{"id":22342,"date":"2023-04-19T07:47:43","date_gmt":"2023-04-19T11:47:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=22342"},"modified":"2023-04-19T07:54:45","modified_gmt":"2023-04-19T11:54:45","slug":"22342","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=22342","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-embed-handler wp-block-embed-embed-handler wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"How Long, O Lord How Long (Psalm 13) (Lyrics) - Sovereign Grace\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Oo5Kgbj_BZs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A Cry to God<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><em>For Ugandan theologian Emmanuel Katongole and peacemaker Chris Rice, lamentation is a profound cry to God. It echoes through the Bible and generations of all who suffer and ask, \u201cHow long, O Lord?\u201d:&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We are called to learn the anguished cry of lament.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lament is the cry of Martin Luther King Jr. [1929\u20131968] from his kitchen table in Montgomery after hearing yet another death threat: \u201cLord, I\u2019m down here trying to do what\u2019s right\u2026. But Lord, I must confess that I\u2019m weak now, I\u2019m faltering. I\u2019m losing my courage. Now, I am afraid\u2026. I am at the end of my powers. I have nothing left. I\u2019ve come to the point where I can\u2019t face it alone.\u201d [1]&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It was not a cry in isolation but rather a tradition King had learned from generations of African American families who were literally torn apart by slavery. The cry of lament had been passed down to him in the music of the Christian spiritual, \u201cSometimes I feel like a motherless child \u2026&nbsp;a long way from home.\u201d&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lament is the cry of the psalmists of Israel in exile who, feeling abandoned by God, demanded, \u201cWhere are you, Lord?\u201d Or the psalmists who were bothered by God\u2019s remarkably bad sense of timing: \u201cWhy are you taking so long?\u201d \u201cThe poor are being crushed. The wicked are winning. Don\u2019t you see it?\u201d The twin sisters of Psalms are prayers of praise and lament, and they are always walking hand in hand, sometimes singing, sometimes crying.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Lament is not despair. It is not whining. It is not a cry into a void. Lament is a cry directed to God<\/strong>.<strong> It is the cry of those who see the truth of the world\u2019s deep wounds and the cost of seeking peace. It is the prayer of those who are deeply disturbed by the way things are. We are enjoined to learn to see and feel what the psalmists see and feel and to join our prayer with theirs. <\/strong>The journey of reconciliation is grounded in the practice of lament.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The prophet Jeremiah writes of Rachel\u2019s lamenting \u201cvoice in Ramah\u201d that can only weep at the world\u2019s suffering:&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A voice is heard in Ramah,&nbsp;&nbsp;<br>lamentation and bitter weeping.&nbsp;<br>Rachel is weeping for her children;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br>she refuses to be comforted for her children,&nbsp;<br>because they are no more. (Jeremiah 31:15)&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The voice from Ramah<strong>\u00a0<em>refuses to be consoled<\/em>.<\/strong> These are profound words in a world full of easy ways of consoling ourselves. <strong>Rachel\u2019s cry refuses to spiritualize, explain away, ignore or deny the depth and truth of suffering in this world.<\/strong> She rejects soothing words and \u201ccan\u2019t we all just get along\u201d sentiments. Her refusal <strong>takes seriously the rupture and wounds of the world as well as the deep cost of seeking healing. It is a protest against the world as it is and the brokenness that seems so inevitable. Rachel allows the truth to shake her to the very core. <\/strong>And she is remembered for this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/image-5-500x296.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-22343\" width=\"832\" height=\"493\" srcset=\"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/image-5-500x296.png 500w, http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/image-5-300x178.png 300w, http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/image-5-768x455.png 768w, http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/image-5-1536x909.png 1536w, http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/image-5-2048x1212.png 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 832px) 100vw, 832px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>You have searched me,\u00a0Lord,<br>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0and you know\u00a0me.<br><sup>2\u00a0<\/sup>You know when I sit and when I rise;<br>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0you perceive my thoughts\u00a0from afar.<br><sup>3\u00a0<\/sup>You discern my going out\u00a0and my lying down;<br>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0you are familiar with all my ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><sup>12\u00a0<\/sup>For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror;\u00a0then we shall see face to face.\u00a0Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><sup>22\u00a0<\/sup>This righteousness\u00a0is given through faith\u00a0in<sup>[<a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Romans%203%3A22&amp;version=NIV#fen-NIV-28014a\">a<\/a>]<\/sup>\u00a0Jesus Christ\u00a0to all who believe.\u00a0There is no difference between Jew and Gentile,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Surely you have granted him unending blessings<br>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0and made him glad with the joy\u00a0of your presence.<a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=1%20Corinthians%2013&amp;version=NIV\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Cry to God For Ugandan theologian Emmanuel Katongole and peacemaker Chris Rice, lamentation is a profound cry to God. It echoes through the Bible and generations of all who suffer and ask, \u201cHow long, O Lord?\u201d:&nbsp; We are called to learn the anguished cry of lament.&nbsp;&nbsp; Lament is the cry of Martin Luther King [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22342"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22342"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22342\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22348,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22342\/revisions\/22348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}