SPEAKER_07: Well, good morning.
SPEAKER_07: My name is Adam Caseel.
SPEAKER_07: I'm the lead pastor here on staff.
SPEAKER_07: Our mission is to encounter the love and power of God and give it away to the world.
SPEAKER_07: If you are new or looking to get more connected, the best thing that you could do is to uh fill out a connect card.
SPEAKER_07: Either scan the QR code that's on the screen right now, fill that out digitally, or there is a hard copy right in front of you.
SPEAKER_07: If you want to fill that out, drop that in the offering um box or take that out to the welcome desk.
SPEAKER_07: We'll add you to our weekly email.
SPEAKER_07: That's a great way to stay informed on various ministries that are meeting in the upcoming week and upcoming events that we have, maybe uh unique events.
SPEAKER_07: So Marshall Calhoun updates that every week for our email.
SPEAKER_07: So you definitely want to have that.
SPEAKER_07: Also, you should have received a bulletin.
SPEAKER_07: Hard copy.
SPEAKER_07: Information comes in hard copy now, too.
SPEAKER_07: So uh that's another place to know what is coming up, not only for this week, but future weeks.
SPEAKER_07: Uh, if you are a first-time guest, would you bravely raise your hand?
SPEAKER_07: We have a gift for you.
SPEAKER_07: We're not gonna ask anything of you.
SPEAKER_07: We just we have a gift for you, a little coffee mug with some treats, information.
SPEAKER_07: All right.
SPEAKER_07: Um couple of things before I get into my message.
SPEAKER_07: As we to let you know, as an update, um, today formally ends our Inhabit the Space Capital campaign.
SPEAKER_07: So over the last two years, we asked you to give above and beyond your normal giving over the next two years.
SPEAKER_07: Well, that was May of 2024.
SPEAKER_07: So that that is formally completed.
SPEAKER_07: Thank you so much to all of you who have given.
SPEAKER_07: We'll celebrate this next month.
SPEAKER_07: But if you have automatic giving set up, it didn't feel right to not say anything.
SPEAKER_07: So if you want to make an adjustment uh to your giving, here's your heads up.
SPEAKER_07: If you're doing that through breeze, um email me and I can uh make sure to cancel that for you.
SPEAKER_07: If you still uh have not fulfilled your pledge and want to be able to give, good news.
SPEAKER_07: You can do so.
SPEAKER_07: We'll we'll gladly accept those gifts.
SPEAKER_07: We we do have some more work uh that we want to be done.
SPEAKER_07: So if you're able to give, um, that will help us on that.
SPEAKER_07: Uh so with that, uh Joy, if you want to come on forward.
SPEAKER_07: Uh last week I mentioned we have a new administrative assistant, uh Joy Walston.
SPEAKER_07: So yeah.
SPEAKER_07: Um so I mentioned her last week, she mentioned it in the email, but I just wanted to bring her up so you have a face with a name and I'll I'll pray for her.
SPEAKER_07: And just to let you all know, if there's a building-related thing, I know you're used to contacting me.
SPEAKER_07: It's joy.
SPEAKER_07: With great joy, I get to say it's joy.
SPEAKER_07: If there's a uh a reimbursement that you need or payment for services rendered, it's joy.
SPEAKER_07: All the administrative stuff that I did is now uh joy.
SPEAKER_07: And so I'm so thankful for that.
SPEAKER_07: Uh, she does work part-time, Tuesdays through Thursdays, 9 a.m.
SPEAKER_07: to 3 p.m.
SPEAKER_07: So if you contact her on a Friday, it's gonna be a few days until you hear from her.
SPEAKER_07: So we're real excited to have her on staff.
SPEAKER_07: And so, like I said, I just wanted you all to have a face with a name and just to pray her, pray for her and bless her.
SPEAKER_07: And so if you just want to extend a hand in agreement, a blessing.
SPEAKER_07: So, Jesus, thank you so much for joy.
SPEAKER_07: Thank you for the various ways that you've gifted her.
SPEAKER_07: Thank you for bringing her not only to this church, uh, but to be on staff.
SPEAKER_07: And we we know that um she will be such a blessing to us.
SPEAKER_07: We've experienced it as a staff and for a church, and um so just ask for your anointing on her in this role, um, and that it would be one of just great enjoyment and seeing your hand working with and through her.
SPEAKER_07: And it's in Jesus' name we pray.
