Many of us that grew up in the Church are used to the bright, happy, and welcoming side of worship services. After all, those are the characteristics that draw outsiders into our world. So when the psalmists lament, and instruct us to do the same, it can be quite jarring to some in the Church. After all, who wants to hear others grumbling, complaining or mourning in Church?
First off, what is lament? Ryan Higginbothom defines it as, “A lament is a prayer expressing sorrow, pain, or confusion. Lament should be the chief way Christians process grief in God’s presence.” Lament is our means to process grief, sorrow and pain in the presence of our Creator.
COVID stole many things from us. There was a few months in 2020-2021 that brought my community to its knees. We lost so many well-loved men and women of God. And, to add insult to injury, we were not able to properly say goodbye to them through the usual methods of sick bed visits, meals for the families and even public funerals. We corporately lost so much during that time, many privately lost much more.
Personally, one of the hardest losses was a former Worship Pastor in our area, Brother Charles. He was so beloved by so many. I remember getting the phone call from his wife that he had tested positive and was being admitted to the hospital. Being in his 80s, it did not take the illness long to progress to the more serious stages. Finally, he ended up in hospice care. I was the last person to visit with him before he passed away later that night. I prayed over him as he was ushered to Jesus. I will never forget that sweet time with Brother Charles. Shortly after his death, the family held a private service and his children moved his sweet wife out of state the next day. An entire community of believers were robbed of a goodbye to either of them. We had to grieve without the catharsis that a public funeral provides.
During this period of grief, I started to study the laments written in the Book of Psalms. I started to identify with the emotions displayed by the writers of these great prayers. I saw the brokenness present in their lives and became overwhelmed with the brokenness that inundates our world today. It seemed the more that I studied and prayed, the closer I felt to the Almighty. During this time, God healed my heart, and I grew in my faith as a follower of Jesus.
Laments are a powerful tool in the arsenal given to the believer. They are a beautiful picture of the relationship between the Divine Creator and the limited created. So much of our world is wrapped up in negative emotions. So many face grief, hunger, loss, pain and sorrow on a daily basis. Many carry those traumas in and out of Church each Sunday without an understanding of how and why we are to bring those issues to the Throne. Even Jesus lamented. All you have to do is read Luke 19 as Jesus weeps over Jerusalem and the people that He loved.
As Worship Leaders, we do so much to teach our congregations about Praise and Worship. We sing the latest and greatest songs, we strive to put on a fantastic show meant to draw participants in, and we often look and act the part. However, we are neglecting our duties to lead our worshippers to the Throne of Grace, even in the hard things. We are often placing our own heartaches on the back burner every time we step on stage. We ignore those broken parts of us while we set a false example of a superficial worship. Biblical worship isn’t always shiny and happy. We are a broken people serving a perfect God. If we look at the Psalmists, much of their worship was wrapped in sorrow, grief and pain. They felt alone. They felt forsaken. Many in our congregations often feel the same.
As Worship Leaders, what kind of example are we setting to the hurting and lost if we do not incorporate lament into our public and private worship?
I know this thought is scary. Incorporating corporate lament goes against everything we know as worship planners. If you want to scare your Senior Pastor, go tell them you have planned a worship service around public lament. Watch the twinge of fear flash in their eyes as you bring up sackcloth and ashes.
However, there is a place in worship for corporate lament. I am not arguing for every worship service to include a time of lamenting. However, brokenness should be present in every worship service, and every now and then, we should take the opportunity to corporately guide our congregants through the process of lament. We should instruct them and lead them through a time of lament, displaying our own brokenness and need for a Savior in the process.
If you are unsure how to begin to approach corporate lament, there are many great resources available. Many break down the patterns displayed in different Psalms. I personally like the 4 stages of lament detailed by The DiscipleMakers. They are address, complaint, request and trust. However you choose to incorporate lamenting into your worship, please do so authentically. So much is lost in worship when we choose to wear the mask of fake contentment. Lead by example. After all, Jesus did.
As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?” These things I remember, as I pour out my soul: how I would go with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God with glad shouts and songs of praise, a multitude keeping festival. Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. My soul is cast down within me; therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Mizar. Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls; all your breakers and your waves have gone over me. By day the Lord commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life. I say to God, my rock: “Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?” As with a deadly wound in my bones, my adversaries taunt me, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?” Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.
Psalm 42, ESV
Sources
The DiscipleMakers – https://www.navpress.com/sites/thedisciplemaker/2021/09/how-to-cry-out-to-god-the-4-steps-of-lament/#:~:text=The%20psalmists%20most%20often%20move,%2C%20request%2C%20expression%20of%20trust.
Ryan Higginbothom – https://openthebible.org/article/biblical-lament-what-it-is-and-how-to-do-it/#:~:text=Lament%20is%20a%20direct%20expression,to%20Him%20but%20our%20needs.
Earnest Worship 