PERMISSION TO LAMENT:
A Time to
Weep and a
Time to Laugh;
a Time to Mourn and a Time to Dance
© Grace Wiebe, EthniClay, 2003
By Grace Wiebe, Jan.2005
Intro / A
Growing Need for Laments / Permission to Grieve - Weeping
With Those Who Weep / Laments as a Preparation
for Restoration / Laments
from a Biblical Perspective /
Other Articles
Regarding Laments / What
Does It Mean to Lament? / Some
Ways that People Lament / Who
Lamented? / For
What Reasons Did People Lament?
/ Why Should We
Lament? / Why
Do People Lament Today? / Some
of God's Responses to Our Laments
/ Some Artistic
Resources re Laments / Some
Aritlces re Laments in Various Cultures - and the use of the arts
/ Some Examples of
Laments /
(Editor's Note) - As we continue, worldwide, to experience the effects of 911, and at a time when we are freshly experiencing the raw shock and grief of the extreme human suffering that so many on our planet are going through in these days as a result of the horrific recent tsunamis, I have again been reminded of our need, as the Church, of the need for LAMENTS…something which we have tended to avoid in the Church over the past numerous decades.
As we look at Scripture and see that troubles in the world will continue to increase, it seems to me that there will be a growing need for us to learn to write and express laments and to experience the blessings of them in the midst of our pain.
Many of us live in societies that always want to be,
or at least appear, 'up'. What a disservice we have done to ourselves and
others in not allowing ourselves/them the healing aspects of lamenting. In
Ecclesiastes we are told that there is a time to laugh and a time to weep.
All of us suffer, but how often have we felt the liberty to lament - especially
corporately? Do we even recognize the difference between complaining and lamenting?
It is an important difference.
I believe that laments are/can be a gift to the Church
and the world…it is in fact a prescribed form of WORSHIP! Scripture is
full of the theme that suffering is an expected part of the Christian life.
Laments in Scripture teach us HOW to suffer in ways which honor God and help
to draw us into increasing intimacy with Him!
It is indeed time for God's artists and musicians to begin to express laments that assist the Church in worshipping God in the midst of honestly-expressed suffering. Assisting the Church in expressing her laments is also a way for the Church to be increasingly healed, and a way in which to strengthen her to help bring healing to the nations!
CONTENTS
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"For some time I have been concerned
that many of us do not know how to lament-or at least we do not often allow
ourselves to do so." -David Squires, PhD, composer and Associate Professor
of Music at TWU - quote from his article here:
A GROWING NEED FOR LAMENTS
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I find it interesting that in the past couple years or so as I have been sensing,
in my own life, a growing need for expression of pain and worship, etc. through
laments, and as I have seen increasing need for this in our own very hurting
churches and throughout societies internationally, I have also been hearing
growing numbers of similar desires voiced by friends locally and others internationally.
Included in these discussions are/have been questions about why this vital
and necessary aspect of dealing with our pain and grief has largely been neglected
or perhaps avoided by especially the western Church.
We are and have been familiar with the rich and moving spirituals of the African peoples, and it seems many of the peoples of the eastern nations are much better acquainted with expressing their pain and grief through laments. I greatly suspect that making use of such a significant form of expression of pain and worship in the midst of pain has greatly added to their ability to more quickly and more deeply work through their pain and to sustain them in the midst of on-going suffering.
On the other hand, because we in the west have generally not availed ourselves of this vital avenue of expression, I believe it has been to our detriment and we have instead tended towards an unhealthy hollowness in that area, and have often been increasingly dying in our grief and pain which often has not had the expression we have needed.
Laments, of course, or lamenting through various art forms, are not the only way to work through our pain or to sustain us in our pain, but it is a way that not only assists us in acknowledging and feeling/facing our pain personally, but helps connect us to others in pain as well.
As there is increasing pain and persecution around the globe, and as we move further into the prophetic fulfillment of the book of Revelations and others, will there not be an increasing need for laments, through various genres and expressions of art, to help to sustain us in the pain, to enable us to encourage our brothers and sisters, to assist in the road to healing and to provide a way to reach out with God's healing touch to the many hurting around us?
