WHY WE CAN’T LAMENT WITHOUT LISTENING by Mark Vroegop for Core Christianity
Listening
I want to help you take some first steps toward reconciliation through listening. We’ll examine the connection between lament, spirituals, and racial harmony. The spirituals provide rich history and important truths. In the fivefold vision for conversations about racial reconciliation (love, listen, lament, learn, and leverage), if we don’t begin with the right posture, no amount of information or discussion will help.
Before we look at the spirituals, let’s consider three ways laments help us listen, especially when it comes to racial reconciliation.
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Vocalize the Pain
Lament provides Christians with a common language to talk about pain. Since over a third of the Psalms feature this minor-key song, it gives us permission to talk to God—either in private or together—about the pain we feel. When it comes to loaded subjects like racism or ethnic tension, too often believers fall into the familiar ditches of denial or despair. Some people think that talking about racial reconciliation only makes things worse. They believe “everything’s fine.” There are others who are weary and feel hopeless. To borrow from Fannie Lou Hamer, a civil rights leader in the 1960s, they are “sick and tired of being sick and tired.” But lament offers a way to vocalize frustration and sorrow that is not only helpful but also biblical.
Lament provides a place to go with the pain of racism and prejudice. It’s a prayer path for talking to God and to one another about the brokenness of the world. Lament gives us a way to vocalize the complicated emotions connected to racial reconciliation.
Empathize with Others
Lament creates a language to “weep with those who weep.” It helps us express sorrow with one another. Lament gives us a voice of empathy. It communicates that while we may not understand, we are willing to walk alongside a brother or sister in pain. Rather than immediately moving into fix-it mode, praying a lament prayer with a brother or sister grieving over a racial incident or an injustice helps you enter into his or her sadness or frustration.
