Advent 4: December 20: Lamentations and Prayers for the "Impossible"

Lamentations 1: 1-5
Jeremiah 32: 23-27

This posting summarizes both the teaching series and the Advent quiet hour reflections on lamentations and on praying amidst chaos and destruction. We began by reading the first five verses of Lamentations, which begins:

How lonely sits the city that once was full of people! How like a widow she has become, she that was great among the nations! She that was a princess among the provinces has become a vassal. 2She weeps bitterly in the night, with tears on her cheeks; among all her lovers she has no one to comfort her;

We discussed the context of both the Lamentations and of the passage from Jeremiah: the utter destruction of Jerusalem, the Diaspora, the ruined and burnt-out lands, the utter despair.  God's order to Jeremiah, to purchase the deed to the land of his ancestors, leads the prophet to question God about why he would purchase such worthless real estate.  God responds that with God, all things are possible.
We discussed the nature of the public lament using these questions:
1. What good does it do, do you think, to lament?
2. Why or how is it that lamentations—or public expressions of grief—seem foreign to our culture.
3. If we were to bring the book of Lamentations into our own time period, what would our focus be? What would we lament?
4. Use this silence for lamentations. If you wish to write a lamentation for our time, please do. You may or may not wish to share it.
5. Using Jeremiah, how might we move from lamentation to hope?

Our answers were various in both sessions, but we agreed that public lament is an important part of acknowledging the grief we hold for ourselves and for our communities. Our discomfort with public lamentation stems from the cultural codes of behavior that Westerners are bridled with: restraint, a distaste for demonstrating public grief, our intellectual, cerebral approach to grieving. For our own time period, we would publicly lament the homeless, the lack of access to health care, the large number of incarcerated persons in this country. We remembered our public lamentations over Columbine and September 11. One person had been that very day to a memorial in Central Park for the homeless persons who had died this past year.
During our quiet hour, some of us wrote lamentations that we hope to share on this blog. We ended with the words from Jeremiah, spoken by God:

The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 27See, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh; is anything too hard for me?

Advent 3: December 13: David Prays

2 Samuel 7: 18-29

David's prayer begins:

Then King David went in and sat before the Lord, and said, “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far?

We discussed this prayer to God--not really dialogue, as we pointed out--looking at its pattern: of exuberant thanks, deference and humility, and ending with David's insistence that God fulfill his covenant with God's people. We discussed the possibility of praying in this way; many people said that their prayers are "get to the point" prayers. We found it interesting that David rehearses Salvation History--God's work in this world through the events of history, before he makes his request of God. Others mentioned that their prayers are likely to contain praise and thanks only, without making specific requests as David does here:

And now, O Lord God, as for the word that you have spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house, confirm it forever; do as you have promised. 26Thus your name will be magnified forever in the saying, ‘The Lord of hosts is God over Israel’; and the house of your servant David will be established before you. 27For you, O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, have made this revelation to your servant, saying, ‘I will build you a house’; therefore your servant has found courage to pray this prayer to you.

David was anointed as a boy and now he finds himself in the position of king, but perplexed over his direction. He points out that he has fulfilled God's will for him and is asking God to reveal God's part of the covenant to establish the House of David. We noted, as we have with the previous Old Testament prayers, that this one, while beginning on a personal level, expands beyond self into a prayer for all of Israel.

Advent 2, December 6: Hannah's Prayer of Thanksgiving

Hannah's prayer of thanksgiving for the birth of her child is a prayer for all of Israel and its future.

Here is the NRSV of 1 Samuel 2: 1-10

We read this prayer aloud, each of us reading about 4 lines.

The first two lines are:
"My heart exults in the LORD
  My strength is exalted in my God."

We immediately saw the parallel and perhaps the source of the "Magnificat," Mary's prayer of thanksgiving on hearing that she will give birth to Christ.  Hannah has been barren, and in praying for a male child, she promises that she would raise this child as a Nazarene and dedicate him at theTemple when he is three years old. She does conceive; Hannah says this prayer as she leaves her son,  Samuel, with the priest Eli, having dedicated him to the service of God.
Our discussion centered on these questions:
What kind of prayer is this? What lines are the most important for you? For whom is it encouraging? Challenging? Who are the other parties referred to in the prayer?