PERMISSION TO GRIEVE - WEEPING WITH
THOSE WHO WEEP
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Many nations have specific grieving processes they go through when someone
dies. They have mourners; they weep and wail. They have an allotted amount
of time in which they wear mourning clothes and are given public permission
to grieve.
However, in our western cultures, we are generally not given permission to do so. I personally wish that in our culture we would learn to give each other permission to grieve. We seem to do very poorly at that. We expect people to 'get over' a death, for example, in the days or week or so following a funeral, it seems.
The Bible says we're not to grieve AS THE WORLD does, but I do not believe it says, anywhere, NOT TO GRIEVE.
It seems we in the western Church have often tended to interpret that incorrectly and have tended to take it as though we're not supposed to grieve. Therefore, it has been very difficult for us, often, to effectively work through our grief, and I think it has been very unhealthy.
In our culture, we tend not to be able to deal well with pain and suffering, grief and losses - of any kind. We seem to prefer to suppress it because we think that is the way to show that we are victorious Christians, or we retreat into denial and pretend it's not there, or we treat it very superficially. We then wonder why our churches and people in our societies are so unhealthy emotionally and spiritually.
There is a need for us to learn how to deal with pain and suffering in constructive and biblical ways, and to learn to be able to be open about our grief in the midst of loving and caring community.
I have often thought about the way we tend to have funerals for believers in our churches, and wonder whether there might be better/healthier ways to go about them as well?
For example, in the past couple of decades or so there has seemingly been a growing trend to have a very positive and encouraging funeral service for believers. We want to honor and praise God for the life the person lived, and to rejoice in that and to be reminded of the hope we have in Christ.
However, it seems this is often done without first giving people an opportunity to grieve. If the focus of the funeral is all (or almost all) on the positive aspects, without scarcely mentioning the pain, when do the people coming to the funeral have permission to actually grieve together? When does the family have permission to grieve in public?
When one of our loved ones dies, we tend to feel like we wish the world would stop so people could acknowledge, with us, what has happened and share in our grief with us. The reality, however, is that we are often having to be back to work and 'back in the swing of things' just days or perhaps a week after our lives have been rocked by immeasurable loss. We're generally expected to 'pick up the pieces' and move ahead with 'life as usual' within a very short time, not allowing us the luxury of the mourning periods, for example, that many in other cultures experience.
The fact that we tend to be so individualistic, as well, also causes us problems in dealing with our grief. Many other cultures tend to share their experiences - joys and grief - within their communities. Again, we often do not have that experience in our western nations.
Do we not tend to stuff most of our feelings and tend to
have to slowly work through the grief on our own in the coming weeks, months
and years, instead of being able to start off being given permission to grieve
with others that are hurting about the same thing? At the same time? In such
a setting much healing can be possible as we WEEP WITH THOSE WHO WEEP. We
seem to have lost this very healing aspect of shared community.
Perhaps there is a better time and place for the rejoicing
aspects? A funeral is about the only place a person can go where they are
actually ALLOWED to grieve to SOME degree in our culture and in our churches,
YET we tend to not even allow them that privilege/necessary process even then
anymore as the growing focus is on the positive aspects. The positive aspects
are so necessary, but perhaps things can be done in a more helpful way?
It seems we want to avoid the pain altogether and we even tend to feel guilty, I think, if we DO experience grief and sorrow as believers. That should not be!
It's normal, healthy and biblical to FACE our pain and suffering and to work through it. God WANTS us to feel and own our pain and POUR OUT OUR GRIEF to Him and to bear each other's burdens, but that can't happen as long as we're stuffing our feelings of grief or are in denial about that.
There is much to be said about rejoicing with those who rejoice, and 'weeping with those who weep' - generally a lost art in the Church - at least in the west.
One of the most loving things people have done for me in my life on various occasions have been to LISTEN to me in my pain, and to WEEP with me in it. It has not happened very often, but when it has, it has been an indescribable gift of God through that person/those people.
With all the various kinds of grief I've been going through over the years - as we all do - I've certainly thought about the way it is handled.
