Lamentations 1:14-22: The Inverted Kingdom – Part X
Friday, January 26, 2024
Give Heed
This Favorite was written during Eastertide on May 3, 2011. We post it today as a reflection on Christ’s inverted transformation of the world, as an offering of peace in a time of trouble.
These are such sad verses; the images of the inconsolable one suffering intensely are so very difficult to sit with. We want to rush past them as we sometimes rush past those who are in pain or those who bear the visible scars of their suffering. Yet this is where Christ dwells, with the dispossessed, the broken, and those in the captivity of their addictions. We want our world to be a beautiful and ordered place. We want happy endings and bright, new beginnings. We want perfection and comfort. We look away quickly from pain and suffering. We do not want to be the least uncomfortable. We want all things in neat rows and nice packages, but life is not as tidy as we wish. And yet, when we pause to reflect, we realize that it is.
When we allow pain to convert us, as it will, when we allow God’s hands to heal us, as they will, we see that life is about reversal, inversion, irony and paradox. What appears to be lost is actually found; what we think has gone yet resides within.
Give heed to my groaning . . .
Matthew 19:30: Many who are first will be last and many who are last will be first.
There is no one to console me . . .
Psalm 126:5: Those who sow in tears will reap with cries of joy.
All my enemies rejoice at my misfortune . . .
Psalm 126:6: Those who go forth weeping, carrying sacks of seed, will return with cries of joy, carrying their bundles of sheaves.
My groans are many, I am sick at heart . . .
We are called today to give heed to the message of lamentations, to our own cries and to the cries of the bereft. We are called to take courage in the face of opposition, to the obstacles we put in front of ourselves and to those placed there by others. We are called to give heed to the sadness we experience ourselves and to the sadness we see in others for all lamentation will be transformed into happiness. Of this we can be certain, for this is the Easter message delivered by Christ.
Psalm 30:11-12: You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy that my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever.
These are such beautiful verses; the images of a God so loving that all is forgiven, all are blessed. They are so wonderful to sit with. We want to rush toward them as we rush toward the Living God.
Images from: https://fineartamerica.com/featured/giant-sunflower-in-darkness-amy-bradley.html
The Noontimes 