SPEAKER_07: Amen.
SPEAKER_07: All right.
SPEAKER_07: Thanks, Joy.
SPEAKER_07: All right.
SPEAKER_07: Well, let's do this.
SPEAKER_07: Let's stand up, find somebody you have not met, look them in the eye, smile, and say, I'm glad you're here.
SPEAKER_07: So about nine to eleven years ago, I don't remember the exact year, I went to a conference in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
SPEAKER_07: I was at that time living in Cincinnati, Ohio.
SPEAKER_07: And so I went with seven other people.
SPEAKER_07: We were in a 12-passenger van, and I didn't really actually know hardly any of these uh individuals.
SPEAKER_07: So as we're in the car together, getting to know each other, one of the women who was in that van had recently graduated from seminary and gotten certified as a hospital chaplain.
SPEAKER_07: And she made this statement that resonated really loudly with me and has obviously stuck with me since.
SPEAKER_07: She said, grief is the one emotion that will not be denied.
SPEAKER_07: Now, I don't know if that's true.
SPEAKER_07: I don't know if it's the the one emotion.
SPEAKER_07: Maybe there's others, and I don't know if it's true that it won't be denied, but I think there's enough truth in that statement for us to consider the how powerful grief is.
SPEAKER_07: As I was preparing for this message, I came across a 2024 Psychology Today article.
SPEAKER_07: And in it, the author, actually quoting another study, said, It's estimated that 84% of people who experience a loss report that it negatively affects their daily lives, either physically, emotionally, or both.
SPEAKER_07: This author writes from personal experience because within a few years period, her father passed away.
SPEAKER_07: Her nephew that she was closest to died suddenly and tragically.
SPEAKER_07: Uh, her brother lost his long-term battle with cancer.
SPEAKER_07: Her dog died, and then she got divorced.
SPEAKER_07: And she said that after her divorce, that actually hit her the hardest.
SPEAKER_07: She started experiencing severe and unexplained back pain.
SPEAKER_07: And when she went and got an MRI, what it revealed is that she had multiple bulging disks in her back.
SPEAKER_07: Uh she said, um, like I said, the the divorce hit her the hardest.
SPEAKER_07: And what this reminds us of is that we are integrated beings.
SPEAKER_07: If we don't process our grief, then we carry it with us.
SPEAKER_07: And at some point, it leads to debilitating ramifications.
SPEAKER_07: The author is an avid hiker and she uses this analogy.
SPEAKER_07: She said, when we have a moment of grief and we don't process it, it's like picking up a rock and putting it in our backpack.
SPEAKER_07: And these rocks are of different sizes, but at some point we take on one that's too much.
SPEAKER_07: It's the straw that breaks the camel's back.
SPEAKER_07: Now, you don't have to have gone through something as significant as what this author did to have the right or the need to grieve.
SPEAKER_07: In fact, every loss needs to be grieved.
SPEAKER_07: I'm going to say that again.
SPEAKER_07: Every loss needs to be grieved.
SPEAKER_07: Now there is a continuum with regard to loss in terms of how significant it might be, from relatively minor to quite significant.
SPEAKER_07: So depending on that, would determine how much time we need to spend grieving and what that might ask of us.
SPEAKER_07: But every loss needs to be grieved.
SPEAKER_07: You may have heard it said that comparison is the thief of joy.
SPEAKER_07: I'm going to submit to you that comparison is also the thief of properly grieving.
SPEAKER_07: A few years ago, when I was still in Cincinnati, very briefly, it was after our church plant had not worked out, and I was doing a job that I hated.
SPEAKER_07: But I was back on staff part-time with the church that had sent me out, and we were doing some work as a staff on emotional health.
SPEAKER_07: And the guy who was leading it uh was talking about what are we grieving right now?
SPEAKER_07: And I knew it was the forefront of my mind.
SPEAKER_07: And simultaneously, I knew what it was that I really had not processed.
SPEAKER_07: I was still in the midst of grieving.
SPEAKER_07: And at the same time, I'm kind of uh, I guess, shaming myself because two seats over is a woman named Laura.
SPEAKER_07: Laura, uh, her uh leg muscles had significantly atrophied.
SPEAKER_07: She needed two walking sticks to be able to move.
SPEAKER_07: Uh she had two really young kids, and this uh issue with her legs was a fairly recent development, and I don't remember the timeline, but either her husband had recently passed away from cancer or was near the end.