What kinds of prayers of thanksgiving have you offered lately? How were they similar or different? 

What would it be like if our prayers of thanksgiving had a communal aspect to them?

We noticed that a major difference is that our own prayers of thanksgiving tend to focus on us as individuals and do not often extend in to the greater community. Hannah's prayer is a prayer for the future of Israel, making it quite clear that God's work is being done in this world and that Hannah has played her part in Salvation History. We wondered what it must have felt like for her to give up this toddler when he was 3. At our Monday Advent quiet hour, we looked at the prayers of thanksgiving in the Book of Common Prayer, especially the General Thanksgiving on p. 836--and we discussed the times when our prayers of thanksgiving had been offered spontaneously and with passion.

Advent 1, Nov. 30. Moses and Prayers of Intercession

On Advent I, November 30, we looked at Moses' bold prayers:


Exodus 32: 11-13 
But Moses implored the Lord his God, and said, ‘O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, “It was with evil intent that he brought them out to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth”? Turn from your fierce wrath; change your mind and do not bring disaster on your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, how you swore to them by your own self, saying to them, “I will multiply your descendants like the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it for ever.” ’ 

Exodus 32: 31-32
So Moses returned to the Lord and said, ‘Alas, this people has sinned a great sin; they have made for themselves gods of gold. But now, if you will only forgive their sin—but if not, blot me out of the book that you have written.

We explored the questions of intercession, of Moses pleading with God to change God's mind and also of his asking God to forgive his people, even after they have made a golden calf and worshiped it.  What does intercession mean?  Can we ask God to change God's mind--or does intercession mean that our own spirit is more clearly opened, so that we ourselves can move toward fulfilling our role in God's plan, in Salvation History.  

We also noted that Moses' pleas are not for himself, not self-centered, but are for a people.


What do our prayers of intercession look like when we pray boldly?  We, as God's people, make that connection with God; we do not turn away and worship golden calves when we pray for intercession. What are your questions about this bold prayer?

December: Advent Teaching Series: Check Weekly Schedule Here

Praying Boldly: The Great Prayers of the Old Testament

Advent Teaching Series on Sundays
&
Advent Meditation Hour on Mondays

November 29 – December 21, 2009

 “Prayer is a daring act,” says Walter Brueggeman.  As we read the great prayers of the Old Testament—those of Moses, Hannah, David, and Jeremiah—we will look at these prayers as daring dialogues (not monologues) with God that declare a people’s:

• Petitions and supplications
• Thanksgivings
• Laments
• Demands: Calling God’s attention toward Israel’s people.

The great prayers of the Old Testament are bold prayers, and, as Walter Brueggmann says, make our modern-day Christian prayers seem “anemic” in comparison.  On Sundays in Advent, we will read a specific Old Testament prayer, discuss its context and characteristics, make observations, ask questions. On Mondays in Advent, we will read the prayer, move into silent meditation on that prayer, consider some questions about our own prayer life, and practice praying boldly.
Although it would be wonderful if you could, you do not have to attend Sunday’s session in order to go to Monday’s meditation hour.

Date/Bible Passage	Prayer
Advent 1: Sun, Nov. 29; Mon, Nov. 30 Exodus 32: 11-13, 31-32	Intercession: Moses pleads on behalf of his people, and asks God to change his mind about their punishment.
Advent 2: Sun, Dec 6; Mon, Dec 7 1 Samuel 2.1-10	Thanksgiving: Hannah’s Prayer of thanksgiving for the birth of her child is a prayer for all of Israel and its future.
Advent 3: Sun, Dec, 13; Mon, Dec. 14 2 Samuel 7:18-29 and selected Psalms	Dialogue with God: The prayers of David follow a distinct pattern: exuberant thanks, deference and humility, and insistence that God fulfill his covenant with his people.
Advent 4: Sunday, Dec. 20, Mon, Dec 21 Jeremiah 32: 16-25	From despair to hope: Jeremiah’s bold prayer: praying for the “impossible.”