My soul is in deep anguish.
How long, LORD, how long?
I am worn out from my groaning.
All night long I flood my bed with weeping
and drench my couch with tears.
My eyes grow weak with sorrow;
they fail because of all my foes.
Psalm 6: 3, 6-7

The church knows, or should know, this language all too well: it is the language of lament. It is a language that we need to reclaim, for it has to a large extent been negated in Christian faith and worship. If we contend that preaching is a language of hope, we will have to re-learn the language of lament. There can be no language of hope without language of lament: they are flipsides of the same coin. Praise, which results from hope, can retain its authenticity and naturalness only in polarity with lamentation.

The question arises: if lament is indeed part and parcel of the dialogue between God and humans, why has lament been so greatly reduced and censored in our preaching and our worship?
-Johan Cilliers-

The church knows, or should know, this language all too well: it is the language of lament. It is a language that we need to reclaim, for it has to a large extent been negated in Christian faith and worship. If we contend that preaching is a language of hope, we will have to re-learn the language of lament. There can be no language of hope without language of lament: they are flipsides of the same coin. Praise, which results from hope, can retain its authenticity and naturalness only in polarity with lamentation.

The question arises: if lament is indeed part and parcel of the dialogue between God and humans, why has lament been so greatly reduced and censored in our preaching and our worship?
-Johan Cilliers-