SPEAKER_07: So I'm thinking, how can I be grieving this when Laura is going through what she is?
SPEAKER_07: That simultaneously I'm thinking I would take my situation a hundred times out of a hundred over Laura, and this is something I needed to grieve.
SPEAKER_07: So uh this morning we're gonna do something a little bit different because I've invited Scott McElroy to come and to teach with me.
SPEAKER_07: So I'm gonna talk about grief, and then he's gonna come up and talk about this practice.
SPEAKER_07: And um, Scott, if you didn't know, is doing a uh creative compassion project this year, different events uh throughout the year.
SPEAKER_07: And so a couple of weeks ago, he had a worship night, uh healing through worship and the arts and focused on lament.
SPEAKER_07: And I knew when I was there that I needed to have Scott come be a part of this and lead us in a couple of um exercises that we did that night.
SPEAKER_07: So if you have a Bible, turn with me to Matthew 26.
SPEAKER_07: Uh these will be on the screen.
SPEAKER_07: But as you're turning there, as a reminder, we are in a series called Life to the Fullest.
SPEAKER_07: And this is a series on mental health.
SPEAKER_07: Um, and we're doing this because the Lord cares about every part of us, including our mental health.
SPEAKER_07: He wants us to live life to the fullest, which means addressing uh those areas that adversely affect our mental health and inhibit fullness of life.
SPEAKER_07: As a church, we really want to reduce the stigma around uh mental health and that this be a place that we can talk openly about these things and not be assumed that it's because you're lacking faith or you're stuck in sin or that sort of thing, but um because there's a number of reasons why we might be having our mental health affected.
SPEAKER_07: Um so as we've gone through the first week, we talked about how uh our mental health is a part of our soul, and actually talking about mental health is soul care.
SPEAKER_07: The next week Randy talked about um using our how we view our pain and moving from victim to witness to active participant.
SPEAKER_07: And then Cheryl Hanowt talked about um G having encounters with Jesus and his people, his church to heal our broken hearts.
SPEAKER_07: And then last week I looked at how we all have these narratives running in the background.
SPEAKER_07: Oftentimes we're unaware of them, and that can lead to, as we interact with others, conflict and hurt, which obviously affects our mental health.
SPEAKER_07: So, with that, let's look at Matthew 26, verses 36 to 46.
SPEAKER_07: Um, I'll read these and then pray.
SPEAKER_07: Matthew writes, Then Jesus went with the disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, Sit here while I go over there and pray.
SPEAKER_07: He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and agitated.
SPEAKER_07: Then he said to them, My soul is deeply grieved, even to death.
SPEAKER_07: Remain here and stay awake with me.
SPEAKER_07: And going a little farther he threw himself on the ground and prayed, My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me, yet not what I want, but what you want.
SPEAKER_07: Then he came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, So could you not stay awake with me one hour?
SPEAKER_07: Stay awake and pray, that you may not come into the time of trial.
SPEAKER_07: The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
SPEAKER_07: Again he went away for the second time and prayed, My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.
SPEAKER_07: Again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy.
SPEAKER_07: So leaving them again he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words.
SPEAKER_07: Then he came to the disciples and said to them, Are you still sleeping and taking your rest?
SPEAKER_07: Now the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed in the hands of sinners.
SPEAKER_07: Get up, let us be going.
SPEAKER_07: Look, my betrayer is at hand.
SPEAKER_07: Father, you are the God of all mercies and Father of all consolation.
SPEAKER_07: Jesus, you walk the earth as a man acquainted with sorrows and deepest grief.
SPEAKER_07: Holy Spirit, you are rightly called our Comforter.
SPEAKER_07: We ask you to come to us at this time and meet us in our places of grief, sorrow, hurt, and trauma, and to bring your healing.
SPEAKER_07: You are trustworthy, and I ask you for courage to be given so that we can release to you what we need to release.
SPEAKER_07: In your name we pray.
SPEAKER_07: Amen.
SPEAKER_07: So we're gonna look this morning at how grief is a natural part of life in this world, and that the Lord has given us a way to process it in a healthy way.
SPEAKER_07: So I'm gonna look at Jesus' most poignant experience of grief, and then Scott's gonna come up and talk about how we process this grief.
SPEAKER_07: So again, grief is a natural part of life in this world, and the Lord has given us a way to process it in a healthy way.
