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Lenten devotions 2008

MARCH 18 - GIVE VOICE TO LAMENT FIRST
By Krista Ehst, a senior Bible and religion major from Bally, Pa.

SCRIPTURE: Jeremiah 31:1-6 (NRSV)
Scroll down for complete Scripture.

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DEVOTIONAL:
During our spring break tour to the east coast, the Goshen College Women’s World Music Choir gave many concerts filled with exuberant songs of joy and praise. When singing with this large group of women, I often felt as if I had been given a glimpse of Jeremiah’s hopeful vision of taking up our tambourines and going forth “in the dance of the merrymakers.” It was nearly impossible to resist the contagious joy that flowed from our combined voices and harmonies.

One of our most powerful pieces -- the one that left entire audiences in awe-filled silence and often brought many of us to tears -- was a Pakistani lament called Khudaya, rahem kar. It was this haunting Kyrie, this piercing cry for Christ’s mercy, that reminded me that, along with (and perhaps before) the naming of our joy, we must also give voice to our pain and suffering.

Ultimately, we are called to be people of hope and faith. We are drawn towards this vision of settling on fertile hillsides of peace and creating joyful music with our brothers and sisters around the world. But as we strive towards that vision, I believe we are also called to name and lament the many times and places where, violence, hurt and alienation continue to exist. It is too often a temptation to gloss over the reality of suffering, to push away reminders of the wilderness many of us wander in. Sure, we shake our heads at tragic headlines and pray for an end to warfare and strife, but rarely do we let ourselves experience the depth of the suffering around and within us. By putting on optimistic fronts and happy smiles, I think we also miss out on feeling the grace of God and the “everlasting love” flowing through, beneath and beyond the depths of those experiences.

It seems a strange paradox, to acknowledge our suffering in order to move beyond it, but that was just what I experienced in singing Khudaya. By wailing our sorrows, it was as if we lifted them up into the hands of God, and were then able to rest more fully in the strength of God’s loving embrace. I do not think our songs of joy would have been as powerful without the honesty of our lament.

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SCRIPTURE: Jeremiah 31:1-6 (NRSV)
At that time, says the Lord, I will be the God of all the families of Israel,
and they shall be my people.
Thus says the Lord:
The people who survived the sword
found grace in the wilderness;
when Israel sought for rest,
the Lord appeared to him from far away.
I have loved you with an everlasting love;
therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.
Again I will build you, and you shall be built,
O virgin Israel!
Again you shall take your tambourines,
and go forth in the dance of the merrymakers.
Again you shall plant vineyards
on the mountains of Samaria;
the planters shall plant,
and shall enjoy the fruit.
For there shall be a day when sentinels will call
in the hill country of Ephraim:
‘Come, let us go up to Zion,
to the Lord our God.’
Posted at 16:43 #