How Do You Pray When Disaster Strikes?

As we turn to the first chapter of Lamentations, we turn to a prayer. It is written in an acrostic fashion, meaning that each verse begins with the next letter of the alphabet – from the first letter to the last. The poet wrote the prayer in this way for two reasons: to assist in memorization, and to emphasize that while this poem is written at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 586BC, it is an expression of lament for all people in all times, from what we would call A to Z. I am reading this morning Old Testament scholar, John Goldingay’s translation. While many translations try to maintain the poetry and rhythm of the Hebrew, Dr. Goldingay has translated the prayer as closely as possible to the meaning of the original Hebrew. The first 11 verses are the voice of a narrator, and the second are Jerusalem, personified as a widow, speaking about her suffering.

Listen now for the word of God:

Lamentations 1
Oh! The city sits alone, that was great with a people. She became like a widow, she who was great among the nations. She who was a queen among states became a slave.

She weeps and weeps in the night; there are tears on her cheeks. She has no comforter from all her allies. All her friends broke faith with her; they became her enemies.

Judah went into exile after affliction and hard servitude. Even when she dwelt among the nations she didn’t find a resting place. All her pursuers caught her amid her distresses.

The roads to Zion mourn, because of the lack of people coming for the set occasions. All her gateways are deserted, her priests are groaning. Her girls are suffering, and her – it’s hard for her.

Her foes became her head, her enemies are at ease. Because Yahweh made her suffer on account of the great number of her rebellions. Her infants went into exile in front of the foe.

All her glory went away from Ms. Zion. Her officials became like deer that had found no pasture. They walked without strength before the pursuer.

Jerusalem’s been mindful, in her days of affliction and wandering, of all the delightful things she had, which there were from days before. When her people fell into the hand of the foe and there was no one helping her, as the foes saw her, they laughed at her coming to an end.

Jerusalem offended and offended; therefore she became taboo. All the people who honored her treated her as wretched because they saw her exposure. Yes, she groaned and turned away.

Though her uncleanness was in her skirts, she hadn’t been mindful of her future. She went down astonishingly; she had no comforter. “Yahweh, look at my affliction, because the enemy’s triumphed.”

The foe laid his hand on all things in which she delighted. Because she saw the nations come to her sanctuary, who you commanded should not come into your congregation.

All her people are groaning, searching for bread. They gave the things in which they delighted for food to bring life back. “Look, Yahweh, pay heed, because I’ve become wretched.”

It’s nothing to you, all you who pass along the road; pay heed and look. Is there any pain like my pain, which was dealt out to me, when Yahweh made me suffer on the day of his angry blazing?

From above he sent fire, into my bones, and it overwhelmed them. He spread a net for my feet; he turned me back. He made me a desolation, faint all day long.

The yoke of my rebellions was bound on, they interweave by his hand. They came up onto my neck; he made my strength fail. The Lord gave me into the hands of people before whom I cannot stand.

The Lord in my midst threw aside all my strong men. He proclaimed a date against me for breaking my young men. The Lord trod in a press young Ms. Judah.

On account of these things I’m weeping; both my eyes are flowing with water. Because a comforter is far from me, someone bringing my life back. My children became desolate, because an enemy’s prevailed.

Zion spread out her hands; there’s no one comforting her. Yahweh commanded against Jacob his foes all around him. Jerusalem became something taboo among them.

Yahweh is in the right, because I rebelled against his word. Do listen, all you peoples, see my pain. My girls and my young men went into captivity.

I called to my friends; those people deceived me. My priests and my elders perished in the city, when they searched for food for themselves so that they might bring their life back.

See, Yahweh, how I had distress, my insides churned. My heart turned over within me, because I rebelled and rebelled. Outside, the sword destroyed; at home, simply death.

Though people heard when I was groaning, I had no comforter. When all my enemies heard of the evil that’s happened to me, they rejoiced. Because you yourself acted, you brought about the day you proclaimed – they should be like me.

All their evil should come before you – deal with them, as you dealt with me on account of all my rebellions. Because my groans are many, and my heart is faint.

This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

It was partially cloudy with good visibility, 70 degrees, December 7, 1941. The day began grey and gloomy, but the clouds cleared and it was a sunny 70 degrees, November 22, 1963. The day was unusually cold, records had been broken all over Florida, and they delayed until the temperatures were above freezing, 36 degrees, January 28, 1986. The sky was a clear, azure blue, 65 degrees and sunny, September 11, 2001.

If you lived through those days, you remember. You remember where you were when you heard. Days our nation was shocked by tragedy. Days we knew as before and after. Days that we grieved.
Oklahoma City, Columbine, Sandy Hook, Uvalde. If you lived through those days, you remember how you felt when you heard. Days our nation was shocked by violence. Days we knew as before and after. Days that we grieved.

The ice storm and tornado of ’94, Hurricane Elvis, the Germantown Flood of 2019, if you lived through those days, you remember what you did. Days our community was shocked by disaster. Days we knew as before and after. Days that we grieved.

