A powerful way to embrace lament is by engaging in corporate or communal sorrow. While we understand that grieving is often a very private road, if we do not feel like we are a part of a community that sees and invites us to share or articulate our grief as best we are able, our grief process won\u2019t be private, it will be lonely and isolating. We will begin to feel alone and unwanted. We will feel like we don\u2019t belong unless we \u201cget over\u201d or \u201cget it together\u201d so as not to disturb others with our genuine grief and sadness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is why lament is such a beautiful thing, because it includes a public and communal expression of grief. It invites us to \u201cweep with those who weep\u201d, (Rom. 12) without judging or bringing commentary on their particular sorrow. If we are truly one body, when someone in our community hurts, the most powerful thing we can do isn\u2019t bringing them a meal, or a prayer (those things are important), it\u2019s acknowledging and entering into their pain with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How do we practice this together today?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here\u2019s what we invite you to do: write in the comments of this post something you are sad about that you\u2019ve been grieving in your heart. Maybe it\u2019s something larger we are all facing together, or something in your family or personal to your heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We invite each one of us to share with vulnerability and specificity in a place of safety.\u00a0 The challenge in this as a community is how we respond to each person\u2019s pain. Can we engage in corporate sorrow?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If something someone is sad over doesn\u2019t resonate with you, or is from a different perspective than you, can you enter in? Can you empathize? Can we weep with them and walk in harmony with them regardless?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
People don\u2019t need our commentary, they need our compassion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As people share things they are hurting over, your response shouldn\u2019t be to encourage them, help them by advising solutions, or defensiveness that contradict them with reasons it\u2019s wrong or misguided for them to be sad about that particular thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our only response should be something like \u201cI carry that sorrow too\u201d or \u201cI see you and make space for your sadness\u201d. It may not be easy, but if we show up wholeheartedly, this exercise or practice of communal lament will knit our LW community together in powerful ways.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A powerful way to embrace lament is by engaging in corporate or communal sorrow. While we understand that grieving is often a very private road, if we do not feel like we are a part of a community that sees and invites us to share or articulate our grief as best we are able, our grief process won\u2019t be private, it will be lonely and isolating.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":551,"featured_media":59936,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":170,"footnotes":""},"categories":[141],"tags":[143,144],"class_list":["post-59935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church-and-ministry","tag-announcements","tag-the-weekly",""],"blockli_fields":{"post_type":"","post_action":"","post_type_icon":"","background_image":""},"bb_bookmark":{"bookmark_id":0,"is_bookmarked":false,"bookmark_date":0},"app_bookmark":{"bookmark_id":0,"is_bookmarked":false,"bookmark_date":0},"comments_count":"3","content_native":[{"type":"core\/paragraph","render":"
A powerful way to embrace lament is by engaging in corporate or communal sorrow. While we understand that grieving is often a very private road, if we do not feel like we are a part of a community that sees and invites us to share or articulate our grief as best we are able, our grief process won\u2019t be private, it will be lonely and isolating. We will begin to feel alone and unwanted. We will feel like we don\u2019t belong unless we \u201cget over\u201d or \u201cget it together\u201d so as not to disturb others with our genuine grief and sadness.<\/p>","content":[{"type":"text","data":"A powerful way to embrace lament is by engaging in corporate or communal sorrow. While we understand that grieving is often a very private road, if we do not feel like we are a part of a community that sees and invites us to share or articulate our grief as best we are able, our grief process won\u2019t be private, it will be lonely and isolating. We will begin to feel alone and unwanted. We will feel like we don\u2019t belong unless we \u201cget over\u201d or \u201cget it together\u201d so as not to disturb others with our genuine grief and sadness."}],"data":[],"style":{"textAlign":"left","color":"","dropCap":false,"parent_style":{}}},{"type":"core\/paragraph","render":"
