Hymns of Lament

Hymns and songs of praise are some of the most powerful, transformative, and beautiful things we can experience. There are many that encourage us, motivate us, and help us to encounter Christ in worship and reflection. When our hymns are theologically sound, God centered, and musically pleasing there is almost no better way to learn theology and worship.

There is, however, one area in particular where I believe our hymns and songs are lacking. When we look at the book of Psalms we see psalms of praise, thanksgiving, and joy but we also see another type of psalm rather frequently. These are psalms of sadness, grief, and anguish. These are psalms of lament.

Out of 150 psalms 42 are psalms of lament, both individual and communal. That is almost one third of all the psalms in the Bible. The reason why is simple; grief, pain, and loss are a constant part of human life. Sadness, depression, and doubt are just as much a part of living as happiness, thanksgiving, and celebration. The book of Psalms reflects this reality, but our hymnals and song books don't.

We modern Christians are ill equipped for lament. We tend to see mourning and grief as a thing best avoided at all costs rather than a normal and important part of life and spirituality. So, we avoid it both in our congregations and individual lives. When grief strikes we often don't know what to do. Sure we know how to cook meals, help with chores, and do other noble tasks of service, but we often don't know how to be quiet and mourn with those who mourn.

Sometimes even our attempts at service are merely us trying to stay busy and avoid the grief and pain.

Looking through our hymnals and song books we see many different types of songs. We see songs of thanksgiving, praise, meditation, remembrance, and hope. We don't see very many songs of lament, pain, and grief, songs that vividly express our sorrows and anguish.

The book of Psalms, as well as Lamentations, teaches us that it is OK and even spiritually necessary to confront, embrace, and express our pain. We do not offend God when in our darkest moments of sorrow we ask hard questions. We won't scare Christ off with raw, emotional honesty about what we are feeling. Remember, Christ felt it too and in his pain he quoted Psalm 22.

Lament is something I need to learn to do as well. I am just a beginner and probably always will be one. Following Jesus does not mean that everything is going to be OK every day. In fact, Jesus told us that things wouldn't be. Following Jesus does not mean that we have to just "sing and be happy" and pretend that our grief and pain aren't really as deep and cutting as they are. Just because we have a strong hope in the future and in God doesn't mean the sorrow is lessened, it means it isn't pointless.

I encourage you to lament. Go to the book of Psalms and find a lament. Read it out loud. Let the words ring in the air. To any songwriters out there, perhaps turn some of these psalms into hymns or even write your own using them as a guide. Do not fear grief or sorrow or anguish, for Christ is with you there.