SPEAKER_07: So again, Jesus' most poignant experience of grief is what we saw in these verses from Matthew 26.
SPEAKER_07: So notice Jesus tells his three closest disciples that he is deeply grieved.
SPEAKER_07: He even goes on to say that it's to the point of death.
SPEAKER_07: And he asks them to stay awake with him.
SPEAKER_07: To be honest, for a long time I thought of Jesus more like a Jedi master.
SPEAKER_07: Right?
SPEAKER_07: Like he was, he would be one to say, Blessed are those who are mindful of their feelings, for they know that they can deceive you.
SPEAKER_07: And even seeing that unpleasant emotions, if we feel those, it means that we're lacking faith.
SPEAKER_07: Because faith is opposed to feeling unpleasant emotions.
SPEAKER_07: That was the perspective I had.
SPEAKER_07: This passage flies in the face of that false belief.
SPEAKER_07: Notice Jesus does three things in this passage.
SPEAKER_07: He's aware of and names his emotions, he invites others into his grief, and he prays by making a clear request and trusting his father.
SPEAKER_07: Matthew says that Jesus is grieved.
SPEAKER_07: This word means he's feeling physical pain and emotional suffering.
SPEAKER_07: That he's agitated.
SPEAKER_07: This is deep anguish.
SPEAKER_07: And then he even explicitly tells the disciples he's deeply grieved.
SPEAKER_07: This is a different word.
SPEAKER_07: It's a good translation of this Greek word.
SPEAKER_07: It can also mean exceedingly sorrowful.
SPEAKER_07: And then again, he gets gives the fuller extent of it by saying, even to death.
SPEAKER_07: I'm not just grieved, like I'm on the point of dying.
SPEAKER_07: So notice he's named and is fully feeling his emotions.
SPEAKER_07: He's experiencing his grief in real time.
SPEAKER_07: He's not pushing it off, saying, I'll be able to deal with this later.
SPEAKER_07: He gives clear instructions to the three, and then he he goes and he prays.
SPEAKER_07: And that's a part of his experiencing his grief.
SPEAKER_07: Again, before his first prayer, he he asks of his disciples, stay awake with me.
SPEAKER_07: He makes his request known.
SPEAKER_07: He invites others into what he's experiencing.
SPEAKER_07: And then he goes away and he makes a specific request and he and he expresses trust.
SPEAKER_07: Now notice this translation says he threw himself on the ground.
SPEAKER_07: It's literally he fell on his face.
SPEAKER_07: Like Jesus was just holding himself up until he got to the place where he could pray and he collapsed.
SPEAKER_07: It's also the word used for somebody who dies on the battlefield.
SPEAKER_07: There's no life left in him.
SPEAKER_07: He's not piously taking a knee.
SPEAKER_07: He's crumpled on the ground.
SPEAKER_07: He goes and he prays again, Father, take this cup from me, yet not what I will, but what you will.
SPEAKER_07: Specific request, and he trusts the Father.
SPEAKER_07: When he comes back to his to the disciples in between his first and second prayers, he sees them sleeping.
SPEAKER_07: He asks the question, So you could not stay awake with me one hour?
SPEAKER_07: He's expressing his hurt, but that hurt is not in control, causing him to fly into a rage.
SPEAKER_07: I think if that was me, I would have come back, like, are you serious?
SPEAKER_07: I made one request.
SPEAKER_07: Do you guys know what's going to happen?
SPEAKER_07: Jesus doesn't do that.
SPEAKER_07: He's feeling what he's feeling, but yet communicates with them.
SPEAKER_07: He re-extends the invitation and he offers another step.
SPEAKER_07: Stay awake and pray.
SPEAKER_07: He goes and for the second and third time he prays the same thing.
SPEAKER_07: My father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.
SPEAKER_07: Again, specific request.
SPEAKER_07: And he's trusting his father.
SPEAKER_07: But notice here, in between the second and third prayers, Jesus comes back, he sees his disciples sleeping, and he doesn't say anything.
SPEAKER_06: I wonder what Jesus is feeling in that moment.
SPEAKER_07: I want to caution us against thinking it's disappointment, because that has to do with unmet expectations, and who knows what Jesus' expectations were.
SPEAKER_07: But I think we can say he's hurt.
SPEAKER_07: He made a reasonable request to his three closest friends in his greatest time of need, and they could not meet the need of the hour.
SPEAKER_07: That hurts.
