Lament.............

Neighbor's Caring and Sharing use to be where you would find me every Tuesday morning at Conestoga Mennonite Church. This church has carried out this ministry to women of all ages for ages. Today there was no exception to their schedule; fellowship and snacks, welcome, worship, prayer requests, prayer, speaker. This was my balm years ago and today was no different. I am not into flassy, uptodate stateoftheart sort of stuff. I am simple.

Janelle Shantz Hertzler, author and speaker-born out of intense pain and loss, shared the story of her way through grief, not out of grief, through grief. I had no time to wail but wail I could have.

She spoke of the stories we accumulate and do not share. She told us, sharing stories is a way to get out of our bodies sadness so we can heal. We create ruts in our brains by what we say and we can always create new ruts if the old ones keep us in a bad place she relayed to us.

The Psalms of Lament are bare, honest, cries with no holding back. I discover my lack of knowledge about the differences and categories the psalms present. She invited us to consider creating safe places in all the churches we represented for lamenting. Interesting to consider.

I hugged Janelle's mother in law. I noted that she was not mentioned. The loss for her is profound. This is the baby she carried for nine months, this is the baby she cared for till he walked, this is the young boy she loved dearly, this is the young man she cherished. This is the man she prayed for as God took him to other lands. This was the missionary son who whose name was mentioned on the other side of the lifeless phone from the other side of the world telling her that her son was killed. Her worse fear realized.

You, as a mother, lose your dear son to his wife. (I know you gain a daughter in law, but you know what I mean) When he dies, you lose him again and yet many do not notice your intense loss. She did not hold back her tears during the words that spoke of her dear son, she did not hold back her tears.

Tonight's reading for her might be one of the Psalms of Lament.

As you can see Janelle's website is shown in the picture. It is worth your time.