dennis martin papp

Grrr... (part 5.2 of 5) *Leaning into Lament*

Today we are breaking down the components of a classic lament.

Most scholars identify four, sometimes five elements of a lament.

Let's look to Psalm 13 for our example.

It opens with a complaint that is applicable to the Corona season:

How long, Oh Lord!

Enduring pain and suffering is classic cry of God's people.

¹ How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?
    How long will you hide your face from me?
² How long must I take counsel in my soul
    and have sorrow in my heart all the day?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

In these two verses we see the first two elements of a lament.

First, He addresses God. Some laments go further and list several of God's characteristics.

To whom do you turn when you complain?

Since the mid-2000's we've let our fingers doing the wailing. 

Many of us moan by way of post to anyone who will read and hit the like button (or smoldering angry face or sad face).

God wants us to turn to Him. He welcomes our complaint. He can actually do something about it!

The second element is the complaint itself. We bring our complaint to God. 

David feels forgotten. He feels God has hidden His face. He feels abandoned and alone.

Moreover, he complains that his enemies are gloating over Him.

A lament starts by addressing God and clearly articulating the complaint.

³ Consider and answer me, O Lord my God;
    light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death,
⁴ lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,”
    lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.

The third element of a lament is to boldly ask God for help.

Why turn to God with our complaint? Because God can actually do something to resolve the situation!

God knows. God cares. God wants to help.

Every difficult situation is an open door to grow in our relationships with God.

More than the fact that God can fix the problem is the reality that we are never alone.

In our suffering we are comforted by God's presence.

⁵ But I have trusted in your steadfast love;
    my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
⁶ I will sing to the Lord,
    because he has dealt bountifully with me.

The lament concludes with the fourth element: an expression of hope and trust in God.

This trust is expressed even if we don't feel it. 

The distance between verse one and six is not far. David's trust is growing.

David is telling his soul what is true even if it is not felt quite yet.

We need to do the same. Facts are always true. Our feelings need to catch up to what is real.

I said some speak of a fifth element of lament.

The final stage is an expression of gratitude. A simple thank you.

Certainly verse six expresses a grateful tone.

There you have it. Pretty straight forward.

You will see this formula expressed repeatedly in the Lament Psalms.

Here's some homework for you. 

Take the elements of this structure and look at some of the Lament Psalms we listed in the previous post.

Study for yourself to see the predictable flow of a classic lament.

We will wrap up laments tomorrow.

Today is Friday, We're off to do some "Filming in Frankfort" as we prepare for Sunday!

Grrr... (part 5.1 of 5) *Leaning into Lament*

Lament.

Why is anger a go-to emotion?

Because we do not lean into other more accurate emotions.

Anger is our shot gun. It scatters everywhere. 

Other emotions are more finely tuned, but we have left them undeveloped.

Certain emotions have been stunted. We may have even labeled them as unbiblical.

Take lament for example. 

Lamenting, simply put, is bringing our soul's complain to God.

Is it right to complain to God? It feels ungrateful and grumbly.

Since we were two-years-old we've been told to stop whining.

As we grew, we were even given the impression that complaining was a sin.

Yet David and others, though inspired Scripture, teach us that God invites our complaint, our lament.

Here is what I'd like you to do today. I am listing some Psalms of Lament.

Listen to the Psalmist's heart complain to God.

Listen to him groan. You'll even hear some anger leak out. 

Mostly, you will hear a heart that has learned how to groan to God!

For today, just take the lament in.

We will look at the components of a complaint tomorrow.

Here's your homework:

Look at Psalm 13, 22, 77 (there are about 40 more)

Extra credit: (3, 6, 7, 17, 28, 31-32, 35, 42-43, 51, 52, 54)

Grrr... (part 4 of 5)

As last week moved along, my intense anger started to subside.

Spiritual practices really work. God's presence really works!

So far we've looked at the daily check-in prayer and monitoring what is feeding our souls.

Today we are going to look at control.

For most of us, anger gives us a false sense of control.

Anger makes us feel like we have power over our circumstances.

Sometimes we do, and it is time to act.

Quite often, we are powerless. The situation is out of our hands.

How do we know which is which?

Isn't that really the basis of the opening lines of the Serenity Prayer?

God, grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.

We are living in a season of shattered serenity.

Simply defined, serenity is the state of being calm, peaceful, and untroubled.

Our world has been rocked, and a natural state of serenity has been shattered.

However, Christ followers, we do not rely on a natural state of serenity, but a supernatural one.

The classic example of this is Jesus sleeping in the bow of the boat in the storm. (Matthew 8:23-27)

Serenity seems "natural" when there is no storm. 

True peace is sleeping while the boat is sinking, not because we are oblivious, but because of faith in Him.

I need this prayer constantly...

God, help me to accept what is cannot change, and help me to change what You find unacceptable.

This is a life-long lesson. 

COVID-19 is a classroom. Let's get to work.

Contagious: Courageous or Fearful

Church at Home // Week 5.

This week we headed to our living room.

We're talking about a Christianity that is contagious!

Both fear and courage are contagious.

Which virus will you spread?

 

Grrr... (part 3 of 5)

Input influences output.

What goes in comes out.

When my spirit is disquieted, I have to ask the question, "What am I ingesting?"

What is my mental food?

In the COVID era, my diet intentionally changed.

I am on the hunt for information and connection.

The "news" is on far more than normal. Yes, I put NEWS in quotes.

