lament: a holy moment

Sometimes God’s timing is incredible.

Last night we had our ‘hungry for God’ evening. As a church yesturday we also had a day of prayer and fasting for two main things - our up and coming building project and, more importantly, those in our congregation who are seriously ill at the moment. We have our ‘Hungry for God’ evenings once a month, where we gather to pray and seek God as a church. I love leading worship at these times - there always seems to be a huge anticipation for what God may do. And last night was no exception: the church was crammed with people wanting to meet with God.

After a time of worship at the beginning, we started to pray for those who were ill. And of the 150 or so people who came for prayer, there were many who were very seriously ill. There were others who also came forward for prayer who were representing loved ones who couldn’t be there for one reason or another.

It was one of those moments I will remember for a long time.

There I was singing and leading the band gently as others prayed, and I was able to look out over so many of my friends, some of them very close friends as they were prayed for, and as I say, some who were very ill, possibly with life threatening conditions. I was reminded again of the huge privilege it is leading worship for my church. But as I was sensing it was time to move on back into worship, the question was ‘what do I sing?’

In one sense, if ever there was a time for a song of lament, then surely this was it.

But as I stood there, I just knew that there was no way I could lead a lament. I couldn’t do that with my congregation, my friends who I loved.

I just had to sing a song of hope.

And it was as if God was confirming some of the things I have been challenged with over recent weeks. The theological exercise I had been going through was suddenly brought sharply into focus as I was faced with this very real situation.

It was a holy moment.

In that building last night we were gathered as a people with a huge range of life situations. Those dealing with painful situations were standing alongside those who were feeling stronger. We stood alongside each other and prayed with a passion. And there were many tears along the way. But last night we were still a church full of hope, and a people marked out by praise.

And as we sang a song of hope, a song of praise, the sense of God's presense was incredible. And what a testament to those who were ill and suffering that they were praising with such a passion.

I was chatting with my friend and pastor Mark Bailey and sharing what I sensed, and he also reminded me of another time in our church. We were doing the funeral of one of the church members - a lady who had died relatively young and left a husband and family. Mark said that he had talked to one of the guests, who wasn’t a Christian, after the service who said something like this: ‘I wouldn’t mind coming to this church again - I had expected it to be miserable - but it was so full of hope’.

I have enjoyed this study. It clearly has not been as extensive as those done by others. In fact some may say that I may have only scratched the surface. But I am coming to believe that the focus that so many worship leaders and theologians have been trying to give to this whole area of lament is not just unhelpful, but is a big distraction to the real mission of the church.

So my request to the 5.2 worship leaders and a dog who probably read this blog is this: Please write more songs of hope. Please write more songs of praise. Please write more songs that help raise the levels of faith and the commitment to intercession and service in the world that grow the kingdom.

And to record companies, my request is this. Please never release another album called a ‘lament for a nation’ or any such title. Please don’t. It is a distraction. Don’t worry if it means loosing out on a few sales. Seek out songs of hope and praise.

You see, the church should embody the hope that is Jesus Christ. The church should be marked out by praise. And the church should be one that seeks the extension of God’s kingdom through the passion of it’s prayers and the sweat of it’s brow.

And as a worship leader who feels his primary purpose is to serve the church, this is where I want to focus my efforts from now on.

Hope.

Praise.

Growing the kingdom.

BRING IT ON