The Loss of Lament: The Devil Pulled a Fast one...

The more I attempt from the inside to get a read on the world we are immersed in (however futile that may be), the more I realize the loss of lament in our culture. It's darn hard to grieve! When hit with tragedy, we are conditioned to move past the problem via distraction instead of working through the issue appropriately and biblically. I think the devil pulled a fast one.

The cultural stories we find ourselves in press us into a "never let them see you sweat" mindset that subtly co-opts us into the "only the strong survive" world. Given little opportunity to grieve well, our cultural symbols and practices for this hardly compare to the richness of lament we find in scripture. Think of Job. Here was a man who was beset by tragedy. What did his mourning look like? It was light years ahead of how we grieve in the West today. Embracing weakness is not prized in our day and it's costing us big time. Somehow, I think the devil pulled a fast one.

What makes this so? I think it has something to do with the consciousness we are overwhelmed by. This consciousness tells us to live for the moment. We have been craftily shaped into consumers who have bought into the myth that materialism will satisfy any woe. For some reason, killing God with the secular dream has not only conditioned the most potent consumer market ever, it has also created the greatest fear of that which we cannot control; death. It's no wonder why we invest so much in avoiding death, regardless of how much we are surrounded by it at every turn in the media. We take comfort knowing that it's all make believe. Somewhere, I think the devil pulled a fast one.

So why would the devil pick on our capacity to lament? I have learned to never underestimate his craftiness on matters of deceit. He did it (is doing it) because without lament we lack the capacity for true repentance and identification with the God who suffers. Without lament we are handicapped in our love and words like 'compassion' and 'poverty of spirit' carry little weight outside of their ability to be trite sentiment. The loss of lament stifles our capacity for justice and compassion and dismantles what was supposed to be a highly potent, world-changing, movement of Jesus followers into a religious system that worships idols of success, strength, and entertainment. The lack of lament is the ingredient the enemy needs to cement our hearts into a stoney numbness and nullify genuine, continuous, conversion.

The other day I quoted Brueggemann. He was going on about Jesus' beatitude, "Blessed are those who mourn". He reveals the challenge of this scripture to us by saying:

"There is mourning to be done for those who do not know of the deathliness of their situation. There is mourning to be done with those who know pain and suffering and lack the power or freedom to bring it to speech. The saying is a harsh one, for it sets this grief work as the precondition of joy. It announces that those who have not cared enough to grieve will not know joy."

Perhaps worst of all, the loss of lament has caused us to turn away from the riches of the Kingdom that come when we begin to feel in this world with the heart of the Father. It is only then, when we have mourned with God, that we can begin seeing with the eyes of the Spirit and acting with the hands of Jesus for His Kingdom. As I reflect, I think the devil pulled a fast one.

[image credit: chrismaverick]

Technorati Tags: Bible, Compassion, Conversion, Culture, emerging church, Gospel, Missional, Scripture, Walter Brueggemann

Comments

[Erika Haub]

Beautiful post, John.

I first read "Prophetic Imagination" on a bus driving through the countryside in South Africa, having just spent time in the townships and squatter communities outside of Cape Town in 1994, right before the first democratic election were held. I remember absolutely weeping, and feeling this huge part of me awakened or liberated or something as I read his words about our loss of the ability to grieve and lament, and how those things are so central to being the people of God. Thanks for the reminder today!

[John Santic]

Thanks Erika. I was deeply moved by the book as well. Brueggemann has a prophetic and cutting edge in his writing that makes me look twice at the world around me in light of the gospel.

[Andrew]

Well written. In the society that we have all grown up in everything has been turned into a commodity. Lamenting has been something carefully avoided so as to make time for other things. I remember one of my friends from high school dying after getting hit by a train. After the funeral we all went swimming. Not knowing any better nor wanting to dwell on it.

[John Santic]

Andrew, good to hear from you. I like what you say about life as commodity. It rings true that lament could somehow shake a people out of its numbness and distract then from buying more stuff. There is a story that is told in our culture that says "just live in the here and now, buy more stuff to be happy, think about yourself and don't think about death".

thanks for stopping in with your comment.