I remember the shock, confusion, and grief of 9-11 vividly. This generational cataclysmic event is a marker for those who lived through it. We still ask one another: “Where were you when the Twin Towers fell?” I was sitting in an aisle seat on a Southwest airlines Boeing 737 on a runway in Kansas City, waiting in line for takeoff for a flight to Columbus, Ohio when I came to understand the gravity of the moment. I knew the first plane hit the tower, but at that time everyone thought is was a terrible accident. The last woman to board our plane walked through the aisle in nervous panic repeating the words “We’re under attack. A plane hit the second tower. We’re at war.”  A few minutes later, the pilot’s voice came over the speaker saying: “Folks, we’re really not sure all that’s going on but the tower has asked us to taxi back to the gate. We apologize for the inconvenience. Hopefully, everything will get sorted out and we’ll be on our way to Columbus.”  

We returned to the gate and sat in the plane for a few minutes. There were no smart phones, so we couldn’t check the internet to get any update. The pilot spoke again over the loud speaker, telling us that our flight would be canceled and that we’d have to de-board. He instructed us to go to the counter at the gate and they would help schedule us for the next available flight.  As we filed off the plane, I joined about 80 people gathered around the 19 inch CNN airport TV. As we watched a replay of the planes hitting the Twin Towers, a breaking report interrupted to inform us that a plane just hit the Pentagon. There was no need to reschedule my flight. I knew no flights were leaving Kansas City that day. Everything was about to change, forever. 

Church leaders told American Churches to prepare to receive a grieving public – many of whom hadn’t darkened the doors of a church for some time. They needed a place to gather to lament and many chose the Church. This posed critical questions for pastors and worship leaders: How do we prepare worship? What scriptures do we read? How do we communicate good news in the midst of sorrow?  How do we pray? Those questions weren’t the most difficult to answer. It was the question, “What songs do we sing?” which proved most perplexing. 

Popular songs of the time such as “Shout to the Lord” or “Lord, I Lift Your Name on High” just didn’t cut it for this occasion. The Nazarene hymnal (my denomination – for those who still used one) was of some help, though the majority of even its songs in it are celebratory or testimonial. Most pastors I knew chose to sing “Amazing Grace” – while not a song of lament, it was a song people knew and regularly heard at funerals. “O God Our Help in Ages Past” and “Be Still My Soul” were other popular choices. These choices however, highlighted a deeper problem. Evangelical worship is characterized mostly by an optimism that’s meant to engage, inspire, uplift, and empower. Modern evangelical worship seems designed to do the OPPOSITE of lament. 

Thus began my earnest journey in exploring the role of lament in corporate worship. One might be tempted to say, “I hear what you’re saying, but 9-11 is a unique situation that may happen once in a lifetime.” That’s likely true, but consider this sobering reality: Every Sunday at least one person is sitting in your congregation who’s grieving their own personal 9-11. There is never a Sunday in Christian worship where lament is not present among the people. The people who attend our worship services have lost loved ones, experienced relational rejection, are up to their eyeballs in debt, suffer from clinical depression, live with doubt, and question God’s goodness. The “Happy Song” and “How Can I Keep from Singing” hardly cut it for these folks. 

There is never a Sunday in Christian worship where lament is not present among the people. Click To Tweet

Don’t misunderstand me. I’m NOT anti-joy, advocating that Christian worship should be a funeral dirge, that we shouldn’t sing new songs, or should abandon creativity in worship. Christian worship is meant to be hopeful for we are a people of the Resurrection. Yet, resurrection presupposes the reality and power of sin and death in this world.  As pastor, how could I be a good shepherd and leave the grieving behind in worship?  I came to the sobering realization that most evangelical worship was unbalanced and that we were leaving people to suffer in silence, denying them access to worship. I asked and continue to ask myself: “How do I shape worship that acknowledges the lament of God’s people?”  

Here are some INITIAL SUGGESTIONS one might take in shaping holistic worship that includes lament: 

Preach the Whole of Scripture. The scriptures contain the stories of God’s people journeying through life, often getting it wrong, sometimes getting it right, and definitely lamenting. Preach series and sermons that acknowledge that life doesn’t always add up or work out neatly. People respect honest preaching, especially people who have real questions about the faith. For example, at my church, Shawnee Church of the Nazarene (Kansas City), we had a Lenten sermon series titled: LAMENT based on the book of Lamentations. We’ve also had a series in Ordinary Time titled: THE WAY OF FORGIVENESS based on various texts.

People respect honest preaching, especially people who have real questions about the faith. Click To Tweet

Utilize the Psalms. There are not many songs of lament. The good news is, we have 150 hymns sung by the early Church at our fingertips: The Psalms. The largest category of Psalms are Lament Psalms.  There are ancient ways to sing the Psalms and there are new arrangements. Read the Psalms responsively (perhaps with music playing behind it). Use the Psalms as prayers. Read the Psalm assigned by the lectionary. 

Think Seasonally. First, think about the season of the Christian year and plan a well-balanced preaching calendar that addresses various types of lament. Lent seems the most natural because its purpose is to prepare us for the cross. Advent, with it’s “holy longing for deliverance” is the second best time (and counters cultural consumer Christmas).  Portions of Ordinary Time are good for addressing the laments of broken relationships and the forces opposed to God & his people. Second, think seasons of life. What does grief look like at 20 and 80? Any kind of loss or unanticipated change brings a kind of grieving. Even good changes, like having kids, means leaving a former life behind. Most churches have multiple generations in different life stages with various laments. 

Plan Intentionally. An indirect way to aid in lament is through the orderly structure of worship (scriptural), a.k.a. your liturgy (all worship has a liturgy). Where is your liturgy taking people? How is your liturgy shaping people holistically? Grief numbs and confuses the heart and mind. Emotion and creativity are important, but imagine how difficult it is for the grieving to engage worship that is for the most part highly emotional and constantly changing. Thoughtful, intentional liturgy transcends those moments we cannot easily feel or think for ourselves.  The fixed elements of worship provide a special opportunity for those lamenting to participate. The call to worship, responsive readings, written/read prayers, the Lord’s Prayer, a benediction, saying “Amen” or “the Peace of Christ be with you” and most especially Communion are hospitable elements – giving stability and comfort to the grieving. You don’t have to think, you don’t have to feel, you don’t have to pretend – you can just “be” a part of the body of Christ.

Thoughtful, intentional liturgy transcends those moments we cannot feel or think by ourselves. Click To Tweet

Pastors, our ordination vows call us to be good shepherds of God’s people. God’s people grieve. How are you shaping worship that acknowledges the lament of God’s people?