Sermon Notes 21 June 2020
Speaker: Elder David Leong & Deacon Benson Chia
But We Will Lament with Hope
Lamentations 3:1, 21-24, 31-33, 55-58
Suffering in this Present Reality
- Suffering: Collateral & Personal
- Cancer as suffering
2 Journeys
Sin, Wrath & Curse
Loss & Lament in Lamentations
Why do we lament?
- Learning to lament in community
- Expressing pain honestly before God
- Reminding of God’s steadfast love through prayerful lament
- Developing a collective sensitivity to suffering
- Framing pain & suffering as part of this present reality
Questions for Reflection and Discussion
- Have you ever expressed grief or sorrow in your life? Is there a place for corporate lament within the church community?
- Recall a time when you lost someone close to you. Were you able to honestly tell God how you have felt?
- How may I/we better understand, come alongside to give the gift of presence to someone who is going through cancer or whose family member is having cancer?
- Lamentations has been used as liturgy of grief in Jewish worship to mourn the destruction of their Temple. How may we use Lamentations during our own suffering to remind us the larger story of God’s faithfulness in our lives?