If the name has NEWS in it, it probably isn't news. It's biased propaganda. 

Still, we are carving information, so we turn on the news.

Unfortunately, the delivery system is designed to fuel fear and anger.

That's what keeps us coming back.

As for connection, during COVID I decided to lift a three-month long social media fast.

I'd not been Facebooking or Tweeting for three months.

I do Instagram. I like pictures and can mute anything that is not good for my mind.

Social media is not great for my soul. It feeds the mad in me.

It also provides a reflexive, satisfying platform for venting my madness.

Here's what I know: my anger is proportional to my engagement with media, both "news" and social.

It may be time for a diet.

Grrr... (part 2 of 5)

We need to talk.
We need to talk to God.
We need to listen to God!

When untangling emotions and deciphering feelings,
     the Daily Check In Prayer (found here) is my starting point.

Why?

First, it makes me conscious of God's presence. 

My awareness of His active presence can get lost when tangled in emotions.

Second, it drives me to gratitude. Savoring my blessings realigns my focus.

Then comes the conversation with God about my emotional state.

With His guidance, I identify my emotions and pray from them.

This prayer starts to bring clarity.

As I prayed over my anger, I soon discover that my anger is not my primary emotion.

What was really happening?

First, God reveals my spirit of helplessness. 

Anger for me (and many others) is a go-to emotion that gives me a false sense of control.

Anger seldom fixes anything, but like forcefully over-tightening a part, it breaks things pretty well.

Releasing my false sense of control to God is non-negotiable.

Then a second revelation. I am far more disappointed than I am angry.

Really, I'm sad camouflaged in a layer of rage.

We can meme away about empty churches being like the empty tomb, but not being together hurt.

I am also disappointed that I will not see my walking-path until the governor lifts his inconsistent edict.

Then a third layer is exposed. Frustration with the unknown.

When will this end?
How will it end?
What will it look like when it ends?

When I am wiling to process my emotional state with God, He peels back the layers to show me the real me.

I don't know what you are feeling today,
     but I suspect the surface emotion may be a cover for something more real.

God wants to reveal the real you to you.

Talk to Him.
Listen to Him.
He wants to talk.

Grrr... (part 1 of 5)

I wish I had traced this better. 

I've been aware of it, but I have not written it down.

How have you reacted to the COVID shut-down?

Week One I went into overdrive. There was so much to do.

I also had a sense of fragmentation; really a low-level shock.

I'd stand at the grocery store and just stare.

Sometime in Week Two I could feel the sense of novelty wearing off and exhaustion setting in. 

The new things we were trying like LiveStream church services and Zoom groups were not new anymore.

The firsts were behind us.

The frantic pace of the first week left me tired. Really tired.

Third Week I had a sense of hunkering down and cooperative surrender.

I knew we were in this for the long haul and gave our leaders the benefit of doubt, even the ones I'd never vote for.

I could also feel myself starting to itch. How long will this last? What will be left in the other side?

Easter marked our Fourth Week of Church at Home. 

Where am I today? Grrr...

I feel agitated and grumpy.

It started Saturday when I drove by my path and saw barricades and Police Ordered closure signs.

Really?

The pot store is open but the path where I walk daily and can be guaranteed a safe social distance is closed.

The path my tax money bought and maintains is closed so I don't hurt myself or someone else?

Really?

Police Order. Barricades? 

Really?

Now I am just mad. I'm really mad and I am having a hard time getting past it.

The inconsistency of the Illinois closure order is crazy.

Jewel and Home Depot have full parking lots.

My lonely path. Closed.

Why write this? This is not a therapeutic rant. 

I want to talk this week about how to get to the other side of this kind of helpless anger in a spiritually productive fashion.

So, tomorrow we will start to dig into this. 

I suspect you may be feeling the grrr too!

Easter Sunday with SouthField

Watch with SouthField this Easter Sunday starting at 9:00am.

Check in and say hi on the live chat.

Watch to the last minute. The ending is priceless!

You'll need a copy of this card too. View/download here

 

Confess

Pain moves us to seek the heart of God.

It presses us to ask why.

Wonderings arise.

Questions about our connection with God arise.

This is a good thing.

We need to ask serious, soulish questions.

While we should not assume all pain is the result of our personal sun,
          it is wise to wonder if our pain is connected to our sin.

Is it possible God is trying to get our attention, personally, locally, nationally, globally?

The pandemic has changed one habit in our lives. We have become obsessive hand washers!

This act of cleansing can serve as a physical reminder of a spiritual need.

What if every time we washed our hands, we prayed a prayer of confession?

Every time.

During those twenty seconds, maybe we recall a sin that needs confession and offer it to God.

It may be as simple as saying the prayer of the tax collector in Luke 18:9-14

          God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

Perhaps we would pray more globally.

Forgive the sins of our nation. Heal the brokenness of our world.

          Lord, have mercy on us, and on the whole world.

I don't know about you, but He has my attention.

Along with praying on the -19s, would you join me in confession every time we wash our hands?

 

You'll find a Daily Check In Confession Prayer Practice here as well.

Palm Sunday with SouthField

Ready to see how quarantine is affecting Brian, our family extrovert? Watch the beginning!

Here's the link to our Palm Sunday message:  https://youtu.be/leF4Tm6TNOo

During Lent we've been debunking lies the serpent whispers to us,

This week's lie: God Helps Those Who Help Themselves.

You'll find a copy of the Daily Check In Confession Prayer Practice here.