On Lament and Repent

 

Our nation has been rocked by violence of a particular kind. In the past year or so, there have been  assassination attempts (some successful), against the nation’s president Donald Trump, lawmakers from Minnesota and their spouses, a healthcare CEO and now a political activist. It is a dark time for our nation, when (mostly) lone-wolf actors–usually radicalized young men—decide that a way to express their rage is through taking a life. 

Perhaps a mirror is appropriate. As a culture, we have moved away from a belief that God has laid out right and wrong, based on a reverence for Him and a respect for fellow humans (as well as God’s created order). We have gone so far from such reverence, that our culture has been described as “post-truth,” suggesting that truth is nonexistent and that only narratives which support our point of view are valid. If someone disagrees with us, we write them off, direct hate towards them, and even resort to violence. 

In the time of the prophet Joel, depending on how one dates the book, the nation of Israel was in a mess. The land was devastated by poverty, injustice, and indifference towards God. Joel is a prophet who looks at past, present and future and his words rang in my ears over and over:

Gird yourselves with sackcloth And lament, O priests; Wail, O ministers of the altar! Come, spend the night in sackcloth O ministers of my God, for the grain offering and the drink offering are withheld from the house of your God. Consecrate a fast, Proclaim a solemn assembly; Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land to the house of the Lord your God, and cry out to the Lord. (Joel 1:13-14)

Lament is a deep sorrow or pain due to circumstances which indicates lack of attention to God and lack of attention from God. His presence is not apparent. Lament is the biblical response to pain, grief, broken hearts, helplessness or fear. We don’t know how we got to this point, but we know it isn’t right. Lament is the biblical response to our own realization that our own choices, attitudes, and posturing are part of the problem. Our sin calls for lament. 

Lament for the victims of our nation’s political violence. Lament for the partisan disdain for other humans that got us here. Lament for the lack of attention to God and the lack of recognition that God calls all of us to Himself. Lament for our hearts that are no longer broken for the things that break the heart of God. May we collectively feel a deep sorrow, turn to God in repentance for words or attitudes that contribute to the climate of distrust and reach out even to people who do not share our point of view with a message of hope and healing from Almighty God.

On Lessons from the Minor Prophets

My morning reading is taking me through the minor prophets and Jeremiah and Ezekiel have gotten my attention this time around more than other times. My 40,000 foot view of their prophecy:

Idolatry is Adultery

Lordship is Leadership.

Kindness is Godliness.

Arrogance is Ignorance.

Humility is Stability.

Hubris is not Justice.

They also place a high value on shepherds who lead the flock with righteousness and integrity. In their prophecies–and in our experience, pastors can be distracted, disappointed, disrespected, and dismayed. Pastors can be crass, callous, and cruel. The spiritual leaders of Israel were thoroughly selfish, self-seeking greedy, proud and corrupt. 

Pastors can be called to do something that in human terms is unimaginable, unbearable, and unreasonable. Ezekiel was told he could not mourn his wife. 

But God says that if we won’t lead with spiritual integrity, He will provide for His sheep another way. In His hands, the sheep are 

led, fed, and put to bed

sought, brought, and bought.

And He will bring the dry bones to life. In Chris Tomlin’s song, “Awake My Soul” I have always been inspired by the interlude and outro that features hip hop artist Lecrae (close your eyes and hear him or find it online...)  

Interlude

Then He said to me

Prophesy to these bones and say to them

Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!

This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones

I will make breath enter you

And you will come to life

So I prophesied as I was commanded

As I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound

And the bones came together, bone to bone

And I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them

And skin covered them, but there was no breath in them

Then He said to me

Prophesy to the breath

Prophesy, son of man, and say to it

Conjure the four winds of breath and breathe

Outro:

Yeah, I’m not alone, I realize

You breathe out, I come alive

Your word gives life to my dry bones

Your breath tells death it can ride on

Awake me, make me a living stone

A testament to your throne, I

I’m nothing without You, I’m on my own

The only one who satisfies my soul

Key thought in Ezekiel 36: “I am not doing this for your sake,” declares the Lord. One of Ezekiel’s repeated prophecies is “then they [and you] will know that I am the Lord.” (58 times in Ezekiel).

