Lament... such an integral part of the Christian faith. Where have you gone lament? Where have you gone!?

The church has sidelined and ignored the one true expression for a fallen world. Placed at the back of the closet and told, "We won't be needing this any more." I feel its time to pick lament back up, dust it off, and push the church back into a healthy reality.

As much as we'd like to push pain and suffering out of our 'worship' settings within the church, we simply can not. We exist within a fallen world... God knows it... we know it... so let us not ignore it. Tragedies are taking place daily, and our response is a heartless "Trust the Lord" or "God works all things out for good." Now I am not saying that God is not good, surely He is the very essence of goodness. Nor am I saying that we should not trust God, there is none more trustworthy. I am saying that the Christian response to grief, pain, and suffering is more times heartless than loving.

Pain and suffering begs an embrace. Both from the one dwelling in it, and those situated around it. Suffering and searching souls must express their anguish. Injustice, sin, and the rest of the dark powers of this world need to be acknowledged and called by their right name. How can you ask for help if you don't recognize that there's a problem? Once we've expressed our sufferings, pains, sins, and wrong-doings... it is then that we can cry out to God for His Strength, Forgiveness, Healing, Freedom, and Grace.

Lament... cry out... and then you can truly profess, with a pure heart, that God is Good, Trustworthy, and Mighty to Save. Lament simply cannot remain stagnant... otherwise our worship turns to nothing but a shaking fist... and there we will sit... steeping in a pool of our own bitterness... suffering all the more. Lament must not be ruled by emotion, yet we should certainly not ignore it. Lament must move, must progress... saying that "even though things aren't alright right now, I will trust in You." Lament is the essential acknowledgment that we are not home yet. Praise is the exclamation that we can't wait to get there.

Lord, teach us what it means to lament. Show us Your Heart and give us Your Perspective in the midst of our sufferings. Teach us to respond with a pure and loving heart to those hurting around us. Lord, let us give place to lament once again, that our hearts might be changed, that it might be well with our souls, that we will praise You honestly in Spirit and in Truth. We long for Your Kingdom and Reign Father... You are the best place to be.