11/13/20
By Pastor Jim Martin
I greet each and every one of you in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ. What a year. Even as I just typed this sentiment, I find it hard to describe the shared experiences that we have witnessed this year. Many good things have occurred, and we need to lift up where God’s grace and mercy have lifted us, where friendship and fellowship (even if mostly virtual by phone or computer) have sustained us. And in the midst of this has been the power of the Holy Spirit that has provided the sustenance to keep us going. Praise be to God!
But we have experienced suffering in this time, as well. Some more than others. The pandemic has played a big part of the suffering. Even today, the coronavirus across Lewis County averages of five to six new cases daily.
We worry about health and being safe, about economic stability for ourselves and our neighbors.
In addition, we have felt the hands of helplessness, abandonment, conflict, and despair press upon us personally–and across our nation. Pandemic, justice issues, reactivity to terrible events, the elections (to name a few) have us all on an emotional rollercoaster regardless of where any of us stand on any one issue. Our emotions range from joy to sorrow, relief to anger, calm to agitation. But regardless of where we find ourselves on that spectrum of emotion, I believe that we all have profound senses of loss. And we hold one emotion in common: anxiety. Perhaps with different intensities, but still, I believe on whole we are anxious.
One book of the Holy Bible we seldom turn to is Lamentations. It follows Jeremiah and precedes Ezekiel. Tradition credits the prophet Jeremiah as author. The author in Lamentations gives voice to the people of Judah who are displaced from their home, from normalcy. All suffer from loss. Anxiety oozes from the pages.
Eugene Peterson in his translation of the Bible entitled The Message, shares the following as introduction to the Old Testament book, Lamentations:
“Lamentations is a concentrated and intense biblical witness to suffering. Suffering is a huge, unavoidable element in the human condition. To be human is to suffer. No one gets an exemption. It comes as no surprise then to find that our Holy Scriptures, immersed as they are in the human condition, provide extensive witness to suffering.”
Now, you may read Lamentations if you wish. Be forewarned; it’s a bit depressing. But in the middle of the book of Lamentations 3:16-33, is a word of hope and encouragement and a prescription to counter anxiety. I really like Peterson’s paraphrase here, and I offer it to you as a balm for such a time as this.
I’ll never forget the trouble, the utter lostness,
the taste of ashes, the poison I’ve swallowed.
I remember it all – oh, how well I remember –
the feeling of hitting the bottom.
But there’s one other thing I remember,
and remembering, I keep a grip on hope:
God’s loyal love couldn’t have run out,
his merciful love couldn’t have dried up.
They’re created new every morning.
How great your faithfulness!
I’m sticking with God (I say it over and over).
He’s all I’ve got left.
God proves to be good to the man who passionately waits,
to the woman who diligently seeks.
It’s a good thing to quietly hope,
quietly hope for help from God.
It’s a good thing when you’re young
to stick it out through the hard times.
When life is heavy and hard to take,
go off by yourself. Enter the silence.
Bow in prayer. Don’t ask questions:
Wait for hope to appear.
Don’t run from trouble. Take it full-face.
The “worst” is never the worst.
So, let us pray. Pray for your loved ones. Pray for yourself. Pray for your neighbor with whom you may disagree. Just Pray. Immerse yourself in God’s presence and wait for hope and peace and calm to appear.
May God’s peace be with you –
+ Pastor Jim