Do we Mourn?

I am not one who has undergone many deaths, diseases, injuries, or other afflictions, but being human I do know pain and suffering to some extent. Despite the past, it is inevitable that suffering will come. For that reason, I (or we) must learn and be prepared for the unexpected time of atrocity. There are those in our churches, who are much acquainted with grief and pain but are ignorant when it comes to finding a biblical response to these pains.
The following is my reflection on an article written by Walter Brueggemann on the lament in his book, Reverberations of Faith. In this book he has many pointed critiques for us (the western church), routed in an Old Testament thematic biblical theological study. His words on this subject may help us in dealing with our pain. They may help us to know how to mourn in the time that it is needed.

The Lament
As mentioned in class, the Lament is an act that is not often practiced by western believers, I believe much to our own detriment. This subject is received in a similar way to the discussion of herem (Hebrew term used to describe the God-ordained annihilation of whole people groups) just above, in the sense that when we find ourselves faced with the grim reality of our own suffering and the questions thereof, we frequently tend to suppress them. We do this, perhaps, because we think that our faith is supposed to supersede and maybe even mitigate our own circumstantial agony. Is there, perhaps, a fear that if we are to recognize these painful feelings and scary questions as significant, God may find out what we really think about this sickness that has come upon us, or the car accident that just killed our brother or sister. Wrongly, we tell ourselves and tell each other that we must smother our emotions and feelings replacing them with what we know to be true (or what we are told is true). Is this how God would have us work through our suffering?
Brueggemann’s discussion on the lament is very helpful for those of us who are timid to tread in the unknown waters of petitionary prayer and mourning. As he mentions, fully one-third of the Psalms are laments. He describes it as a “daringly assertive way for Israel to address God” on the grounds of a “covenant of mutual fidelity and commitment…” (118). Brueggemann also notes that “the most interesting and perhaps most important recurring feature of this form of prayer is that while it characteristically begins in need, sadness, or dire strait, these same prayers characteristically end in praise, celebration, and confidence that God has acted or will act” (119). Another interesting part of this petition is its demanding nature and the recurrence of imperatives addressed to God. This shows that they are real prayers and not just “psychological acts of catharsis whereby the speaker “feels better’… [they are] seriously addressed to God, who is expected to answer” (119). They are acts of hope that expect God to hear and act in response.

What do you think of Brueggemann’s ideas?