Perhaps few of us doing daily Bible reading begin with the book of Lamentations. Maybe it's time. Perez' article on grief last night appeared to resonate with many readers. She's "new" to me and serves as chaplain at Muhlenberg College. Below is another article from her. Some days ago I published Sam's lament on not being able to gather. Perez again is on target with her reflections on lament.
by Kristen Glass Perez
The word lament can be used as a verb (to express sorrow, mourning, or regret) or a noun (wailing, crying out in grief).
In the Hebrew Bible, the book of Lamentations is made up of five poems that express grief over the destruction of Jerusalem and exile of the people in 586 B.C. (The Harper Collins Study Bible, by Lemke. Lamentations (1: 1-3; 4).
The destruction is described in 2 Kings 25:8-21:
“So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine became so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land.” (vs 3-4)
Warner E. Lemke writes, “Lamentations is a unique literary composition addressed to the survivors of the destruction of Jerusalem and designed to help them come to terms with the realities and implications of that catastrophic experience. It has been suggested…that these poems were used in public rites of mourning.”
In 2020, we are again in a time of public mourning where we find ourselves navigating new identities and new ways of being. The coronavirus (COVID-19) global health crisis has forced us to reconcile many things that we thought were stationary: borders, jobs, symptoms of illness, essential employees, access to medical supplies and resources for help and comfort.
Physical and social distancing takes a toll on our bodies, minds, and spirits. The Biblical tradition of lament does not jump to easy answers but rather lets us sit deeply in the shock and awe of upheaval. It is a necessary part of the collective grief process.
A lament for coronavirus (COVID-19):
A reading from the book of Lamentations (1: 1-3; 4)
How lonely sits the city
that once was full of people!
How like a widow she has
become,
she that was great among the nations!
She that was a princess among
the provinces
has become a vassal.
She weeps bitterly in the night,
with tears on her cheeks;
among all her lovers
she has no one to comfort her;
all her friends have dealt
treacherously with her,
they have become her enemies.
The roads to Zion mourn,
for no one comes to the festivals;
all her gates are desolate,
her priests groan;
her young girls grieve,
and her lot is bitter.
In his biography of Frederick Douglass, in commenting on the Civil War, (the War Between the States, the war to end slavery,) David Blight writes "War possesses an awful logic and causes a psychic drama like few other human experiences." P. 359 He is correct.
A viral pandemic also "possesses an awful logic and causes a psychic drama like few other human experiences." It's interesting to contemplate life after the pandemic when there is no guarantee that we will be among the survivors. What's the logic when a 106 year old man survives while young, middle aged and elderly succumb? Lament indeed!
"for no one comes to the festivals;
all her gates are desolate,
her priests groan;
her young girls grieve,
and her lot is bitter."
Grief is to be lived through and lament is a way of doing that.
Takk for alt,
Al
that once was full of people!
How like a widow she has
become,
she that was great among the nations!
She that was a princess among
the provinces
has become a vassal.
She weeps bitterly in the night,
with tears on her cheeks;
among all her lovers
she has no one to comfort her;
all her friends have dealt
treacherously with her,
they have become her enemies.
The roads to Zion mourn,
for no one comes to the festivals;
all her gates are desolate,
her priests groan;
her young girls grieve,
and her lot is bitter.
In his biography of Frederick Douglass, in commenting on the Civil War, (the War Between the States, the war to end slavery,) David Blight writes "War possesses an awful logic and causes a psychic drama like few other human experiences." P. 359 He is correct.
A viral pandemic also "possesses an awful logic and causes a psychic drama like few other human experiences." It's interesting to contemplate life after the pandemic when there is no guarantee that we will be among the survivors. What's the logic when a 106 year old man survives while young, middle aged and elderly succumb? Lament indeed!
"for no one comes to the festivals;
all her gates are desolate,
her priests groan;
her young girls grieve,
and her lot is bitter."
Grief is to be lived through and lament is a way of doing that.
Takk for alt,
Al
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