I’ll need to get myself into the habit of writing these posts shortly after finishing a book… I finished Prophetic Lament: A Call for Justice in Troubled Times a few weeks ago, finishing another book after that, and currently getting through another. So, yeah. I definitely can’t reproduce my thoughts from when I was reading through, heh.
This post is going to just be really general and not thought-out, I guess.
My former YG pastor/JDSN bought me a copy of this book to help with questions and struggles I immediately had following the Philando Castile case.
Of course, the book doesn’t fully solve my unrest. However, it still helped.
I think it helped me realize the root of my… frustrations?
The author, Soong-Chan Rah, wrote this book because America churches are so focused on praise, but are severely lacking in lament.
But lament is not simply the presentation of a list of complaints, nor merely the expression of sadness over difficult situations. Lament in the Bible is a liturgical response to the reality of suffering and engages God is the context of pain and trouble. The hope of lament is that God would respond to human suffering that is wholeheartedly communicated through lament (21).
This book is quite dense. It’s almost like reading a textbook, which makes it feel impossible to lay out all the thoughts I had while reading. I’ll just… do what I can…
The point I appreciated most was that there needs to be a “personal connection to the corporate sin that has entered our culture” (125).
This is so important. How often do we hear people try to make it clear that they are free of personal fault? “Well, I’m not racist!”
This was a painful challenge to me too. It’s not that I wasn’t unaware of the existence of my own racial biases. But, this book totally called me out on it. It really challenged me to start opening my eyes to the ways that I may contribute to issues of racial justice. It also made me question how I contribute to oppression and abuse. This isn’t limited to the racial injustice in America. But, it made me think of the clothing and food I eat too. How many of my clothes and groceries come at the price of another person’s livelihood?
We write checks to end human trafficking but lack concern for how our demand for cheap, disposable clothing generates a larger system of exploitation (89).
It would seem that my frustrations stem from the lack of the Church’s lament for our country’s suffering. That’s not to say that my own church doesn’t call for us to hurt with and pray for the suffering. With the hurricanes and fires in the last several months, we prayed as a church and were constantly reminded to keep praying for those who were affected by these disasters.
But, my biggest need is to know how to respond specifically to social injustice, not natural disasters (that is not to minimize or downplay the victims’ suffering). Where are our Church’s rallying calls to pray and advocate for victims of police brutality? Of hate crimes? Of sex trafficking? Of… and the list goes on and on.
Injustice should arouse righteous anger. I have no doubt that God is also angry when He sees His children being hurt, abused, senselessly killed.
And, I know that we need to pray, but I want to know how my daily living needs to be transformed. I guess, part of that is being conscious of who may suffer from the luxuries and conveniences of my lifestyle (like cheaper, disposable clothing).
But, I was also challenged to start by lamenting. What do I do with my anger? How much have I actually cried out to God in lament for victims? Why don’t I initiate conversations? How much do I pray for my city?
I say that I want to know what else I can do beyond praying, yet, I’m not even praying (I don’t mean that in a way that minimizes prayer; prayer needs to be first and the foundation). I’m not praying nearly as much as I should be. I don’t feel that heavy burden of sharing the victims’ pain. I guess step one is to pray/lament. And, this book offered insight on how to pray/lament.
I’ve also been thinking pretty frequently about church and community. My church’s merge and relocation was because we believe in living and witnessing to our community. We want to be able to invite our neighbors, friends, and colleagues to church. We want the Church to grow, the Gospel to spread.
My church is in mainline.
I live in north Philly. I’ve always been in north Philly, aside from my time as student at Villanova. I feel convicted that God wants me to be His hands and feet for this city as a social worker. But, it goes beyond my eventual professional life. He wants me to His witness in my community, every day, every moment.
He has placed me in Philly.
Am I really living and loving my community, when I’m driving 25-35 minutes into an affluent suburban area?
I’ve been asking myself these questions a lot lately. That’s not to say that I feel called to leave my church anytime soon. But, I do think that God wants me to seriously pray about this sometime soon, to start actively seeking His counsel.
Gah, this post is a hot mess, HAHA.
You should just read the book for yourself 🙂
I will say this.
I think that social injustice is something we should all actively care about. I think it’s something that should arouse righteous anger in all of us.
I have held firmly to the belief that all Christians should care and advocate for the forgotten, the marginalized, and the oppressed. And, I will always hold firmly to that belief. If we truly know God’s love for us and for all His children, how can we be anything but disturbed when we hear about our brothers and sisters being mistreated? How can our hearts be anything but broken?
Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his Maker,
but he who is generous to the needy honors him.
(Proverbs 14:31)Open your mouth for the mute,
for the rights of all who are destitute.
Open your mouth, judge righteously,
defend the rights of the poor and needy.
(Proverbs 31:8-9)learn to do good;
seek justice,
correct oppression;
bring justice to the fatherless,
plead the widow’s cause.
(Isaiah 1:17)
A collection 