The carjacking of Rev. Dr. Autura Eason-Williams, the kidnapping of Eliza Fletcher, a shooting rampage through the city – our community is shocked and grieving. Yet, it isn’t the first time our community has experienced terrorizing crime.

Like the survivors in Jerusalem when Lamentations was written, we are numbed by years of violence. A little background: When King Solomon, David’s son who built the first Temple in Jerusalem, died. A dispute arose over taxes. And the Kingdom of Israel split in two, there was a northern kingdom, that kept the name Israel, and a southern Kingdom, that had the city of Jerusalem within it, named Judah. Babylon and Egypt had, for years, battled over Judah. Can you imagine the fear and confusion of years and years of being “monkey in the middle” as a nation? Babylon eventually defeated Egypt and promptly invaded Jerusalem, and at that point the first deportation took place. And things remained fairly tense but quiet for about 10 years. Then, in 587, Babylon invaded Judah and the people of Jerusalem, a walled city, fought back. For two years, the people of Jerusalem fought. But after being attacked and isolated for two years, the city walls were breached, and Babylonian troops flooded the city streets. They destroyed the Temple and exiled about 1,500 more of Jerusalem’s citizens to Babylon. It wasn’t over, though. This went on for decades, skirmish, round up the people, deportation to exile, skirmish, deportation to exile, skirmish, deportation, skirmish… They were numb from “years of violence and by deaths of family members.” (O’Connor) Their political system was destroyed, and in its place was an oppressor. Their commercial system was destroyed, and in its place was scarcity. Their domestic life was destroyed, and in its place was insecurity.

Jerusalem was like a widow, vulnerable, without legal standing, a non-entity. “In Old Testament times, there were many rituals associated with mourning….singing a dirge, mourners would tear their garments, weep, wail, toss ashes or dust on their heads, and sit on the ground. That is exactly how the poet describes the woman in Lamentations. Her posture is part of ritual mourning.” But something is different, something is wrong with this picture, she is sitting alone. A mourning widow should be surrounded by a crowd of mourners, but she is alone because there is no one to comfort her. “She weeps and weeps in the night.” With no distractions, she lies awake, exhausted, but sleep won’t come, only tears, staining her cheeks, bitter tears, and she cries, “eikha.” HOW?

The first word of the prayer is a guttural cry, “eikha.” It is a cry that needs no explanation. It is a cry that bursts forth when there are no words. And it is followed by a prayer. The first chapter of Lamentations is a prayer for people who are looking around at the world and just wonder “HOW? God? How can this be redeemed?” It allows us, when we are suffering, to know that we are seen, that we are not the first to feel this pain, and we are not alone. The comfort Lamentations offers us is the comfort of a nightlight, bringing the lonely weeping of the night into the open and giving us words, raw, bitter, ragged, words to express our wounds before they are healed.

Now, in our culture, we value wealth and power and success, and hide our disappointments, our vulnerabilities, our brokenness. Theologian Douglas Hall “ asserted in a book published in 2001, so pre-9/11 that ‘covert despair – repressed hopelessness’ characterizes the spiritual condition of North American culture. Unlike the despair of the poor and afflicted around the globe who know too well that their true condition, the despair of the dominant culture of North America is a denied despair, not merely hidden by wealth and power but forcibly refused….To bring our despair into consciousness would reveal our exhausted spirits, our broken communities, and our violent relationships at home and abroad.”

I think, after the last two years, we are there. And it is to such a time as this that the prayers of Lamentations – each of the 5 chapters is a prayer – lead us toward healing. Hear again the message of Lamentations 1, and consider how it is your prayer.

Eikah – All alone, we weep. In the shower, we weep. In the dark, we weep. And for many of us, the tears just won’t come. We have held them back so long that they don’t try anymore. We are numb, and we are suffering. God, we have worshiped idols, not worrying about our future. We have sold our souls for fleeting things, and now the things that really matter, the people we really love, the things that really bring us joy, are in the clutches of the enemy, being taken away from us. We are left groaning, left just trying to have what it takes to survive. God, Look! Pay attention! I am miserable.

Oh, sure, it’s nothing to you, all you passersby. You mock me in my desperation. You see my suffering, but you don’t even raise an eyebrow. Far be it for you to actually get involved. Pay attention and look!

Is there any pain like my pain! God has let my rebellions bind me and weigh me down. God has handed me over to my enemies and removed my protection. And so, my tears are flowing, and my comforter is far from me. God is in the right. I rebelled. I did not listen to God’s Word. I refused to do God’s will.
Listen, listen all you peoples, see my pain.

See how our young people have been captured? See how the people we thought we could count on have deceived us? See how our priests and our most faithful have perished in our city?
See, God, my anxiety, my heart races, I rebelled and rebelled, and you acted. You allowed the consequences of my actions: externally, as a nation, it was the sword that destroyed, WE WERE AT WAR; internally, at home, though, it was simply death.

God, my enemies have celebrated my destruction. Deal with them, too, as you dealt with me.

My groans are many and my heart is faint.

Hear our prayer, O Lord. Amen.