Walking with God Through the Valley
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Recovering the Practice of Lament
The church desperately needs to recover the practice of lament. But what exactly are we asking for?
The call for lament echoes throughout the pages of Scripture. This ever-present genre shaped the lives of ancient communities, and it should shape the practices of churches today. And yet contemporary Christian communities often don't know how to engage texts of lament in their contexts. In a world experiencing so much pain, a recovery of biblical lament is more necessary than ever.
In Walking with God Through the Valley, Old Testament scholar May Young offers a guide for readers to engage lament texts both in their church communities and in their personal lives. Drawing deeply from key passages in Scripture, including the Psalms, Habakkuk, and Lamentations, Young posits that true lament must come out of a deep understanding of the biblical text. Through practicing lament in our own lives, we can move through pain and suffering and experience God's renewed hope.
"A fantastic book! Not only do we learn more about lament, but we are propelled through personal examples to practice lament individually and communally. May this book help the church recover lament as a central part of life with God."
"Walking with God Through the Valley: Recovering the Purpose of Biblical Lament is a carefully woven tapestry centered on an undervalued but oh-so essential thread of life—lament. Dr. Young skillfully amplifies the promised healing and liberation revealed when we lean into personal and communal lament. Readers will see that recovering biblical lament avails us to the healing, humility, and hindsight our soul longs to posture."
"May Young's book speaks to the heart, the head, and the hands. This book shows how lament addresses a profound need in the church and in our lives to share our deepest and hardest feelings with God. Young combines meaningful stories of pain, loss, and hope with solid biblical insights about the history and theology of lament, its place in the Bible, and its purpose in our lives today. By offering reflection questions and suggestions for individual and corporate lament practices, every reader is encouraged to participate. This book will be a valuable gift to students and congregations alike!"
"In this stimulating and accessible study, May Young explores the misunderstood and underused genre of lament in the Bible with an eye to making lament come to life for both individuals and the corporate church as a whole. Drawing on her own personal experiences of loss, frustration, and anger, she shows that laments are not merely about 'sadness,' but that they can be a rich resource in many different situations, including sin and repentance, doubt, anger, loneliness, sickness and pain, death and loss. Her title well captures the running thread that she traces through the laments: that God walks with us throughout, and we are not alone. I highly recommend this book!"
1. Introduction
2. Fine Tuning the Differences Between Lament Genre and the practice of lament
Historical Development of the Lament Genre
Address or Invocation
Motivations
Confession of Trust /Assurance of Being Heard
Vow of Praise
The Difference Between Corporate (Communal) Laments and Individual Laments
Reflection Questions
3. Examining and Comparing Other Examples of Ancient Near East (ANE) Laments
Egyptian
Canaanite–Ugaritic
Canaanite–Hittite
Mesopotamia
Sumerian City Laments
Learning from Similarities and Differences
The relationship between human beings and the divine
How prayers function
Reflection Questions
4. What is the purpose of lament?
To Give Voice to Our Pain
To Provide an Avenue to Engage God
To lead us into greater hope
Reflection Questions
5. Lament and Sin/Repentance
Reflection Questions
6. Lament and Doubt/Questions
Reflection Questions
7. Lament and Injustice/Unfair Circumstances and Anger
Reflection Questions
8. Lament and Loneliness/Abandonment
Reflection Questions
9. Lament and Sickness/Physical Pain
10. Lament and Death/Loss
Reflection Questions
Conclusion