I believe God wants to bring restoration in people's hearts in the area of being given the freedom to walk through their grief in loving, Christian community - in honesty and without guilt - and to bring a growing ability to experience the Presence of God through it in greater measure as we learn to fully grieve in biblical ways which bring us into deeper intimacy with Him through the process. I believe the use of laments is one of God's major provisions for this.
LAMENTS AS A PREPARATION FOR
RESTORATION
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Because of the depth of emotion, honesty, truth, sincerity and trust expressed
in laments to God, I believe that laments are also a necessary precursor to
true restoration - in our lives, in our cities and in our nations.
For example, if we read the first chapter of Nehemiah,
we see that before Nehemiah began the rebuilding project, he first became
aware of the great losses and damage and then wept/lamented before taking
the next steps towards rebuilding.
Because God seems to have us in a time where He is increasingly rebuilding various aspects of our lives and bringing growing restoration to His Church, perhaps this is also a reason why there seems to be a growing sense in the Church that laments are needed.
And since the arts are a very prominent way that laments can be expressed, perhaps this is one of God's provisions to help bring us into deeper restoration in these days?
LAMENTS FROM A BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVE
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In our culture, why are there so many emotional problems? And why do so many
struggle with being real with God? Does our lack of lamenting perhaps reflect
our difficulty in being honest with our pain - to ourselves, with others and
with God?
Here are some passages of Scripture
about laments, weeping, mourning and grief, etc.
(All the Scriptures below are from the NIV)
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Psalm 56:8 - Record my lament; list my tears on your scroll [ 56:8 Or [ / put my tears in your wineskin ] ] - are they not in your record?
Jeremiah 9:20 - Now, O women, hear the word of the LORD; open your ears to the words of his mouth. Teach your daughters how to wail; teach one another a lament
Ezekiel 19:14 - Fire spread from one of its main [ 19:14 Or [ from under its ] ] branches and consumed its fruit. No strong branch is left on it fit for a ruler's scepter.' This is a lament and is to be used as a lament."
Following are some very helpful articles
(click on the links to read the entire article) in this regard!
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Lamenting Songs: Weeping With
God (excellent article!!)
(strongly recommend that you read the entire article at the web site)
"A lament is quite simply an expression of grief before God. So if it is true that the Book of Psalms is the part of the bible that largely defines what worship is and what the priorities in our personal and corporate worship should be - why does the lament have no place today, generally speaking, in church worship, when over half the biblical psalms are lament psalms? It seems that not only are we not following the biblical pattern in this respect but we have ventured far from it. As a result of this our worship has become shallow and in many cases our rejoicing is quite superficial. There is a time for rejoicing in the church and in private and a time for lament. Lament is not something that belongs back in the Old Testament. The New Testament also calls us to lament in this life of struggle, sin and grief (James 4:9,10). Despite this however there is a tendency to regard lament as something that belongs in the Old Testament. Now that Christ has come, it is thought, we have joy - there is nothing to lament in this time of the new covenant. It is not hard to see that this is a false assumption. We only need to spend a moment considering why it was that the psalmists lamented in the Old Testament times and consider whether these also have application in our time:…" - see the rest of this article!
Lamentations
in the Bible - another very helpful article!
OTHER ARTICLES REGARDING LAMENTS
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The Lament
Lamenting
the Loss of Lament - Stacey Gleddie - very helpful!!
The Lament and the
Lamenter
The Hidden Hope
in Lament
…The Language of Lament - see the rest of these sections on the web page:
http://www.leaderu.com/marshill/mhr01/lament1.html
The Cry of Pain -
The Cry of Anger -
The Cry of Confusion -
God's Response to Lament -
The Place of Lament - …"
Sally
Morgenthaler's Encouragement to Songwriters to Write Laments
The Lament
- re Child Bereavement
The
Narrative Role of David's Lament
Complain
or Lament?
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO LAMENT?
