A Hopeful Future…Hardly
One consistent thing that we are seeing at Cyclical Full Circle is that many Christian leaders cannot see a hopeful future for their church. Many are blindsided by the last few years, carrying the heavy baggage of the past and dragging the long-term affects of a global pandemic with them into an uncertain future. The way that we previously did church doesn’t seem to be translating well today—energy levels are low, and capacity is waning. Our rhythms have changed and sadly, many of those rhythms no longer include Sunday worship.
We feel stuck, unsure about the future. We may sense an opportunity in all of this—we want to lead the new thing that God will do, but there is just too much of the old that is getting in the way of moving forward into a new future. At Full Circle, we believe that we need to widen the imagination for what our churches can become so that we can envision a new and hopeful future for our congregations. There are countless ways to widen the imagination, but I want to teach you a simple starting point—letting go of the church you were expecting to lead through the process of lament.
Widening Your Imagination Through Lament
To cry is to be human and in Romans 8, the Apostle Paul reminds us that even creation groans under the pain of a broken world. I am writing this during Advent, a season where we acknowledge that the world is not as it should be, or one day will be, when the light of the world (Jesus) returns again to finish what was started and establish eternal justice and peace. Sorrow is a big part of the human experience, and yet we struggle at times to give it voice. We may bury the pain deep, but even things that get buried have a tendency to emerge in unexpected ways.
For we are conscious that all living things are weeping and sorrowing in pain together.
Romans 8:22
The truth is that many of us were never taught how to lament, or worse, we were encouraged to not complain. Yet, Scripture speaks about people of faith having a unique way to express their loss called lament. Lament could be called suffering turned into prayer. God is never above our pain, but rather enters into our pain and joins us there.
The Structure of Lament
The Psalms offer us a trustworthy guide for our liturgical prayer during times of loss. Most of the Psalms of lament follow a simple structure. Take a look at Psalm 13 for instance:
- Turn To God – “How long, Lord?”
- Bring A Complaint – “How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart?”
- Ask For Help – “Look on me and answer me, Lord, my God. Give light to my eyes…”
- Choose To Trust – “But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the Lord’s praise for you have been good to me.”
Transformation
I recently led a retreat for a group of church/non-profit starters on widening the imagination for church. We started with lament and gave space to voicing the losses we have experienced over the past few years to try and create a new space to join God in the new things that God is doing in our churches and communities. Lamenting together wasn’t easy, and the lament bulletin board that we created together listed a litany of losses that we had experienced. We realized that we were not alone and we opened ourselves up by letting go of some things in order to focus on a hopeful future For many of the participants (including myself), it was liberating. Multiple people pulled me aside afterward to express how meaningful the time was and that it was freeing to be given permission to acknowledge the losses we had experienced as leaders.
Lament alone will not widen our imagination for what is next, but it is a good first step. Without it, we may continue to dwell in the past and feel stuck trying to move into the future.
Next Steps
- Unearth the Biblical language of lament and give your teams permission to grieve losses.
- What losses are you grieving now? Complete the sentence, “How long O Lord will…..”
- Take your completed sentences and work through the “structure of lament” listed above.
- Where is hope emerging for you/your church through this process?
- How will you lean into this hope?
Encouragement
Friends, the journey toward a more hopeful future for your church will undoubtedly be one that widens our imaginations for what God might have for us next. Perhaps a place to begin is acknowledging the losses that have come so that the past does not hold the future hostage. Grieve them and learn to let them go in order to open ourselves up to the new thing that God is doing in our midst.
Featured Art: What Color Lament? by Mary Frank
