Lament Can Be Healing

We enter the world with a cry of protest and we don’t stop crying after birth. To cry is to be human.  The Apostle Paul shares in Romans 8.22 that even the creation groans because of a world infected by brokenness.  Sorrow is a part of the human experience.

The other day my Canadian friend, Pastor Matthew Brough posted a good video giving people permission to “feel how you actually feel” and remember that there is a God who is with us and loves us dearly.  

The Bible talks about people of faith as having their own unique way to express our sorrow called lament.  Over a third of the Psalms are laments as is the entire book of Lamentations.  Lament is a form of prayer that shares the pain we are experiencing with a trustworthy God.  In lament we cast our fears, anxieties, frustrations and sorrows on a God who is big enough, loving enough to take it.  

Read Psalm 13 which has the 4 essential elements of lament:

1. Turn to God.
2. Bring Your Complaint.
3. Ask For Help.
4. Chose To Trust. 

Lament is one of our prayer languages.  To cry is human….to lament is to cry out as a person of faith.  

Creating A Lament Bulletin Board:

So what are your laments during this unique time of crisis?  

1. Use the comments section below or find this on our Facebook page to create a Lightshine Church Lament Bulletin Board.  And together we will hold each other in prayer!

Open Hand or Tight Fist?

The big question seems to be; Is there enough toilet paper to go around.  Judging by the amounts of it I've seen recently in cars, vans, and shopping carts, the answer seems to be 'no'.

Now.....before you think I'm on my high horse, let me assure you, I'm not!  I've got my own issues, believe me!

According to the toilet paper companies themselves, there is no shortage at all.  The stores aren't out of toilet paper because there isn't enough to go around (there is actually plenty).  The stores are out of toilet paper because people are buying up far more than they need.

The other day, I saw a 15 passenger van filled with hundreds of rolls of toilet paper and case upon case of bottled water.  I took out my phone to take a picture saying to myself, "Now that'll preach", but I felt guilty and put my phone back in my pocket.  Maybe they had a family of 30 and I'm just being a jerk, but somehow I doubt it!   

When we buy more than we really need, we fall victim of the myth of scarcity.  The myth of scarcity says that the world is like a pie with a finite number of pieces.  The myth of scarcity always says that there isn't enough for everyone so I need to get my share and then some before it's all gone and I miss out.    

The Scriptures and the toilet paper companies both want us to know that there is more than enough for everyone if we would just chill out.

The great theologian Walter Bruggemann says that the Bible starts out in Genesis, chapter 1 with a liturgy of abundance (read it); a song of praise for God's generosity.  The world created is called good, even very good!  

The longest creation poem, Psalm 104 (check it out), serves as a commentary on Genesis 1.  The Psalmist surveys creation and names it all.  

Verse 27-28 are almost a table prayer:

These all look to you

   to give them their food in due season; 

when you give to them, they gather it up;

   when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.

It could read today, "You give toilet paper to all because you love them".  

I was struck by the open hand (metaphorically speaking).  In giving good gifts, God open's up God's hand.  When we are open handed (not tight fisted), God fills us with good things.  We are open handed when we are ready to receive a gift, BUT we are also open handed when we give a gift away!  

The Psalm ends encouraging us to not worry, to not succumb to fear because God... is.... reliable.  The fruitfulness of the world is guaranteed because there really is more than enough if we are willing to open up our hands. 

But the truth is that we can (and do) mess up God's good thing.  We can 

take.....use....grab....possess.... hoard....and make a fist! 

We can consume more than what we really need.  I may not have done this with toilet paper, but like I said, I did it with other things!  A quick look in the mirror reminds me that I too am susceptible to the myth of scarcity just like I am the CoronaVirus.  My actions show that I don't always believe in a world of abundance and a reliable and trustworthy God.  That's why I need to remind myself and re-read Genesis 1 and Psalm 104 so that the truth of generosity makes it's way out of my life and not the lies that tell me to grab what I can.

If God is utterly reliable and the world is filled with abundance then it is we, who aspire to live out the way of Jesus, who will have to open up our hearts and our hands (to freely receive the gifts of God and then freely give them away).  A release of sorts will have to take place.  We will have to surrender our tendencies to grasp more in order to ensure that there is more than enough to go around.

Do you struggle with the myth of scarcity?
What helps you to open up your heart and your hands?
How might you practice generosity today?

Comment below.

Peace to you all.

Rob D.

  

“For a moment, I expected the impossible. And then it happened.” by Shay McReynolds

Where are you?

Wild winds whipping up against a desolate landscape. Cold skies and a raging heart. You have been uprooted. Torn from the comfort of the ordinary, you have been exposed.

But do not go blind.  Look around you. The air is clearing. There are dolphins swimming through the rivers inside Venice. There are people who can suddenly see stars. You have never seen a magic quite like this inside the world. Did you know that it has been here all along?

You are laid bare, but be brave. Ships are always safest in a harbor, but that’s not what they’re meant for. Live boldly. Raise your words, and not your voice. Speak kindly and remember there is nourishment in stillness.

Look at our world, now the mother of exiles. How she harbors each of us—give me your tired, your poor. Give me your hungry and your burdened. Give me the sorrows of a changing face, beneath a galaxy of windswept stars.

Do not go deaf.  Else we must roust you with the loudness of our song. Else we must come unto you like storms and wash you of your fears so that then, finally, you will learn to love the rain. A seed must crack before it can begin to grow, and storms make trees take deeper roots. Remember, light cannot exist without the darkness.

Our lives here are sublime. As are the lives of those who’ve come before how they’ve departed, leaving wisdom in their wake. Are we too evolved for learning? Too impassive for new growth?

Do not go quiet. Isolation isn’t loneliness, and fear is just another opportunity for love. Hate and anger, they are chased away by kindness, and despair is just another word for hope.  What matters at the end of the day isn’t the storm, but rather how well you withstood it, and the person you became.

Breathe in your courage, and exhale your fear. Because this is the part where you find you who you are.

Mission Statement of the Church

At Lightshine we say, Gather Well, Scatter Better.

Covid-19 has changed the way that we gather (at least temporarily).  No more public gatherings for worship.  For a people driven by fear, this could be very scary.  No more worship?  NOPE......we can still worship, just not on Sunday's at 10:30 together at the YMCA like we are used to.  But we are not a people driven by fear, but by hope.

The question is: can we still gather in new, innovative ways?  Can we still be a worshipping community?  I believe that we can.  Can we continue to scatter better?  We know that we can.

Acts 1:8 gives us the mission statement of the Church.  Luke writes,

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’"

Jesus could easily say today, "You will be my witnesses in Thousand Oaks, Westlake Village, Agoura Hills, Oak Park, and Newbury Park".  Covid-19 doesn't change the mission of the Church because our mission is to join God on God's mission.  Father, Son, and Spirit send the Church to join in this witness; the witness of Good News.  The love of God in Jesus Christ is Good News and needed in these moments, perhaps more than ever!

In this time of unprecedented need, the opportunities for being Christ' witnesses in our neighborhoods and community abound.

How will you live out the mission statement of the Church today?  When you do this, you will scatter better!

Let's share with each other concrete ways that we will commit to God's mission in our communities!  The mission statement of the Church from Acts 1:8 is a call to BE who we already are....we are witnesses to God's love in Jesus Christ.  Fear can paralyze us but mission can get us moving again!

Peace to you all.

Rob D.