What are we to do when we hear about the killing of another Black man or woman during a traffic stop? A stop that I, as a White male, would make it home from to see my family. Many of us are uncertain.
Soong-Chan Rah in Prophetic Lament says our lack of fruitful engagement comes from our loss of the practice of lament to the “triumphant and success oriented narrative” (Rah p.72) in American evangelicalism.
The worship life of Israel took seriously the role of lament. In contrast, the worship life of American evangelical Christianity is often devoid of lament. We ignore a key expression of worship and prayer and the opportunity to speak to God out of the midst of suffering. (Rah p.177)
Without re-engaging this discipline we will continue to be stuck in uncertainty. Like any new thing we need teachers, we will stumble, but with God’s help we will begin to meet God and be led by him in the midst of the brokenness surrounding us.