Grief and Hope - September 9
Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 50; PM Psalm [59, 60] or 8, 84; 1 Kings 18:1-19; Phil. 2:12-30; Matt. 2:13-23
During the summer of 2020, in this collection of daily reflections, I wrote about a lecture that I heard where Walter Brueggemann claimed that nostalgia leads to violence. He argued that our misremembering the past will ultimately lead to violent actions. While he was speaking to a group of fellow clergy in 2015, I think some of his words have been lived out over the last several years. We have seen the agitation lived out when groups try to return to what they believe was a better past without acknowledging the faults of prior conditions.
His solution was simple and two-part. We should read Scripture together. And, instead of trying to return to the past, we should grieve what we have lost. This in itself is a very Christian response. We grieve the loss of life so that we can then grow and find hope in God’s eternal promises. But grief is necessary. He ended by suggesting that if God is a part of everything, how can God still not be working to make something new.
I think Brueggemann point could be taken one step further by asking us to consider what happens to a world that refuses to grieve? I’ve been wondering a lot about the collective 18 months and the lack of opportunity to set aside a time to acknowledge loss. We all seem so eager to get back to what was before, maybe because we believe that if we can get back to what was before, all things will be well. We have yet to really grieve what we have lost.
The Gospel today is a powerful and painful story. We hear the wails of Rachel who can no longer be consoled after the loss of her children (Matthew 2:18). In 2009, the General Convention of the Episcopal Church authorized a work called Rachel’s Tears, Hannah’s Hopes to be an official addendum to the Book of Common Prayer. This separate book is a beautiful collection of prayers that respond to some of the most tragic moments in many lives, prayers that address the loss of child, pregnancy, or miscarriage. Now, when I hear the cries of Rachel, I am always reminded of Hannah’s hope as well (1 Samuel 1:2 – 2:21). I’m grateful for the resources and have found so much hope in the prayers in my own life. Those prayers are a reminder of God’s hope that always is in front of us, even when being honest about the loss of pain we feel.
Rachel’s tears are an invitation to grieve, to acknowledge pain, to mourn loss and life. But our faith always offers hope. A wondering today might be to ask if we were to provide the space to grieve what we have all lost, would that pave the way to finding more hope in the promise of our faith? At the very least, it might be a more faithful approach than trying to get back to where we once were.
Faithfully,
John+
Questions for Self-Reflection: “What are the things that you consider having lost recently? What changes in your life are hard to come to terms with?”
Daily Challenge: Write down three truths that you don’t want to admit. Consider the power of naming those truths in the longer plan of hope and healing.