Music Director: Regina Oettinger
Email: regina@montananazarene.org
Praise Team Schedule Special Music Schedule
June -- Ralph Schulz, Amanda Armstrong, Melita Dubach
June 20 -- Ethan Armstrong
June 27 -- French congregation
July -- Jacob Williams, Lois Bell, Cindy Crofford July 4 -- Adam's Voice
July 11 -- Roger Ellis
July 18 -- David Grimes
July 25 -- Michelle, Amanda, Bonnie
August -- George & Kristi Armstrong, Michelle Williams Aug. 1 -- Ralph Schulz
Aug. 8 -- Bucks
Aug. 15 --
Aug. 22 -- Roger Ellis
Aug. 29 -- Pastor & Cindy
Announcements and Upcoming Events
Band Practice: every Sunday morning at 8:45
Praise Team Practice: every Sunday morning at 9:00
Weekly Word on Worship
As we’ve been looking at the subject of lament, we’ve mainly focused on how it affects us and our relationship with God. This week I want to look at how lament affects our relationship with others. How do we treat others who are going through difficult times? Do we offer advice (often unhelpful and unsolicited)?
Aubrey Sampson said it this way. All laments tend to start self-focused (my will, my problem, my questions of God; Where is He?). But as we surrender our pain to Him, God shifts our focus so that we begin to look God-ward (Thy will, Thy goodness, Thy purpose, Thy sovereignty). But lament journeys don’t stop there. Lament should also lead other-ward. God never rescues us from suffering solely for our sake. God’s healing work in our lives is always meant for the benefit of others.
If you look at Jeremiah’s lament in Scripture, it was not really about him at all. He was grieving because of what he was seeing happen to the people he loved. Even though the suffering of the Israelites was actually deserved because of their continuous idolatry. How many times have we looked at someone facing the negative consequences of their sin and thought, “Well, they made their bed. I guess they’ll have to lie in it.”
Desmond Tutu, the South African archbishop who tirelessly led the way in breaking down the old apartheid system, wrote this in his book Made for Goodness: “There are gifts hidden in suffering that can be redeemed only in the experience...Compassion, which literally means ‘suffering with,’ may feel like the most futile kind of suffering. It changes nothing. It holds no hope of changing anything. Yet to be compassionate is to see with a God’s-eye view.”
So, why is it that instead of offering compassion, we often launch right into offering advice or trite platitudes? Aubrey Sampson says, Even in the rare instance that we’ve accurately assessed someone else’s circumstance, being unwilling to have compassion for them--simply means we’ve grown arrogant enough to forget what Jesus has done for us.
In our own sin and idolatry, God showed us undeserved, abundant compassion. God has withheld nothing from us. If we can’t show others the same compassion that Jeremiah showed Jerusalem--the same compassion that God, in Jesus, showed us--then we have to ask ourselves if we’ve grown cold to the gospel.
Powerful people do not know how to lament. They’re used to being able to affect a situation, leveraging their power for their own benefit or someone else’s. People in control don’t need lament because lament is for the helpless, the weak--those who have no advocate or way forward but for the mercy of God.
Each time we try to balance out grief, we flex our power. We think that if we can somehow help him/her see the good (by the power of our words and insight), then they’ll be comforted and we’ll have done something good. It’s about us, not the person grieving.
Lord, give us compassion for a lost and hurting world!
As we’ve been looking at the subject of lament, we’ve mainly focused on how it affects us and our relationship with God. This week I want to look at how lament affects our relationship with others. How do we treat others who are going through difficult times? Do we offer advice (often unhelpful and unsolicited)?
Aubrey Sampson said it this way. All laments tend to start self-focused (my will, my problem, my questions of God; Where is He?). But as we surrender our pain to Him, God shifts our focus so that we begin to look God-ward (Thy will, Thy goodness, Thy purpose, Thy sovereignty). But lament journeys don’t stop there. Lament should also lead other-ward. God never rescues us from suffering solely for our sake. God’s healing work in our lives is always meant for the benefit of others.
If you look at Jeremiah’s lament in Scripture, it was not really about him at all. He was grieving because of what he was seeing happen to the people he loved. Even though the suffering of the Israelites was actually deserved because of their continuous idolatry. How many times have we looked at someone facing the negative consequences of their sin and thought, “Well, they made their bed. I guess they’ll have to lie in it.”
Desmond Tutu, the South African archbishop who tirelessly led the way in breaking down the old apartheid system, wrote this in his book Made for Goodness: “There are gifts hidden in suffering that can be redeemed only in the experience...Compassion, which literally means ‘suffering with,’ may feel like the most futile kind of suffering. It changes nothing. It holds no hope of changing anything. Yet to be compassionate is to see with a God’s-eye view.”
So, why is it that instead of offering compassion, we often launch right into offering advice or trite platitudes? Aubrey Sampson says, Even in the rare instance that we’ve accurately assessed someone else’s circumstance, being unwilling to have compassion for them--simply means we’ve grown arrogant enough to forget what Jesus has done for us.
In our own sin and idolatry, God showed us undeserved, abundant compassion. God has withheld nothing from us. If we can’t show others the same compassion that Jeremiah showed Jerusalem--the same compassion that God, in Jesus, showed us--then we have to ask ourselves if we’ve grown cold to the gospel.
Powerful people do not know how to lament. They’re used to being able to affect a situation, leveraging their power for their own benefit or someone else’s. People in control don’t need lament because lament is for the helpless, the weak--those who have no advocate or way forward but for the mercy of God.
Each time we try to balance out grief, we flex our power. We think that if we can somehow help him/her see the good (by the power of our words and insight), then they’ll be comforted and we’ll have done something good. It’s about us, not the person grieving.
Lord, give us compassion for a lost and hurting world!
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