Our Pain/Lament  & Pain in 586BC – at the Jerusalem, Temple and People Destroyed

Jeremiah’s 3 prayer movements  in Lam 3:1-42

1. Acknowledging /Lamenting the Pain
2. Hoping/Trusting in the LORD’s (HESED) Covenant Love & faithfulness
3. Repenting of Sin of Injustice

 

1. Acknowledging/Lamenting the Pain/Suffering/Sadness – Lam 3:1-20
   1. A Suffering of the destruction of Jerusalem, the temple, the people in 586BCE..
      1. Lam 3:1-20 – darkness, broken bones, besieged, surrounded, walled in , chains, barred,
      2. 3: 10-11, ¹⁰ Like a bear lying in wait, like a lion in hiding,
         ¹¹ he dragged me from the path and mangled me and left me without help.

• 3:15-20 ¹⁵ He has filled me with bitter herbs and given me gall to drink.

1. ¹⁶ He has broken my teeth with gravel; he has trampled me in the dust.
   ¹⁷ I have been deprived of peace;  I have forgotten what prosperity is.
   ¹⁸ So I say, “My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the Lord.”
2. ¹⁹ I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall.
   ²⁰ I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.

1. Pain and Suffering of Destruction of Jerusalem, Temple, People of God..
2. Present Day sufferings/pain/strife

1. Suffering/Pain in the World – Pandemic in South, Locust & famine in East Africa, Chinese Aggression in HK
2. Suffering/Pain in our Nation/ Last week was very hard for me personally and for our nation & city

• young black jogger Amaud Albury being gunned down by white men with shot guns in Georgia
• George Floyd being pinned and killed by seemingly indifferent white police man in Minneapolis-
• Peaceful -powerful protests of thousands across American cities - some turning violent- -
• even in Women trying to weaponize police in NYC Central park -
• Economic & Public health disparity for communities of Color in COVID pandemic

iii. Suffering/Pain in Boston 

• Thousands peacefully marched from Nubian Square (formally Dudley Station) to Statehouse -in peaceful -passion-seeking justice for GFloyd, protest of police brutality, judicial reform, racial equality (which I applaud)
• But .. As evening/night descended – DEVOLVED by criminal-violent-selfish hoodlums took to the streets - confronting police, hurling bottles-brinks-rocks, refusing to go home (COVPD curfew), spraying swears & graffiti, vandalizing & setting police & other cars, smashing storefront & looting retailers, setting fire to trash cans and 1 police
• My Sadness -- Message - lost in the Chaos - Looting - Vandalism - Rioting - violence
  • American Justice system is not working for African Americans - "not serving protecting"
    • Police Brutality & Racial profiling is disproportionally racialized

 

 

2. Hoping in the LORD’s (HESED) Covenant Love & faithfulness (Lam 3:21-26)
   1. ²¹ Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:
   2. ²² Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.
      ²³ They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
      ²⁴ I say to myself, “The Lordis my portion;  therefore I will wait for him.”
   3. ²⁵ The Lordis good to those whose hope is in him,  to the one who seeks him;
      ²⁶ it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.
   4. It’s His (HESED-Hebrew) -Great Love- lovingkindness, covenant love, great love … foundation of our hope – his character  & his covenant promises (fulfilled in Christ).. mercies new every morning, great is his faithfulness.
   5. We turn to God in prayer – in these times – depending upon his goodness, love, faithfulness, mercies..
   6. Therefore we are not consumed/overwhelmed

 

3. Repenting of Sin of Injustice (Lam 3: 27-30, 34-36, 39-42)
   1. Lam 3:34-36^{) 34} To crush underfoot all prisoners in the land,
      ³⁵ to deny people their rights before the Most High,
      ³⁶ to deprive them of justice—  would not the Lord see such things?

• My own graduate Studies in Multi-culturalism in Church - seeing the ugly history of ethnic/racial disparity in America. Oftentimes systemic mistreatment of ethnic groups and the painful legacy of discrimination … like…
  • Conquest, genocide, and forced relocation of Native American People
  • Enslavement, abuse, Jim Crow, Mass incarcerations, police profiling, & continued marginalization of African (black) Americans -
  • Taking of SW territories by force & annexing hundreds of Thousands of Mexican/Latino Americans & current day criminalizing migrants.
  • Gun Boat Diplomacy, Chinese Exclusion, Japanese Internment of Asian Americans plus bloody Hot Wars w-Philippines, Japan, Vietnam, Korea, (China) -and today “Chinese Virus” language.
  • Profiling of Muslim-Americans after 9-11
• Lam 3:39-42 ³⁹ Why should the living complain when punished for their sins?
• ⁴⁰ Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord.
  ⁴¹ Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven, and say:
  ⁴² “We have sinned and rebelled and you have not forgiven.
• Call to self examination – individually, collectively, nationally…
• How might we be complicit – what ways have we contributed to/benefited from the injustice, denial of rights to others?

Prayer …  of Repentance & Hope