Let us as shepherds not need to be reminded that He is the Lord. Let us lead the flock well. 

On Time in BK and AK

Before Katrina.  After Katrina.  20 years ago, life was disrupted in a big way. My house had between 3 and 4 feet of water that stuck around for a few weeks.  We evacuated on Sunday morning, August 28 and drove to Baton Rouge where a gracious family (thank you again, Lee and Stacy) allowed us to stay at their house until we were able to return to New Orleans.  We ended up buying a house and staying in Baton Rouge for a year.  We went back and forth as the seminary reopened and in August of 2026, we moved back into our home on the campus of the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary where I was a professor in some capacity for over 30 years. 

As a youth pastor/professor/pastor/itinerant something or other, I have studied the Bible for 45 years of ministry.  Events in the Bible often separate around catalytic events like the fall in the Garden of Eden, the flood, the exile...and most importantly the birth, life, teaching, death, burial resurrection and ascension of Jesus.  Our time is organized around BC and AD and no matter how the revisionist time police tries to reframe what the letters stand for, they represent "Before Christ" and "After Death" in the minds of most of us. Before and After. Like a rite of passage, one day everything is one way and the next day everything is changed.  

After Katrina, the seminary, my family, my colleagues, and my students lived with a grief that comes from loss.  For many, it was their first real grief.  And it was a widespread grief. The people who might offer comfort were hurting just as much. 

After Katrina, there were increasingly "new" people who did not have the shared trauma and it created people groups and while there was not animosity, there was an underlying current of "you just don't understand."  And that is the point of my post. 

When we experience a catastrophic, life-shaking event--the death of a family member, a fire, a flood, a cancer diagnosis, job change, we grieve. We don't just "move on."  The ripple effects of Katrina are still felt as we look back and wonder what mental health issues, relocation issues, academic disruption issues came out of the BK/AK paradigm.  The same is true for any before and after in our lives. 

As many of you know, the last several years have been as traumatic for me as Katrina was. Disruption of relationships that I thought were friendships, death of my son, diagnosis of cancer, and now retirement--lots of change.  Lots of grief. 

But I am not grieving alone. After Katrina, a community of shared loss and and a string of "God showed up" stories slowly brought me out of the funk.  After these other events, I have also had a community and a string of "God showed up" circumstances (but you will have to buy me a cup of coffee to hear them) have been slowly showing me the light at the end of the tunnel.

Maybe that is what it means when Paul says, "we grieve with hope." (1 Thessalonians 4:13). The context of the passage is that as Jesus-followers, the way we deal with the awful moments in life is observed by persons who are not following Jesus. When we grieve authentically, but demonstrate a belief in God's goodness when the evidence seems to indicate otherwise, we proclaim the power, authority, love, grace, mercy and presence of our Heavenly Father. For me, that has allowed me to put one step in front of the other.  After Katrina. After grief. After loss. Before faith. Before hope. Before belief.  I am not saying that faith, hope and belief were absents before, but they move from black and white to color when God shows up in our pain. We aren't the first to have "an event" and we won't be the last. Let us run the "hope relay" and tell our God stories. 

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men of old gained approval. Hebrews 11:1, NASB

On Retirement, Treasures, and Grief

I retired from full time pastoral ministry on April 27, 2025.  My first assignment as a church staff member was in fall 1980, so my retirement was in my 45th year of ministry.  Much reflection. I don't know how people go through the painful times without a community of faith around them. God has been so good to let me be on the front row of so many stories--incredible young men and women who emerged from student ministry, seminary classrooms, and finally pastoral ministry.  They are men and women who continue to do great things as they are yielded to God's unfolding plan in their lives.  

