A time to lament, as we wait with hope

Opinion column

A time to lament, as we wait with hope

As Lent draws to a close, Matthew Price explains why the grieving and reflecting often associated with Easter Saturday can be a productive time

This Lent at St Mary Magdalene church we have been working our way through the book of Lamentations. It’s not been an easy journey. At times the poet’s lament has felt unrelenting and some of the imagery cast is pretty gruesome to dwell on. But it has been a significant time for me personally and, I think, for our church too
 
As it says on the tin, Lamentations gives us both space and voice for lament. The poet is brutally honest with God about his emotions, crying out to God, even raging at God. And reading it, these past few weeks, has challenged me as to whether there is space in my relationship with God for the emotion of lament. When I look around at the brokenness of the world, especially reflecting at this time on the Holy Land or Ukraine, and when I recognise again the brokenness in my own life, do I go to God with my feelings?
 
As Psalm 62:8 puts it, do I “pour out [my] heart to him, for God is our refuge.” Or do I, as it were, put on my British stiff upper lip as I relate to God. Even Jesus cries out to God in lament – as he approaches Jerusalem and mourns over it or in the garden when he pleads with his Father to take the cup from him. But, if I am honest, lament has not been a regular feature of my spirituality and it is often not part of our worship as a church
 
Second, even out of the darkest pit, the poet of Lamentations is able to remind himself of the Lord’s goodness. Jerusalem has been destroyed, after a terrible and lengthy siege. Yet, against what might seem all the odds, the poet actively calls to mind the compassion and faithfulness of God (3:22-23) and in an extraordinary jump in chapter 5 the poet goes from the desolation of Jerusalem (5:18) to the truth that the Lord is still reigning and his throne endures from generation to generation (5:19)
 
It’s a timely reminder that whatever we are experiencing, this is not the end of the story; ultimately, we’re in a story in which there’s hope. For the Christian the last thing is never the worst thing. If God was in control on Good Friday then he was in control today too, whatever we are facing.
 
But lastly, it is significant that Lamentations doesn’t end at 5:19. In verse 20, the poet is back in darkness, he’s wailing and crying out to God again. As the commentator Chris Wright says, the poet is in Easter Saturday. Easter Day has not yet dawned
 
And maybe that’s where you are now? Perhaps you can relate to Job who goes around and round? This is not time to tritely to say, “all things work together for the good of those who love God” (Romans 8:28) and move on. Maybe we need to grieve and lament for now. But we must remember that God is sovereign and that is how we wait patiently with hope
 
Reading Lamentations is not for the faint-hearted, but my experience this Lent has it has been good for the soul and the dawn of Easter Sunday will be all the brighter because of it!

The Revd Matthew Price is Vicar at St Mary Magdalene Church in Gorleston and the Bishop of Norwich’s Adviser for Urban and Estates Ministry