Lament, Joy, and the Future of the Church

How do God's chosen people stay in the game when the Church is at a low point of reputation?

Increasingly, and this is cause for optimism, I hear lament among leaders about the state of the world and the Church. Lament names real brokenness in the fearless hope that the redeeming and renewing God is even more real, rock solid and reliable. Lament feels dejected frustration but refuses to abandon the playing field. Lament mixed with repentance, with amendment of life, is the recipe for addressing the reality many of us recognize:

• The Church is at a low point of reputation.

• We are alive in this particular moment in history.

• We are God’s chosen people.

• God is not stumped by the current rationales for dismissing him because of the Church.

• We can stay in the game, simply loving God and others.

I empathize with Christians who are struggling to adjust to this new playing field, unsure of how to move forward. But whatever we might say or do, this is a key commitment: we can never present Jesus and simultaneously resent the Church. Jesus did not preach the kingdom while dissing the disciples. He taught and loved. He healed and welcomed. He cast out demons and patiently invited his imperfect friends to follow him. He cured lepers and kept company with those whose hearts oozed with sores of disordered desire. 

Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash

Jesus modeled a primary practice of Christian spirituality that gives us an imagination for, and makes us capable of being, kingdom-agents of healing, deliverance and justice. That practice is this: Jesus ruthlessly stayed in the present moment, conscious of being companioned by the Spirit. Sometimes anxiety is rooted in the past, in something that has already occurred—a difficult relational moment, a news story of another high-profile leader’s moral failing, etc. But those things are past. Sometimes worry is attached to the future—which is not here yet.

Against these two default positions, practicing the Presence in the present moment reminds us that we are safe, we are breathing. Guided by, and given capacity by the Presence, we can then set aside anxiety and be peacefully proactive. 

Practicing the Presence Brings Joy.

Practicing the Presence in the present brings joy. Jesus stayed connected to The One True Creator God—and to God’s unmitigated joy. It is such joy that the scriptures have in mind, saying: The joy of the Lord is my strength (Nehemiah 8:10), and The kingdom of God is a matter…of joy (Romans 14:17), and Jesus’ desire for his followers that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full (John 15:11). 

I confess that consistent joy is hard for me. I know firmly in my mind that joy is right and good. But joy and its attendant attitudes and practices easily drift from my practical living. Moving from mental assent to religious notions to life-practices is the challenge for all spiritual growth. When I see a sunset or hear a moving piece of music I am drawn to God, to joy. Such things can take my mind, even if only for a moment, off the corrupt aspects of me, the evil of the world and disappointment from the latest scandal in the Church. But when I read an especially painful or tragic news story…well, at that moment I realize that I am inconsistent, fickle, of two minds. I slide back.

Not so with God. God lives with the fullness and richness of creative good always before him. For God, joy does not come or go with the sun, Dallas Willard writes in The Divine Conspiracy. God is simply one great inexhaustible and eternal experience of all that is good and true and beautiful and right…this is what is implied by God’s perfection…this is his life.

God’s life of joy—which we desperately need for life, church and ministry—is mediated to us via the redemption of Christ Jesus, and the person and work of the Spirit. Through this Presence, we are given the ability to stand in, and work for the good of our seemingly out-of-control world and compromised Church. But given what is real about God, nothing is ever out of control or compromised. God is always already present to any era, event or spoken word that we experience. And where the Presence is, there is loving attention and wise, powerful concern—there is a shepherding of the bad toward the Ultimate Good. 

A worldview shaped by the constantly-present God of joy is our only hope for sustaining creative energy to be agents of the good. Without it, despair about life and ministry overtakes us every time. We shrivel or, worse, engage in various types of self-harm. We often harm others too, violating our desire to be agents of the true good. 

Fearlessly naming what is real—lament—puts us in good company with the Psalmists, the prophets, John the Baptist and Jesus. But for lament to be life-giving, it must pass through the joy-filled worldview of Jesus and meet us in the present moments of our lives. When lament, amendment of life and joy combine, there is transformation for our souls, the Church, and the Church as an instrument of healing for the world.