- sorrow
- mourn
- grief
- moan, groan
- wailing
- a dirge, song of grief
- loss
perhaps we get the idea ..
`|`
perhaps in our americanised christianity we shy from it
perhaps there's some unbalance, too much stress placed on 'positive', happy, joyful, claiming the wealth and prosperity and freedom from disease and deprivation and poverty ..
like we live in some glass bubble blown by the Divine where it's always sunny and everyone sings happysongs on full bellies and sleep in comfy beds
a la Joels and Meyers's ..
those of us who don't live in this bubble just don't get it .. .
we have a faith problem or the devil's got us under his/her thumb ..
`|`
there's a bit of scripture that looms large ..
it goes like
blessed are those whose spirits are beaten-down, reaching out
blessed are those in mourning
blessed are the meekened, the humbled
blessed are they whose bellies grumble for righteousness and justice
those who show mercy
those with pure hearts
who work for peace
who are persecuted for doing the right thing
these are the opening words of that famous sermon on the mount, a long and oft-quoted passage early-on in Jesus' ministry
this particular section, dubbed ' the be-attitudes ', preached from every pulpit that ever hosted an audience ..
poor
mourning
humbled
hungry
somehow those experiencing such things are blessed by Jesus ..
' for they will .. '
.. at some point, eventually
their cries will return mercy and peace, full bellies; they will see God ..
they will, in fact, be blessed
for
their impoverished spirit
humbled state
mournful wails
..
for some reason, Jesus didn't berate them for their attitude, or admonish them to repent and grab a smiley .. " you're ruining everything ! "
.. he blessed them
`|`
it can't be like it's a good thing to suffer .. .
but
suffering can be a 'good' thing
it can serve to remind us of our mortality
that we live in a fractured and limping world where things aren't the way they were designed to be ..
things are wrong, bent, ugly
a muddied image of the intention of Creator
suffering is an all-too-present reality
..
america is the riches nation ever
yet a majority of the population is below or pert-near the poverty level ..
one misstep and .. job gone, house gone, health, insurance ..
elsewhere in the larger world out there
billions of people hunger and thirst, daily, bare necessities a fleeting dream ..
and millions run
leaving homeland in a desperate dash for safety from war, or for a chance for their children to find peace, an education, a life
in hope
`|`
lament
those people Jesus portrayed are in lamentable situations
some are lamenting their situations
some the situations of others
the cruel turn of soul that cries out in pain for the deprived, the run-down, the suffering, the nagging hurt, the loss, the destruction, the seeming never-endness of all that fear and hopelessness ..
even to the next generation, and the next, their children and their children's children ..
..
lament
" o God ! how long?! "
apostle paul speaks of rejoicing with them that rejoice
and in the next breath
mourning with them that mourn
it's a sharing, a com-passion, an internalizing of the other's stuff
..
lament
for the worldview that commands the upper rooms, white privilege jealously on guard, locked and loaded, looking down from their high ground on the valleys below, blackened and browned and yellowed and reded by the under-privileged in their left-over life ..
lament
for the newworld economic shame of the richest nation ever, where the Almighty $ walls the vaults of the 5%, the rest walled-off in the largest class spread since the feudal days we thought were happily buried in the books and bones of museums ..
lament
for the great democracy that now elects as leaders the well-funded, purchased by the monied few ..
' by the people for the people ' now a sick joke hanging framed on the walls of congress ..
lament
.. what else, when leaders in the christian church deny God by their works, abusing children, stealing from God's people, preaching foolishness for the gospel, when they should be preaching the gospel that is foolishness ..
lament
for the tired, burned-out, denuded planet Earth on which we live and move and be ..
most can't drink the poisoned water or eat the poisoned fish or the GMO'ed grain or the drugged poultry; the very air we breathe is often so filthy we can hardly see ..
lament
for mayhem
murder in the name of war in the name of religion
or in the name of money
for manipulation
sexual immorality
parents who ruin their children by their awful attitudes, sick relationships
lament
for the wickedness in me
for the cruel uncaring thoughtlessness that allows me to walk by
for the twisted thinking that awards me first place
for the scarred conscience that ignores the pain in another
for the damned arrogance that allows me to point-out this and that sin while i wallow in my own brand of dirty
lament
face the cruelty, the damage, the wickedness, the arrogance and selfishness
own it
weep
mourn
sackcloth and ashes
face in the dirt
in the face of the utterly disappointing humanity we are
lament
there's a place for it
a time for it
balance demands it
love and compassion and caring demand it
Jesus demands it
lament
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