O Come Let Us Adore Him – Worship Through Lament – 12.19.21

Pastor Zach Bearss

December 19, 2021

 

O COME LET US ADORE HIM – WORSHIP THROUGH LAMENT
12.19.21
 

CONNECT
Is Christmas a joyful time of year for you? Or a sad time? Or a mixture of both?

ENGAGE
Read Jeremiah 31:15 and Matthew 2:13-18. Read  Luke 2:34-35 and John 19:25-27. Discuss how life is a mixture of both joy and sorrow, happiness and loss.

The word lament means: “a passionate expression of grief and sorrow.” Examples of lament are found in a number of the Psalms, when David grieved the death of Saul and Jonathan (2 Samuel 1:17-20, 24-25), and the prayer of Hannah (I Samuel 1:10-16) Discuss how their examples in the Bible are important to us and speak into our lives today.

Discuss these 4 statements:

  1. Lament turns us towards God when sorrow tempts us to run from Him.
  2. Lament reminds us of our limits.
  3. Lament allows us to know Christ’s heart.
  4. Lament prepares us for resurrection.

Discuss this quote from Eugene Peterson: Pain isn’t the worst thing. Being hated isn’t the worst thing. Being separated from the one you love isn’t the worst thing. Death isn’t the worst thing. The worst thing is failing to deal with reality and becoming disconnected from what is actual. The worst thing is trivializing the honorable, desecrating the sacred. What I do with my grief affects the way you handle your grief; together we form a community that deals with death and other loss in the context of God’s sovereignty, which is expressed finally in resurrection.

APPLY
Read these verses: Isaiah 53:3-4, I Peter 5:7, Romans 12:15, Matthew 5:4. Are you prone to bring your sorrow to the Lord and also to share them with one another?

Follow the example of David in Psalm 13 and write your own lament:

  1. Bring your sorrows (verses 1-2)
  2. Ask boldly for help (verses 3-4)
  3. Choose to trust (verses 5-6)

PRAY
Pray that the Lord would open up your heart to be transparent with Him in times of sadness as well as in times of joy during this holiday season.

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