When it comes to our next steps of social justice, I am praying you will eagerly join me in the work of #anti-racism:

dismantling the racist atrocities that occur every day in both obvious and covert ways and instead establishing God’s Kingdom of abundant generosity and lavish welcome.

Friends, when it comes to establishing God’s justice around us, we’re committing to the long haul. We’re letting go of fast results and finish lines. The problems of racial injustice are complicated. Sometimes racism is obvious. More often racism is invisible. Therefore we need to opt to move in the direction of racial justice, making small and consistent choices toward systematically overhauling the frameworks we hold dear. What we read, who we listen to, how we talk to our neighbors, how we teach our children, where we spend our money; all of these are choices that can help to align us with God’s will being down on earth as it is in heaven. 

But when we talk about putting feet to our faith and “establishing God’s justice all around us,” we want action steps. Our first inclination is to doing something. We like to feel useful, to have measurable achievements. Though it’s embarrassing to admit, the truth is we want to feel good about the good we’re doing. As much as we mock the New Testament Pharisees for demonstrating their faith in big, gaudy ways, I wonder if we’re not too far removed from this type of religious practice. 

I am proposing that our first and constant spiritual discipline of lament. Lament is not a practice most of us have much experience with. We probably don’t even really understand what it means. We might associate grief or tears or loss with the practice of lament, but it’s so much more than that. 

Pastor and Professor Soong-Chan Rah has written a commentary on Lamentations, a book of the Bible that can serve as our anchor during this lifelong journey towards God’s justice. 

In this video interview, Prof Rah says,

In the American church we have a very strong tendency towards triumphalism. [Our] triumphalism moves us towards problem solving and fixing things. We don’t take the time to think about history or suffering. We want to jump to celebration, victory.* 

Yep. Can relate. 

But why do we need to lament at all? Shouldn’t we just get to work and get over it? 

Professor Rah goes on:

Lament challenges us to say, ‘Maybe we don’t have all the answers. Maybe I don’t know everything there is to know about God. And in fact I need the stories of others, of those who have suffered because that’s a part of God I don’t know’.*

When we choose the discipline of Lament it’s as Soong-Chan points out:

We’re being discipled into the faith by those who have a different set of stories than we do, a different experience set than we do. God has been gracious enough to reveal himself to us not only through victory but also through suffering.*

Friends, I want to become a student of lament and invite you to join me. I’m not suggesting we become complacent and not do anything. I’m also not suggesting falling into a never-ending sadness. Lament is about acknowledgement, giving value and voice to broken realities and aligning ourselves with the grief and suffering of others. Lament speaks truth, and lament holds onto hope: God is here and God will heal.