This is why lament is such a beautiful thing, because it includes a public and communal expression of grief. It invites us to \u201cweep with those who weep\u201d, (Rom. 12) without judging or bringing commentary on their particular sorrow. If we are truly one body, when someone in our community hurts, the most powerful thing we can do isn\u2019t bringing them a meal, or a prayer (those things are important), it\u2019s acknowledging and entering into their pain with them.<\/p>","content":[{"type":"text","data":"This is why lament is such a beautiful thing, because it includes a public and communal expression of grief. It invites us to \u201cweep with those who weep\u201d, (Rom. 12) without judging or bringing commentary on their particular sorrow. If we are truly one body, when someone in our community hurts, the most powerful thing we can do isn\u2019t bringing them a meal, or a prayer (those things are important), it\u2019s acknowledging and entering into their pain with them."}],"data":[],"style":{"textAlign":"left","color":"","dropCap":false,"parent_style":{}}},{"type":"core\/paragraph","render":"
How do we practice this together today?<\/p>","content":[{"type":"text","data":"How do we practice this together today?"}],"data":[],"style":{"textAlign":"left","color":"","dropCap":false,"parent_style":{}}},{"type":"core\/paragraph","render":"
Here\u2019s what we invite you to do: write in the comments of this post something you are sad about that you\u2019ve been grieving in your heart. Maybe it\u2019s something larger we are all facing together, or something in your family or personal to your heart.<\/p>","content":[{"type":"text","data":"Here\u2019s what we invite you to do: write in the comments of this post something you are sad about that you\u2019ve been grieving in your heart. Maybe it\u2019s something larger we are all facing together, or something in your family or personal to your heart."}],"data":[],"style":{"textAlign":"left","color":"","dropCap":false,"parent_style":{}}},{"type":"core\/paragraph","render":"
We invite each one of us to share with vulnerability and specificity in a place of safety. The challenge in this as a community is how we respond to each person\u2019s pain. Can we engage in corporate sorrow?<\/p>","content":[{"type":"text","data":"We invite each one of us to share with vulnerability and specificity in a place of safety. The challenge in this as a community is how we respond to each person\u2019s pain. Can we engage in corporate sorrow?"}],"data":[],"style":{"textAlign":"left","color":"","dropCap":false,"parent_style":{}}},{"type":"core\/paragraph","render":"
If something someone is sad over doesn\u2019t resonate with you, or is from a different perspective than you, can you enter in? Can you empathize? Can we weep with them and walk in harmony with them regardless?<\/p>","content":[{"type":"text","data":"If something someone is sad over doesn\u2019t resonate with you, or is from a different perspective than you, can you enter in? Can you empathize? Can we weep with them and walk in harmony with them regardless?"}],"data":[],"style":{"textAlign":"left","color":"","dropCap":false,"parent_style":{}}},{"type":"core\/paragraph","render":"
People don\u2019t need our commentary, they need our compassion.<\/p>","content":[{"type":"text","data":"People don\u2019t need our commentary, they need our compassion."}],"data":[],"style":{"textAlign":"left","color":"","dropCap":false,"parent_style":{}}},{"type":"core\/paragraph","render":"
As people share things they are hurting over, your response shouldn\u2019t be to encourage them, help them by advising solutions, or defensiveness that contradict them with reasons it\u2019s wrong or misguided for them to be sad about that particular thing.<\/p>","content":[{"type":"text","data":"As people share things they are hurting over, your response shouldn\u2019t be to encourage them, help them by advising solutions, or defensiveness that contradict them with reasons it\u2019s wrong or misguided for them to be sad about that particular thing."}],"data":[],"style":{"textAlign":"left","color":"","dropCap":false,"parent_style":{}}},{"type":"core\/paragraph","render":"
Our only response should be something like \u201cI carry that sorrow too\u201d or \u201cI see you and make space for your sadness\u201d. It may not be easy, but if we show up wholeheartedly, this exercise or practice of communal lament will knit our LW community together in powerful ways.<\/p>","content":[{"type":"text","data":"Our only response should be something like \u201cI carry that sorrow too\u201d or \u201cI see you and make space for your sadness\u201d. It may not be easy, but if we show up wholeheartedly, this exercise or practice of communal lament will knit our LW community together in powerful ways."}],"data":[],"style":{"textAlign":"left","color":"","dropCap":false,"parent_style":{}}}],"app_access":{"can_access":true,"restrict_message":null},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lwrv.org\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lwrv.org\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lwrv.org\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lwrv.org\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/551"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lwrv.org\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59935"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lwrv.org\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59935\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lwrv.org\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lwrv.org\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lwrv.org\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lwrv.org\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}