Good afternoon,
" How deserted lies the city,
once so full of people!
How like a widow is she,
who once was great among the nations!
She who was queen among the province
has now become a slave.
Bitterly she weeps at night,
tears are on her cheeks.
Among all her lovers
there is no one to comfort her.
All her friends have betrayed her;
they have become her enemies.
After affliction and harsh labor,
Judah has gone into exile.
She dwells among the nations;
she finds no resting place.
All who pursue her have overtaken her
in the midst of her distress. " Lamentations 1:1-3
The book of Lamentations is hard to read. It speaks of sadness, loss, grief, anger and
trauma. It comes out of the prophetic tradition of the Jewish faith. Jesus was part of that continuing story of the role of prophet. Prophets did not get treated well. They often were ridiculed, and were even killed for their statements . In Jewish faith, there was a role for the prophet to question everything, even the the life of the King. God remains King in the words and mind of the prophet.
Israel/Judah were the divided kingdoms of God's people. The two peoples could not get along, and they had chosen to separate. Kingship had not been God's plan. Samuel had told them not to, but God finally relented ( God changed God's mind ) and gave them the ability to name a King, and that led to many bad Kings.
Now, Israel is in exile, and the writer of Lamentations grieves the losses of God's people. We, as the people of God today , are in exile from each other. At times, this is difficult for all of us. We feel numbness. We feel depressed. We feel antsy. We feel unfocused. We feel like Jeremiah, the writer of Lamentations, as he laments the loss of his community and the temple.
What can we do to calm our lives ? Do deep breathing. Do stretching. Read a good book. Talk to a friend. Journal. Go for a short or long walk, staying six feet from each other. Pray. Read a joke book. Zoom or Facetime with family and friends. There are hundreds of websites and places that are trying to help us to get through this time of isolation. If you need a phone call from me, please let me know. What are you doing to keep well, emotionally, physically and spiritually ?
Poem by James Weldon Johnson
[ A prayer for Today ]
God of our weary years
God of our silent tears,
Thou who hast brought us thus far on the way;
Thou who hast by Thy might
Led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee,
Lest, our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee;
Shadowed beneath Thy hand,
May we forever stand.
True to our God,
True to our native land.
Strength and Salaam for our journey of faith and life, together and forever .
Fred
Tread on bold new paths ! Fireflies flash the direction "Hope springs eternal" . Monika Pieper Landoni 2020
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