new every morning;great is your faithfulness.24 I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him."25 The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him,to the one who seeks him;

Let us make sure that as we lament, that we are seeking the Lord in his dwelling place. We can not become self consumed and focus on our own sin and anger. It is now that we as a church must lament in a way that finds Jesus. If we lament and mourn together we will find greater strength and humility and blessings, just as Job did after he lamented.

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