Mother's Day Lament

Each Mother's Day for the past 4 or 5 years we've lamented together through a responsive reading. Lament is a passionate expression of grief or sorrow, and it makes up the content of many Psalms and other parts of the Bible. The modern church is almost completely void of lament. We (the American church) have traded in the gritty/difficult/real aspect of Christianity for a positive and encouraging type of Christianity - where our positive thinking and can-do attitude earns us God's love and provision. But this is not biblical Christianity. No, real Christianity gets into the crevices of life's hurt and brokenness and teaches us about the true hope we have in Jesus' broken body, shed blood, and resurrected life.

So this Mother's Day lament is for all those who have experienced sorrow that many cannot express with words. My wife and I experienced the loss of a child through miscarriage a few years ago, and I have come to terms with the fact that I'll never get over that experience. I'm crying as I merely type the words now. Read, meditate, reflect, and pray this lament adapted from Sojourn Community Church.

Lord, on this Mother’s Day

we lift up the aching hearts

of all those who long to be mothers,

but mourn the absence of new life within them;

who have conceived,

but suffered loss through miscarriage or abortion;

who have given birth,

but endured the tragedy of burying a child.

We lift up those for whom this day is as reminder of grief because of

relationships with mothers affected by sin, or by the lost loved ones.

Their grief is often hidden from us

or neglected on this day of celebration of motherhood.

We pray that they may experience healing in this church family.

How long, O Lord, must death get its way at the outset of new life?

How long must joy be deferred or interrupted by such cruel sorrow?

Risen Lord of life, grant them comfort and peace,

breathe in us all the breath of new life.

Through Jesus Christ,

who defeated death,

Amen.

- Pastor Fletcher