SPEAKER_07: So Jesus goes, he prays again, and when he comes back, he again opens with a question Are you still sleeping and taking your rest?
SPEAKER_07: And then essentially it's happening.
SPEAKER_07: This passage gives us a glimpse into how Jesus experienced his grief in real time.
SPEAKER_07: Again, he named and felt his emotions.
SPEAKER_07: He invited others into the grief that he was experiencing.
SPEAKER_07: And then he prayed, making specific requests, and he trusted God in the midst of it.
SPEAKER_07: About 14 years ago, um, as Carrie and I were leading a small group, uh, we had three young boys and we were transitioning into our church plant.
SPEAKER_07: And very unexpectedly we had a miscarriage.
SPEAKER_07: And our um, everybody that was a part with us, there was like three people a year or two years older than me, one other person my age, and everybody else younger.
SPEAKER_07: Two of them had families, so that single income, uh, with kids, everybody else was kind of in their 20s or maybe early 30s, I guess it would have been 20s, just starting their careers.
SPEAKER_07: And the way they responded helped us process our grief.
SPEAKER_07: Because though they didn't have much disposable income, they pooled what they could and gave us a very generous financial gift.
SPEAKER_07: They brought us food, they took our boys and spent time with them so that we had uh space to grieve.
SPEAKER_07: And none of them offered platitudes of none of them came along.
SPEAKER_07: Well, at least you have three healthy boys.
SPEAKER_07: Right?
SPEAKER_07: They just allowed us to be in the midst of our grief, which helped us uh continue forward and process what we went through.
SPEAKER_07: Again, Jesus is experiencing his grief, yet it does not have control of him.
SPEAKER_07: And part of that is because Jesus knew and prayed the Psalms.
SPEAKER_00: We've been uh experimenting with Lament with the Creative Compassion project.
SPEAKER_00: And um we as as Adam mentioned, we did this um uh a couple of weeks ago.
SPEAKER_00: Um anybody there for the evening of worship?
SPEAKER_00: And it was uh it was really neat and it and and it was uh God was there and it was an experiment.
SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna do a little more experimenting today.
SPEAKER_00: Um God has given us this biblical way to process our grief, fear, and difficulties, and to be completely honest with him about them.
SPEAKER_00: And we don't understand this uh or often use this ancient form called lament.
SPEAKER_00: And it can be simply expressing our emotions about things that we don't have answers for that may be a mystery there, that may be seeming like they're never gonna end.
SPEAKER_00: Just bringing these things to God, even in our frustration, even in our anger, is an act of faith that pleases him.
SPEAKER_00: And lament can be a regular part of our Ephesians 2.10 good work that God's given each of us to do, prepared for us to do before the beginning of the world as Christians.
SPEAKER_00: Um, but no matter how hard we try uh to uh you know do the good work, there's always going to be gaps and unexpected difficulties, mysteries.
SPEAKER_00: We don't know why things are happening and not lining up like we thought they would in our Christian experience.
SPEAKER_00: And lament is there for us to be able to express those things.
SPEAKER_00: My friend Michaela Urban, who works with Crisis and Disaster Relief, and actually she's doing a um workshop with the Creative Compassion Project right after this.
SPEAKER_00: It's she's gonna tell you about what's going on in the world and how we can do something about it, and she'll also walk us through being able to express prayer and intercession and lament for that.
SPEAKER_00: And there's free food.
SPEAKER_00: So if you come tomorrow or today at 1230, it'll last until about 2.30 or so.
SPEAKER_00: But Michaela and I were talking about this, and um, she does work with organization with through her organization with um providers around the world who are dealing with, and she showed me some pictures uh as we were uh talking, as we were meeting for coffee um a couple of months ago of things that were happening in happening in um the Congo and other places that are just um wild and things that just happen all of a sudden.
SPEAKER_00: And her organization is working very hard to do everything they can.
SPEAKER_00: They have people on the ground, they're raising money, they're doing it, everything they can.
SPEAKER_00: But she said to me a line that has stuck in my head and that is really kind of informing my ministry right now.
SPEAKER_00: She said, We do all that, but the rest is lament.
SPEAKER_00: And it made me think, is lament a part of our work as Christians?
SPEAKER_00: Because we haven't thought of it that way.
SPEAKER_00: We've thought of it as just some kind of rare thing that we do every once in a while.
