Lamentations

From Wellington Cathedral of St Paul

Lamentations: 10th April 2011: pm: The Very Revd Frank Nelson

• Psalm 30
• Lamentations 3: 19 - 33
• Matthew 20: 17 - 34

Times of great celebration or suffering often evoke and promote an outpouring of wonderful words. Where some literally drown their emotion, whether happy or sad, in an excess of alcohol, for others there seems to be an abundance of inspiration far beyond what one would normally expect. Poetry, music and art are the beneficiaries – as is religious faith.

Tonight we have heard two passages from the Bible, both from the Old Testament, which speak from the souls of those in situations of great suffering. Before reading again the few verses we heard from the Book of Lamentations, let me give you a few pointers which may help to make sense of the words.

From the time of King David, roughly 1000BC, Jerusalem became the focus of the cultic practices around the worship of the Hebrew God known as Yahweh or Jehovah. It is from this time that the ancient promises made to Abraham and Sarah, that they would be the ancestors of a great nation in the world, began to feel real. For some hundreds of years following King David, four things became really important to those who worshipped Yahweh. These were:- the land known variously as Israel, Judah or simply, the Promised Land; the city of Jerusalem, also called Zion; the king who ruled the people, at best, always seen as God’s representative on earth; and the temple on Mount Zion. Land, city, king and temple – as long as these were intact, in place, and functioning, faith in God was relatively straight-forward. It was clear that God was in charge, and fulfilling God’s side of the Covenant agreement.

Of course there were the odd slip-ups and anomalies. Two weeks ago, at this service, the choir sang Allegri’s Miserere, a setting of the words of Psalm 51. That psalm is generally taken to refer to King David’s remorse over his affair with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband.

But in 587BC a catastrophe of such enormous proportion befell Jerusalem that faith in God appeared to be ended forever. With the onslaught of Nebuchadnezzar’s armies, and the subsequent destruction of temple and city, the killing of the king, and the deportation of many into exile in Babylon, it seemed faith in the God who made promises was no longer possible. There have been other times of similar catastrophe in the life of religious people. In the early 2nd century BC Antiochus Epiphanes desecrated the temple provoking an insurrection known to us as the Maccabean Revolt. Tonight’s psalm, number 30, is one of those used at the Jewish Feast of Dedication, or Hannukah. The last few verses tell of the lifting of the sadness and sorrow of the psalmist’s, perhaps through being healed of some physical ailment, or the joy at seeing the temple re-dedicated. Later tonight, at a Concert in the City Hall, the great lament of the Christian Church, known as the Passion of Christ, will be sung.

Lament is an important part of the human psyche. New Zealanders have had to discover this in recent months in a way not wished for. And we should not rush past or try to smooth over lament. We need to weep for what is lost.

The Book of Lamentations is such a Lament. It carries the deepest and most anguished cries of the human heart and spirit. But it also carries some wise advice, which we have heard tonight. At a time when it seems totally impossible to believe in God at all, and certainly not a God who cares and loves and has a future, the author of this remarkable book called Lamentations, offers quiet words of encouragement.

I end this short homily by reading again the Old Testament lesson for tonight.

Lamentations 3: 19 – 33.

The thought of my affliction and my homelessness is wormwood and gall! My soul continually thinks of it and is bowed down within me. But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:

The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. ‘The LORD is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘therefore I will hope in him.’

The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD. It is good for one to bear the yoke in youth, to sit alone in silence when the Lord has imposed it, to put one’s mouth to the dust (there may yet be hope), to give one’s cheek to the smiter, and be filled with insults.

For the Lord will not reject for ever. Although he causes grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; for he does not willingly afflict or grieve anyone.