Lament gives form and voice to our grief, a space to wail and name what is not right in the world. We call on the God who weeps with us, whose groans are our own, and we express our hope in God’s tender care.
The prophet Joel says to blow the trumpet and call the assembly, because lament is the work of the community.
Gathered together we say that the pain is being heard, that it is valid. Our community votes with its tears that there is suffering worth weeping over.
The paradox of our faith is that we must first surrender fully into the desert places of brokenness, before Easter and its promise of resurrection can fully enter and fill us. ~ Christine Valters Paintner, Abbey of the Arts, https://abbeyofthearts.
We will gather this week in the Ralph Connor Church sanctuary to watch Digital Vespers a 2020 Good Friday service of word, music, and silence, from the City Church in Cleveland. If you are unable to attend in person, you may wish to watch the video at home as others are viewing it in the church, or at any other time you are drawn to a period of meditative listening: https://www.
Evensong returns to both Zoom and in-person participation next week.
Blessings on your journey through these final days of Lent.