SPEAKER_00: But I've come to believe that it is part of our of our daily work because the we can take all these things, these things that happen in our lives that we don't know what to do with and don't have an answer for, and lament them and offer them to God on a daily basis.
SPEAKER_00: Lament can seem foreign to modern Christians.
SPEAKER_00: You know, we might think of it as a downer, as the opposite of victorious or positive and encouraging life, or even um that it shows a lack of faith.
SPEAKER_00: And I think it's worth asking why is that?
SPEAKER_00: Why do we think that way?
SPEAKER_00: How have we neglected a gift from God that can be so helpful?
SPEAKER_00: And exp we'll explore this in just a second.
SPEAKER_00: Um, for many of who's who were raised in the US and uh other Western countries, our Christianity has been influenced by, whether we know it or not, uh, at least three movements of the last few centuries.
SPEAKER_00: The first one is called the Enlightenment, um, and that was where mind was elevated over body, knowledge over mystery.
SPEAKER_00: Capitalism is the other movement, and that says that success can be quantified, uh, promotes an upwardly mobile mentality, and the other one is evangelicalism, which says that Christian Christianity should be clear, attractive, certain, uh souls need to be saved above all else.
SPEAKER_00: And all of these have their good points.
SPEAKER_00: Don't get me wrong on that.
SPEAKER_00: But suffering, trauma, vulnerability, weakness are at odds with the mastery and control of the first two influences and they're often downplayed in the last one, resulting in denial and isolation of those in pain, even in our churches.
SPEAKER_00: So, given our cultural conditioning, it's easy to miss that the biblical form of Christianity does not repress pain or weakness or suffering or struggles of all kinds.
SPEAKER_00: It acknowledges and cares for and gives voice to these things, especially through the gift of lament.
SPEAKER_00: Three of the last things that Jesus said on the cross were direct quotes from the Psalms of Lament.
SPEAKER_00: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
SPEAKER_00: Quotes Psalm 22.
SPEAKER_00: I thirst, quotes Psalm 69, and actually fulfilled the prophecy in that Psalm that says, In my thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink.
SPEAKER_00: And into your hands I commit my spirit is a direct quote from Psalm 31.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is explicitly modeling lament for us, but more than that, he's recommending it to us.
SPEAKER_00: But lament's not uh reserved for extreme situations.
SPEAKER_00: As I said, that lament can simply be expressing pain, confusion, petition, anger, or something that we just don't have answers for that may be a mystery that seem like they're never gonna end.
SPEAKER_00: I know you know you don't know what I'm talking about when I say all that.
SPEAKER_00: But God doesn't want us to bottle up these things or to stuff them.
SPEAKER_00: He wants to bring He wants us to bring them to Him in all of our rawness.
SPEAKER_00: He can handle it.
SPEAKER_00: He meant for lament to be part of the cycle of our lives and of our faith.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, expressing it keeps us healthy.
SPEAKER_00: Science has verified that it's good for us.
SPEAKER_00: Suppressing sorrow creates cognitive and physical stress.
SPEAKER_00: Expressing painful feelings like crying or vocalizing grief allows the nervous system to release built-up tension, naturally triggering a state of relaxation afterwards.
SPEAKER_00: Lament facilitates that.
SPEAKER_00: Lament can be done in private and it provides a wonderful release when you do that.
SPEAKER_00: I I highly recommend it.
SPEAKER_00: I've used my prayer journal for years to lament in, just write things in there and that are just pouring out, and uh which is one of the reasons why when I talk about prayer journaling, um that it's good to keep it private.
SPEAKER_00: Um but the biblical Psalms of Lament, of which there are 67% of the Psalms, 67% of the Psalms, most of the Psalms are lament Psalms.
SPEAKER_00: They were also meant to be done corporately together.
SPEAKER_00: This enables us to bear each other's burdens, but it also helps build our faith, strengthen feelings of unity, and cultivate authenticity.
SPEAKER_00: If you add physical motions to our lament together, like we'll try in a moment, that release is enhanced and it's it's made more concrete.
SPEAKER_00: The release is made more concrete by physical motions and it activates what science calls mirror neurons that stimulate empathy and warm feelings.
SPEAKER_00: So this morning we are going to create laments together live and spontaneously, like we did the other night.
SPEAKER_00: This is this is quite a treat.
SPEAKER_00: Kara is gonna be joining us up here and I'm gonna tell you how how it works.
SPEAKER_00: You have the the details, and I'm sure some of you have cheated and read all the things, and you know everything that we're doing.
