Yesterday was our first Bible Study for the five weeks of Lent. There were 8 of us gathered to read over and discuss the gospel reading for this coming Sunday. It is the passage from Luke 13 when Jesus laments over Jerusalem and says he would like to gather the people under his wing like a hen gathers her chicks.
There is a lot to unpack in this brief passage. How often do we think of Jesus as being like a chicken?!? But that image is minor compared to the words that he says. He longs to gather the people but they turn away. Just writing that touches my heart. To think of people turning away from the open invitation of Christ, the generous, loving, and gracious offering of security, protection and comfort. But the comment from our discussion that has left me thinking all night and all morning was offered by one member of the group who asked, “So what is the difference between lamenting and whining?” Hmmm – is there a difference? I think so but at first glance it might be hard to see.
Strictly speaking the definitions are different. To lament is “to express one’s deep grief or regret or disappointment”. To whine is “to complain in a feeble or petulent way”. And if we dig into that a little bit a lament is deep and soul felt and goes a dimension deeper than a whine which can seem sufferficial or shallow. Well, that is how it feels to me anyway.
There are around 65 of the 150 Psalms that are considered laments, outpourings to God, about the state of things. That Jesus is lamenting and in a previous verse of the reading calls the leading political leader, Herod, a fox (about to kill the chickens) seems too on the nose for the political situation we find ourselves in here in Canada with a ‘fox’ in the White House making threats towards our sovereignty on a regular basis.
Our conversation yesterday drifted into the place of political conversation in preaching and whether political talk should be part of a Sunday morning message. There was some caution expressed about the preacher being too political along with the notion that people come to church for comfort and strength not to continue the hurtful narrative of the news. There was also general agreement that in this reading Jesus was being very political and it dovetails so closely to our current situation which calls forward the need to speak up against wrong and to speak for justice.
So dear readers what do you think? Is lament different than just whining? Does the preacher speak politics? I am keen to read your comments.