One retirement project is that we (Judi and I) are in a season where we are trying to clear out unnecessary clutter. When you have lived a life as rich as I have, clutter is relative--everything has a story. Every treasure that I find brings back a mental photograph of a time with a friend, a former student, a movement of God that was unusual and extraordinary in that moment. One treasure was particularly poignant as Judi found it on the second anniversary of Aaron's death. It was an anonymous poem tucked away in a box of old pictures. I will let it speak on my behalf.  

GOD'S LENT CHILD

"I'll lend you for a little while

A child of mine," God said--

"For you to love the while he lives And mourn for when he's dead.

It may be six or seven years Or forty-two or three;

But will you, till I call him back

Take of him for me

He'll bring his charms to gladden you

And--(should his stay be brief)

You'll have his lovely memories

As a solace for your grief.

I cannot promise he will stay, And try to understand.

But there are lessons taught below

I want this child to learn. l've looked the whole world over

In my search for teachers true;

And from the things that crowd life's lane

I have chosen you.

Now will you give him all your love?

Nor think the labor vain?

Nor hate me when I come to take This lent child back again?"

I fancied that I heard them say--

"Dear Lord, Thy will be done.

For all the love Thy child will bring

The risk of grief we'll run.

We will shelter him with tenderness,

We'll love him while we may--And for the happiness we've know

Forever grateful stay.

But should thy angels call for him

Much sooner than we've planned,

We'll brave the bitter grief that comes

And try to understand."

Unknown Author

 On the Psalms of Ascents and Holy Week

One of my favorite books of all time is my well-worn copy of Eugene Peterson’s A Long Obedience in the Same Direction. He depicts the journey of the Jewish Pilgrim–he even suggests families traveling together–to the three religious or “pilgrim” feasts in Jerusalem (Passover, Pentecost, Tabernacles). Psalms 120-134 are known as the Songs of Ascents. Because Jerusalem is almost 2500 feet above sea level, much of the journey was “going up.”  Ultimately, the pilgrims physically ascended Mount Zion to Jerusalem and finally to the Temple to worship. 

The Pilgrim begins his journey far from God, far from Jerusalem, far from the Temple. Psalm 120 is a lament, a cry of distress. He feels distant from his Creator, and he cries in distress. Psalms 121–my favorite–causes me to imagine a father instructing his children as (in Peterson’s description), they look to the hills where pagan sacrifices are being offered and rhetorically asks where his family’s help comes from. He answers his own question (perhaps for the benefit of his children) and then speaks specifically about God’s protection. In Psalm 122, he looks at a different hill–Mt. Zion–and declares his trust and hope. The next three read like a prayer journal: Psalm 123 is a prayer for mercy, Psalm 124 is thanksgiving for deliverance (help) and 125 is adoration, affirmation that God provides, protects, and blesses. 

As the pilgrim gets closer the joy increases: I can hear him shout of the great things Yahweh has done (126) and in Psalm 127, the destination seems to be in sight as the family arrives for worship. It is about the Temple and is authored by Solomon who built it. The poetry turns from the Temple to the home in Psalm 128–perhaps the dad is overwhelmed with gratitude that his family is there for worship and he expresses joy for what we call discipleship.

Psalms 129 and 130  back away to a more global plea that God would help (129) and redeem and restore Israel (130)–maybe reminding me to continue to pray for our nation and for the nations. Psalm 130 is one of the seven major penitential psalms.

Psalm 131 is a prayer of humility, trust and childlike surrender. The father models for his children that he is resting in God with a soul at peace, even as they journey on. Psalms 132 expresses trust in God’s plan for His people (and for this family?)  and 133 makes me think of seeing other pilgrim families as they all arrive at the Temple to worship. Psalm 134 closes the collection with a call to worship and an expression of gratitude for those who serve. 

Holy Week is our pilgrimage. We pray that families are on a spiritual journey to worship on Easter. Palm Sunday speaks of the triumphal entry into Jerusalem and the fickle affections of the crowds (and us).  Maundy Thursday recalls the meal Jesus had with His disciples as He tried to prepare them for a new paradigm of salvation–one that involved His death, burial, resurrection and return.  Good Friday is a sobering reminder of the extent of the suffering–the price for our sins. Easter–resurrection day–is like the families have arrived to celebrate that the story didn’t end with a trial or torture or a tomb, but with the glorious message that our crucified Savior has risen indeed. Let’s put on our best, get the kids in the car and journey to church on Sunday to “lift up our hands to the Sanctuary and bless the Lord.” (134:2). 

