Service of Lament

by Kathy Ayres

What are your heartfelt desires? Are our “hearts broken by the things that break the heart of God”? (Bob Pierce, founder of World Vision.) This season of Lent [was] a time to draw closer to God, examine our hearts, and ask the Lord to properly align our disordered affections. It is challenging and humbling to engage in self-examination, confession, and repentance, but Jesus calls us forward.

The way of Jesus leads to healing, redemption, and restoration, but take time to bring your suffering and pain before God, emerging transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit.

As we experience heartache and injury, we may try to ignore the pain or soothe our wounds with unhealthy, temporal remedies. We may be tempted to set up defensive walls around us to hide our pain and prevent further injury. A more faithful response to hurt and grief is lament as modeled in some of the Psalms.

In Psalm 13, we see David naming and offering his pain to the Lord in the first two verses. He then identifies and prays for what he most desires in verses three and four, and then embraces hope and chooses to praise God as he recalls the Lord’s faithfulness in the past.

We are the Church, the body of Christ, and we do not faithfully love and care for others, particularly people with disabilities, as described in 1 Corinthians 13. We have caused hurt and offense at times, although it may have been unintentional. We have not been willing to bear and endure all things for the love of others who are different from us. I lament the harm I have caused and the limited welcome the Church has for people with disabilities and their families.

If you feel similar regrets or have other laments you would like to bring before the Lord, you are invited to use the Service of Lament used during an Access Leadership Network gathering this Lent.

The Rev. Kathy Ayres is the Director of the Access Leadership Network and a Deacon in the Gulf Atlantic Diocese.