The Service of Lament and Hope offered Sunday by Presbyterian Peace Fellowship included a highlight organizers may not have envisioned — poignant online participation by the nearly 30 people gathered to mark the loneliness, heartache and, yes, the hope that people have experienced during a year marked by pandemic, racial injustice, economic devastation and isolation.
The Book of Lamentations begins with these words: How lonely sits the city that once was full of people! How like a widow she has become, she that was great among the nations! She that was a princess among the provinces has become a vassal. She weeps bitterly in the night, with tears on her cheeks; among all her lovers she has no one to comfort her (Lam. 1:1–2a).
A recent cartoon in our Sunday newspaper depicted an exhausted mother, sprawled in a chair surrounded by typical birthday party chaos: torn wrapping paper, balloons, toys spread everywhere. Standing next to her, a little boy with a party hat tilted on his head asks, “When’s the next birthday?”
Each year, site coordinators of the Young Adult Volunteer Program expect challenges. There are new participants, new personalities, new issues each year. But Maureen Anderson, site coordinator for New York City, faced some truly unique challenges this year serving at the U.S. epicenter of a global pandemic.
When author and artist P. Lynn Miller proposed the theme of “lament” to the national Bible Study Committee of Presbyterian Women four years ago, no one had any idea how timely the topic would be now.
Even though they were recorded months ago, the preaching that was part of the recent Festival of Homiletics touched on topics at the heart of recent days of protests, injustice and anguish.
This spring, Presbyterian churches, large and small, scrambled to get online using technology that they had either heard of, dabbled in or had been wanting to use in their own ministries.
As more than 50 pastors and other church leaders recently explored together “Lifelong Discipleship Formation” — which is one of the Seven Marks of Vital Congregations — it became apparent that during the coronavirus crisis they are discovering new ways to help people live out their Christian faith.