On Raising Up a Joshua

Last Sunday in church, I preached my third-to-last Sunday as full time pastor of Dunwoody Baptist Church. In the church was my mentor of half a century. Dennis Rogers identified something in me when I was in high school and challenged me to develop it. In high school, I preached my first sermon. In high school, I served on a pastor search committee. He allowed me to volunteer with students when I was home from college on breaks or summers that I came home. We met at a Mexican restaurant in Stone Mountain every week. He challenged me to make a difference in college. Dennis took me (literally, in the car) to New Orleans to meet professors and apply to seminary. And I was not the only “Joshua” that Dennis raised up.

In Gen 15, Abraham is promised that his descendants will inherit the promised land. This promise is fulfilled not by Moses, but by his protégé, Joshua son of Nun from the tribe of Ephraim. Joshua shows up in one of my favorite (and quirky) episodes in Exodus 17 where Joshua is appointed as field commander of the army of Israel when the Amalekites attack them. The quirky part is that Moses stood on a hill with his arms supported by his brother and his (maybe) brother-in-law while Joshua won the battle.

From the beginning of their relationship, Moses let Joshua try things, lead things, learn things. Moses encouraged and nurtured him to follow God’ teachings, accomplish God’s plans, and join him (in protecting the people from themselves and moving them towards the promised land. Moses corrected  Joshua twice applying wisdom and knowledge. Near the end of Moses’ story, God tells Moses that it is time for him to die, and that Joshua, “a man with spirit” would be his successor. 

Although he is to share the power with the high priest Eleazar, Joshua will be the one to lead the Israelites into Canaan and conquer the land. Joshua’s story ends with his death and burial, some eight decades later (Joshua  24:29-30). Joshua succeeded in leading Israel into the Promised Land, but he didn’t raise up a Joshua to follow him.  Within a very short period of time, lacking in leadership and in a culture that was hostile to the ways of Yahweh, “everyone did what was right in their own eyes.” 

I wish the story had ended differently. I wish Joshua would have identified, trained, encouraged, poured into a successor like Dennis poured into me. As I approach retirement, I pray that I have raised up a team who will lead DBC well, but will also lead well wherever else they serve in the future. I am also convicted that I have a little Joshua to raise up in Texas.  I pray that God will grant me the wisdom and opportunity to pour into my grandson as he begins to understand the ways of God and the ways of the world. He has a great mom, a great community, an incredibly sharp mind and a tender heart.  

May we all have the courage to raise up a Joshua.

On the Holy Spirit and DBC

 A Prayer for DBC

God as we prepare to take communion, we have been reminded that Your Spirit in us produces character traits that make us more like Jesus. Many of us learned the Fruit of the Spirit as a list, a rhyme, or a children’s song. But You meant it to be so much more. You meant it to be a description in terms a human could put on paper of the richness You intend to invest in us. You meant it to be a gold standard of good qualities that You produce to compare with a list of bad decisions we make on our own. 

Thank you that You care for us. You have placed us a little lower than the angels, have filled us with Your power and Your glory. You put us here to care for Your creation and to establish relationships with other people and to work productively for the good of our homes, church, community and world. You have shown Yourself in amazing ways here at DBC and we thank You. You are present among us still in the Person of the Holy Spirit. Thank you that You comfort, encourage and guide us. Thank You–painfully–that You rebuke, admonish, and correct us. 

God forgive me when I–when we--reduce this mighty work of Your Spirit to a list of self-improvement goals. I bow before you in worship and thanks that You choose to work this way through us. As the Spirit works in us, we want to see growth in all these areas. Love AND joy AND peace AND patience AND kindness AND goodness AND faithfulness AND gentleness AND self-control. 