---------------------------------------------------
Definitions on the web:
From HERE
+ a cry of sorrow and grief; "their pitiful laments
could be heard throughout the ward"
+ a song or hymn of mourning composed or performed
as a memorial to a dead person
+ a mournful poem; a lament for the dead
+ express grief verbally; "we lamented the death of the child"
+ regret strongly; "I deplore this hostile action"; "we lamented
the loss of benefits"
+ A mournful piece, either meant to be played at a funeral, or to commemorate
a death.
www.musicoutfitters.com/dictionary.htm
+ Generally, a sorrowful piece of music for sad occasions. More specifically,
a type of music for bagpipes played at Scottish clan funerals.
www.hearts-ease.org/cgi-bin/termsn.cgi
+ Any poem expressing mournful regret or profound grief over the loss of some
person or former state, or for some other misfortune.
www.sassoonery.demon.co.uk/litterms.htm
+ A slow, mournful instrumental tune.
www.hotdrum.net/education/terminology-6.html
SOME WAYS THAT PEOPLE LAMENT
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Genesis 50:10 - When they reached the threshing floor of Atad, near the Jordan,
they lamented loudly and bitterly; and there
Joseph observed a seven-day period of mourning for his
father
2 Chronicles 35:25 Jeremiah composed laments for Josiah,
and to this day all the men and women singers commemorate
Josiah in the laments. These became a tradition in Israel and are written
in the Laments.
Jeremiah 3:21 - A cry is heard on the barren heights, the weeping and pleading of the people of Israel…
Jeremiah 25:34 - Weep and wail, you shepherds; roll in
the dust…
Revelation 18:19 - They will throw dust on their heads, and with weeping and
mourning cry out: "
Isaiah 22:12 - The Lord, the LORD Almighty, called you on that day to weep
and to wail, to tear out your hair and put on sackcloth.
WHO LAMENTED?
----------------------------
God, King David, the people of Israel, parents, merchants, Jonathan, farmers,
Job, fishermen, etc., etc.
Jeremiah - 2 Chronicles 35:25 - Jeremiah composed laments
for Josiah, and to this day all the men and women singers commemorate Josiah
in the laments. These became a tradition in Israel and are written in the
Laments.
FOR WHAT REASONS DID PEOPLE LAMENT?
------------------------------------------------------------------
Genesis 50:10 - When they reached the threshing floor of Atad, near the Jordan,
they lamented loudly and bitterly; and there Joseph observed a seven-day period
of mourning for his father
Jeremiah 3:21 - A cry is heard on the barren heights, the weeping and pleading of the people of Israel, because they have perverted their ways and have forgotten the LORD their God
Jeremiah 9:1 - Oh, that my head were a spring of water and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night for the slain of my people
Jeremiah 9:10 - I will weep and wail for the mountains and take up a lament concerning the desert pastures. They are desolate and untraveled, and the lowing of cattle is not heard. The birds of the air have fled and the animals are gone
Jeremiah 13:17 - But if you do not listen, I will weep in secret because of your pride; my eyes will weep bitterly, overflowing with tears, because the LORD's flock will be taken captive.
Jeremiah 22:10 - Do not weep for the dead king or mourn his loss; rather, weep bitterly for him who is exiled, because he will never return nor see his native land again.
Jeremiah 25:34 - Weep and wail, you shepherds; roll in the dust, you leaders of the flock. For your time to be slaughtered has come; you will fall and be shattered like fine pottery.
Jeremiah 31:15 - This is what the LORD says: "A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because her children are no more.
Lamentations 1:16 - "This is why I weep and my eyes overflow with tears. No one is near to comfort me, no one to restore my spirit. My children are destitute because the enemy has prevailed.
Lamentations 2:11 - My eyes fail from weeping, I am in torment within, my heart is poured out on the ground because my people are destroyed, because children and infants faint in the streets of the city
Malachi 2:13 - Another thing you do: You flood the LORD's altar with tears. You weep and wail because he no longer pays attention to your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands.
Revelation 18:11 - "The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her because no one buys their cargoes any more-
Revelation 18:15 - The merchants who sold these things and gained their wealth from her will stand far off, terrified at her torment. They will weep and mourn.
Revelation 18:19 - They will throw dust on their heads,
and with weeping and mourning cry out: " 'Woe! Woe, O great city, where
all who had ships on the sea became rich through her wealth! In one hour she
has been brought to ruin!
Psalm 102:1 - Hear my prayer, O LORD ; let my cry for help come to you.