SPEAKER_00: But we're gonna we're gonna have a chance to hear some of our your laments and join corporately in agreement with those prayers together.
SPEAKER_00: And it's gonna work like this.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna create our personal laments at your seat there.
SPEAKER_00: Then we'll have we're gonna hear a few of them and we'll we'll bring the microphone to you when when we do that.
SPEAKER_00: So uh and I think as you get caught up in this, that it'll feel more natural might now might seem kind of scary.
SPEAKER_00: And then uh when we bring it to you, as you speak your lament, Kara and the band is gonna be creating a new lament song from it spontaneously.
SPEAKER_00: And that will include a phrase that the band and the congregation will be invited to sing and repeat a few times.
SPEAKER_00: Then lament is gonna conclude with a scripture from Psalm 13 along with the motions and release.
SPEAKER_00: And as we sing Psalm 13, the congregation will be invited to stand and do a releasing movement, signifying that we give this lament to God in exchange for his peace.
SPEAKER_00: So um, Daniel, could you put that slide up that sort of shows the the release?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: So this is what this is kind of what that looks like.
SPEAKER_00: Um just to familiarize you with it.
SPEAKER_00: We've taken parts of Psalm 13, and Kara is gonna sing this line, and we'll be invited to place our hands on our heart.
SPEAKER_00: And then she'll sing the next line, and you can lift your hands from your heart to God as you says the next part.
SPEAKER_00: I give all these cares to you, and I entrust them to your hand, for you care for us.
SPEAKER_00: And then we're gonna hold their hand, hold our hands there for a moment, releasing the cares, and then bring our hands back to our heart as we say together, and I receive your peace beyond understanding.
SPEAKER_00: Blessed are you, my king, for you hold everything.
SPEAKER_00: So it's real, it's real simple, and it actually is kind of fun.
SPEAKER_00: But this is how we'll wrap up the uh laments that we're doing.
SPEAKER_00: But I want to take you through um, you've got a sheet there that says it should say, let's see.
SPEAKER_00: Well, it doesn't say anything.
SPEAKER_00: It says it should say how to lament at the top, but it's the one with the boxes that are all filled in.
SPEAKER_00: So if you look at at Psalm 13, you get kind of an idea of what um does anybody not have one of those?
SPEAKER_00: A few back there.
SPEAKER_00: Um but Psalm 13 is how much longer will you forget me, Lord, forever?
SPEAKER_00: And in this part, it's whatever comes to mind.
SPEAKER_00: You call out to God by name.
SPEAKER_00: You may want to remember a time when God has been there for you in the past.
SPEAKER_00: The second part of the psalm, how much longer will you hide yourself from me?
SPEAKER_00: How much must I endure trouble?
SPEAKER_00: How long will sorrow fill my heart day and night?
SPEAKER_00: How long will my enemies triumph over me?
SPEAKER_00: A lot of questions.
SPEAKER_00: And you put all the pain that you've been feeling into words.
SPEAKER_00: It's okay to cry and to rage at God.
SPEAKER_00: Your anger cannot hurt God's feelings.
SPEAKER_00: Your pain will never frighten God away.
SPEAKER_00: I understand that need for composure this morning, but when you're when you're alone, let it all out.
SPEAKER_00: And look at me, O Lord my God, and answer me.
SPEAKER_00: Restore my strength.
SPEAKER_00: Don't let me die.
SPEAKER_00: Don't let my enemies say, We have defeated him.
SPEAKER_00: Don't let them gloat over my downfall.
SPEAKER_00: God already knows what you're going through.
SPEAKER_00: And also to be completely honest.
SPEAKER_00: And then the way that the psalmist often wraps it up is with an affirmation of faith.
SPEAKER_00: I rely on your constant love.
SPEAKER_00: I will be glad because you will rescue me.
SPEAKER_00: I will sing to you, O Lord, because you have been good to me.
SPEAKER_00: Now we're gonna take a minute and just have you fill out what you want to there.
SPEAKER_00: If you don't want to do it, that's fine.
SPEAKER_00: And then after we do that, we're gonna have an invitation.
SPEAKER_00: If you would like to share part of this lament, just a few sentences, you'll raise your hand, Adam will come to you with the microphone, and you'll say it into the microphone.
SPEAKER_00: Kara will create a song instantly based on your lament.