You wish for us to love as You loved us, sacrificially and without regard to a person’s appearance or background. You love us so much that You sent Jesus. You love us even though we can’t stop making bad choices. You love us yesterday, today, and forever. May we be filled with such love that seems to fertilize all the other fruit of Your Spirit.

You wish to fill us with joy, the inner contentment that does not depend on circumstance, but allows us to see some things as You see them. You showed such joy in your laughter with Your followers and with those whom You healed. You desire for us a joy that is not dependent on circumstance but on the presence of Your Spirit in us, giving us a quiet confidence that You are working in us for our good and Your glory. 

You wish for us to have peace, a deep inner tranquility that is beyond the comprehension of many around us. You demonstrated such peace, even as you were misunderstood, persecuted, and crucified because You had such confidence in the sovereign plan of the Father.

You want us to have patience in other people, in ourselves, in the timetable of Your plans for us and for our church. You modeled such patience with children, with persons with challenges, and with us. May we be patient when we are cut off in traffic, when we are misunderstood at work, and when we think You should do this or that in our world. Jesus, come quickly, but let us have patience and understanding as You delay in order to invite more people into Your Kingdom. 

You desire for to be kind as You were kind and to embrace that it is Your kindness that led us to repentance. Your kindness drew unlikely skeptics to Yourself, some who eventually believed and some who did not. Your kindness tolerated people who did not, do not and will not allow Your love to break through to have one more chance, two more chances, hundreds more chances to repent from sin and follow You in obedience, worship, and community.

You are a good God and Your Son is the Good Shepherd and goodness and generosity is what You desire for us. We pray to be filled with it. We pray that as we are filled, we would reflect Your goodness as we relate to those around us. 

You have been faithful through the ages and you are faithful now. You will be faithful to complete the good work You began in us.  We pray for that faithfulness to be in us as we relate to You and to the people around us–both those whom we love and those whom we are learning to love.

You wish for us to have the controlled strength that is called gentleness, so that we can face adversity and challenge even as our Savior faced the trials that led to His earthly death. You said we were blessed if we were meek, that we would inherit the earth. You want to fill us with humility and gentleness, not thirsting for power, but for righteousness and that as strange as it seems, we would see You at work. 

Perhaps hardest to pray honestly that we would receive is self-control. We enjoy our temper tantrums, but we read of the self-control that You showed as Satan tempted You in the wilderness. You remained on the cross because it was the Father’s plan. You did not lose Your temper with the slowness of Your followers then and now to understand what You came to earth to do. You put up with our questions and our self-righteousness and our reluctance to do the next right thing. May we be self-controlled because Your Sprit controls us, and to understand that as we give up control, we yield to Your control. 

Father, we know that the ways of the world will always present us with tempting, and sometimes very convincing, counterfeits to this Fruit of Your Spirit. We know in our heads that this fake fruit will leave us empty. Fill us with each of these fruits. Cultivate them, let them build on one another. Let them ripen to the point that they bring love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self control to a world that desperately needs them. May they produce in us a deeper love for Your kingdom and for the souls that You love so deeply. 

We want to make a difference in our families, influence our communities, and provide hope for our world. We know that as You fill us with these character qualities we will become better people, but better is such a small goal when what You desire is that we become like Your Son. May we be passionately more like Jesus. May we empty ourselves so You can fill us with the Fruit of the Spirit so that we can be instruments of change. May we be filled with the Spirit so that our words to “Love God, Love People, Make Disciples, and Make a Difference” can be much more than words. May we see Your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. May Your will be done.

May we be wise with our time, our talents, our resources. May we welcome our new pastor because he is the one whom You sent to lead us and teach us. May we see greater things because You promised that we would. May persons who are trying to decide what to do with You jump in with both feet, acknowledging You as Lord and Savior. May our baptistery be filled, our ego be emptied and our worship be pleasing to You. As we take this Holy Communion, may it remind us of the ultimate demonstration of love that You expressed by sending Your only Son to provide a forgiveness for our sins so that we can even have this conversation with You. 

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit

Amen