Isaiah 3:26 - The gates of Zion will lament and mourn; destitute, she will sit on the ground
Isaiah 15:5 - My heart cries out over Moab; her fugitives flee as far as Zoar, as far as Eglath Shelishiyah. They go up the way to Luhith, weeping as they go; on the road to Horonaim they lament their destruction
Jeremiah 34:5 - you will die peacefully. As people made
a funeral fire in honor of your fathers, the former kings who preceded you,
so they will make a fire in your honor and lament, "Alas, O master!"
I myself make this promise, declares the LORD .'
Jeremiah 48:36 - "So my heart laments for Moab like a flute; it laments
like a flute for the men of Kir Hareseth. The wealth they acquired is gone
Ezekiel 26:17 - Then they will take up a lament concerning you and say to you: " 'How you are destroyed, O city of renown, peopled by men of the sea! You were a power on the seas, you and your citizens; you put your terror on all who lived there
Genesis 6:6 - The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain.
Genesis 6:7 - So the LORD said, "I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth-men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air-for I am grieved that I have made them."
Deuteronomy 34:8 - The Israelites grieved for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days, until the time of weeping and mourning was over.
Judges 21:6 - Now the Israelites grieved for their brothers, the Benjamites. "Today one tribe is cut off from Israel," they said.
Judges 21:15 - The people grieved for Benjamin, because the LORD had made a gap in the tribes of Israel.
1 Samuel 15:11 - "I am grieved that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions." Samuel was troubled, and he cried out to the LORD all that night.
1 Samuel 15:35 - Until the day Samuel died, he did not go to see Saul again, though Samuel mourned for him. And the LORD was grieved that he had made Saul king over Israel.
1 Samuel 20:34 - Jonathan got up from the table in fierce anger; on that second day of the month he did not eat, because he was grieved at his father's shameful treatment of David.
2 Samuel 1:26 - I grieve for you, Jonathan my brother; you were very dear to me. Your love for me was wonderful, more wonderful than that of women.
2 Samuel 24:16 - When the angel stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the LORD was grieved because of the calamity and said to the angel who was afflicting the people, "Enough! Withdraw your hand." The angel of the LORD was then at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
Nehemiah 8:10 - Nehemiah said, "Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength." Nehemiah 8:11 - The Levites calmed all the people, saying, "Be still, for this is a sacred day. Do not grieve."
Job 30:25 - Have I not wept for those in trouble? Has not my soul grieved for the poor?
Jeremiah 42:10 - 'If you stay in this land, I will build you up and not tear you down; I will plant you and not uproot you, for I am grieved over the disaster I have inflicted on you.
Lamentations 1:4 - The roads to Zion mourn, for no one comes to her appointed feasts. All her gateways are desolate, her priests groan, her maidens grieve, and she is in bitter anguish.
Ezekiel 6:9 - Then in the nations where they have been carried captive, those who escape will remember me-how I have been grieved by their adulterous hearts, which have turned away from me, and by their eyes, which have lusted after their idols. They will loathe themselves for the evil they have done and for all their detestable practices.
Joel 1:11 - Despair, you farmers, wail, you vine growers; grieve for the wheat and the barley, because the harvest of the field is destroyed.
Acts 20:38 - What grieved them most was his statement that they would never see his face again. Then they accompanied him to the ship.
2 Corinthians 2:4 - For I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to grieve you but to let you know the depth of my love for you.
2 Corinthians 2:5 - If anyone has caused grief, he has not so much grieved me as he has grieved all of you, to some extent-not to put it too severely.
2 Corinthians 12:21 - I am afraid that when I come again my God will humble me before you, and I will be grieved over many who have sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual sin and debauchery in which they have indulged.
Isaiah 3:26 - The gates of Zion will lament and mourn;
destitute, she will sit on the ground.
Jeremiah 4:8 - So put on sackcloth, lament and wail, for the fierce anger
of the LORD has not turned away from us.
WHY SHOULD WE LAMENT?
-------------------------------------------
Joel 1:5 - Wake up, you drunkards, and weep! Wail, all you drinkers of wine;
wail because of the new wine, for it has been snatched from your lips
Joel 2:12 - "Even now," declares the LORD , "return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.
