Lament in Community

The New Testament church was known for carrying each other's burdens. They would help financially, emotionally, and practically. Romans 12:15 teaches that we are invited to “mourn with those who mourn” as a form of solidarity with them. Jesus invites us to pray for those with very practical needs like food when he teaches us to pray “give us this day our daily bread” - note the emphasis on ‘us.’ And Paul invites us to “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ” in Galatians 6:2.

Richard Rohr sums it up this way: An individual person cannot bear the weight of glory or the burden of sin. We need each other at the emotional extremes of life. So this week as we lament, we’re invited to do so in community.

Paul actually models this out for us in 2 Corinthians when he shares vulnerably about his situation and specifically asks the church for their emotional and spiritual support. He writes, “We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself” (2 Cor 1:8). He then goes on to say “you help us by your prayers“ (2 Cor 1:11).

So who are you inviting into your pain, your loss, your confusion, your anxiety, your lament? And who might be inviting you into their lament, although perhaps you haven’t noticed too well up to now that they actually need you? Talk with God about these things.