SPEAKER_00: And we corporately will all join together, offering that as a prayer to God, and seeing each other and uniting behind each other's needs, and then we'll wrap that part up.
SPEAKER_00: After that, we're gonna have a chance to do our individual laments at our seats.
SPEAKER_00: So just relax and follow along.
SPEAKER_00: But take a moment and write out whatever you want.
SPEAKER_00: We'll take about a minute and a half, something like that, and then we'll hear from a few people.
SPEAKER_00: So, our first lamentor, Delena back there.
SPEAKER_05: Hey God, oh sorry.
SPEAKER_02: Hey God.
SPEAKER_02: I am caught off guard by this time of transition.
SPEAKER_02: It's happening on so many levels, and uncertainty abounds.
SPEAKER_02: Help me to stay present with you and not isolate or hide.
SPEAKER_02: I do so trust you.
SPEAKER_02: You have been my strength before, and you will be always.
SPEAKER_00: But we all feel it.
SPEAKER_00: Anyone else?
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: Restore our family to Restore our family to us.
SPEAKER_01: Protect the boys as they are away from us and now live in the camp of the unrighteous.
SPEAKER_01: As you've restored and blessed us before, we know you will do so again.
SPEAKER_03: Before I sing that one, I just want to encourage you guys if you're here and you're like, I'm not in that place.
SPEAKER_03: Use this as a time of intercession.
SPEAKER_03: Let's lift up the people who are being vulnerable and sharing what they're giving.
SPEAKER_04: Is not from you why these life all this is.
SPEAKER_00: Now, Kara's gonna transition us into this ending.
SPEAKER_03: So now we'll give it back to the Lord like it happens so much in the Psalms.
SPEAKER_03: We've put Psalm 13 to words, so we're gonna sing it.
SPEAKER_00: If you want to stand, you can.
SPEAKER_00: If you want to stay seated.
SPEAKER_00: But just try the motions.
SPEAKER_00: If you want.
SPEAKER_04: Oh I thigh on your love, O Lord, and I'll be glad for you will rescue me.
SPEAKER_04: And I've sing to you, my Lord, for you've been good to me.
SPEAKER_04: How you've been good to me.
SPEAKER_04: I give all these cares to you.
SPEAKER_04: I entrust into your head for you care for us and perceive your peace beyond understanding.
SPEAKER_04: For you hold everything.
SPEAKER_00: Carrie's just gonna play for just like two minutes.
SPEAKER_00: Take your lament.
SPEAKER_00: You can say it out loud, you can do it in your silently.
SPEAKER_00: Offer it to God.
SPEAKER_00: Psalm thirteen to our limits.
SPEAKER_04: And I rely in I Lie on your love, O Lord, and I'll be there for you will rescue me.
SPEAKER_04: And I'll sing to you, O Lord, for you've been good to me.
SPEAKER_04: How you've been good to me.
SPEAKER_04: I give all these cares to you.
SPEAKER_04: I entrust them to your head for you care for us.
unknown: Beyond understanding.
SPEAKER_04: Blessed are you my key for you?
SPEAKER_04: Hold everything.
SPEAKER_04: Blessed are you, blessed are you my key.
SPEAKER_04: For you hold everything God.
SPEAKER_07: Thanks so much, Scott, for that.
SPEAKER_07: Well, we're close to our time, so if you have kids back in the children's ministry, one of you could go get them.
SPEAKER_07: But we also want to give space.
SPEAKER_07: Maybe something has come up for you to receive prayer.
SPEAKER_07: So if we have ministry team folks who are who are in a place where they feel like they can pray for somebody else, would you would you come forward?
SPEAKER_07: I'm sure some things have come up for some of us that we want somebody just to pray with us.
SPEAKER_07: Somebody just really feeling the pain in their their chest as you were in the process of going through this lament, so it's connected to that and want to invite you to pray because I think that's the way of the Lord saying he sees you and wants to heal that.
SPEAKER_07: So we do have ministry teams available.
SPEAKER_07: If you have any other physical, emotional, or spiritual needs, our teams would love to pray for you.
SPEAKER_07: So Karen and Amy will continue playing.
SPEAKER_07: Ministry teams are up here available to pray with you.
SPEAKER_07: So you're welcome to linger if you need to go.
SPEAKER_07: May the Lord bless you and keep you.
SPEAKER_07: May the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you.
SPEAKER_07: May the Lord lift his countenance and give you rest.