James 5:1 - Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you.
Jeremiah 7:29 - Cut off your hair and throw it away; take up a lament on the barren heights, for the LORD has rejected and abandoned this generation that is under his wrath.
Amos 6:6 - You drink wine by the bowlful and use the finest lotions, but you do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph.
Zechariah 12:10 - "And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit [ 12:10 Or [ the Spirit ] ] of grace and supplication. They will look on [ 12:10 Or [ to ] ] me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.
2 Corinthians 12:21 - I am afraid that when I come again my God will humble me before you, and I will be grieved over many who have sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual sin and debauchery in which they have indulged.
James 4:9 - Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.
Ezekiel 9:4 - and said to him, "Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it."
WHY DO PEOPLE LAMENT TODAY?
----------------------------------------------------
Same reasons
SOME OF GOD'S RESPONSES TO OUR
LAMENTS
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Comfort, tenderness
Isaiah 30:19 - O people of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you.
Jeremiah 31:9 - They will come with weeping; they will pray as I bring them back. I will lead them beside streams of water on a level path where they will not stumble, because I am Israel's father, and Ephraim is my firstborn son.
Revelation 5:5 - Then one of the elders said to me, "Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.
Isaiah 61:3 - and provide for those who grieve in Zion-
to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness
instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the
display of his splendor.
There is far more in the Scriptures about laments, weeping, wailing, grieving,
mourning, sadness, sorrow, pain, anguish, torment, woe, crying, etc. If you'd
like to check this out further, check out the online concordance at: http://BibleGateway.com
SOME ARTISTIC RESOURCES RE LAMENTS
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If you have songs of laments available, or have created other art works as
laments which you think other readers would be interested in knowing about,
please send us more info on that and include a specific web page for that
if you have one, in addition to your contact info. Many thanks - GCWAC@DiscipleTheNations.org
Please put 'LAMENTS' in the subject line. Thank you!
'LAMENTATION'
CD by Ruth Fazal
Includes: Prayer "Into The Wilderness" "Into The Wilderness"
more Sabachthani "Lamentation" "Lamentation" more "Restoration
to Fervency" "Restoration to Fervency" more Prayer
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Art & Music
Collaborate to Bring Healing Through Lamentation -
David Squires - Email - Professor
of Music, Trinity Western University, Worship Studies
In David's article at the link above, he mentions one of the projects they
have done in this regard. In communicating with him about this, he says it
has been presented a number of times now in both formats--recorded CD w. projected
images, and live w/ projection. They presented it live in Abbotsford and Vancouver
in November 2003, recorded it at TWU in Nov., and recorded it again at the
Good Friday service at 1st Baptist Church in Vancouver in 2004. If you're
interested in more info on that or in perhaps getting a copy for use in other
settings, please contact David, directly, at his email address above
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EVEN
IN SORROW: A Recorded Project for the Persecuted Church in Sudan
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Arts Camp idea: WORKSHOP: EXPRESSING YOUR SPIRITUAL JOURNEY
IN ART
GRIPING TO GOD: Praying with the Psalms of Lament - Sister Hildegard Dubnick,
OSB
For many of us, the "comfort food" of the joyful psalms of praise is very pleasant, but the numerous psalms of lament are harder to swallow. What can these ancient prayers of complaint and accusation teach us about how to pray when the going gets rough:
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SOME ARTICLES RE LAMENTS IN VARIOUS
CULTURES - and the use of the arts
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Music
and the Life Cycle/Lamenting for the Dead
Baghdad
Lament - struggling to be political with instrumental music - Gavin Borshert
SOME EXAMPLES OF LAMENTS
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Ancient Greek Women's
Laments
A Duet of the People
- Waiting for the Lament to End
A
Lament for our People -
A Sumerian Woman's Ancient
Lament to the Spirit of War -
Kenyan
Lament for the Loss of Morality -
Art During
Wartime -
The
Holocaust in Art, Music and Poetry -
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May God stir up our hearts as His artists to begin to express, more freely, the much-needed laments that we need, and which the Church and the world around us need, for His glory!
Great Commission Worship
& Arts Center