LAMENT. We have been using this important biblical term to describe one God-honoring response to a recent on-campus conflict over the theology and missiology of our Christian witness to the Muslim community. 

The word “lament” refers to “a passionate expression of grief or sorrow.” In recent months we have expressed genuine grief and passionate sorrow over—among many other things—the death of two English professors, the public departure of a faculty member, areas of theological disagreement, signs of racial discord, and the way in which wider religious and political conflicts polarize our own community. 

This is not the first time in our history that we have needed to lament. On occasion we have lamented the deaths of alumni missionaries, as public observances of the 60th anniversary of Operation Auca recently have reminded us. Even our recurrent spiritual revivals were times of lament, as well as celebration, when students both repented of and grieved for their sin. 

In recent years lament has come to play an increasingly prominent role in our communal worship. Chapel speakers often bear witness to a broken world. Our students also encounter the painful consequences of sin in their own lives, in the city of Chicago, and in their service to society. These burdens are much too great for emerging adults or anyone else to bear. So we teach our students to lament: in our common prayers, through testimonies, and even in the words of our songs. 

There seems to be nearly as much lamentation in the Bible as there is celebration—maybe more. Jeremiah famously wrote an entire book called Lamentations. But some of the most painful laments are the ones that Jesus offered: for the lost people of Jerusalem (Matthew 23:37-38), at the death of his friend Lazarus (John 11:38), and especially on the cross where he suffered the burden of our sin (Matthew 27:46). Jesus wept. 

So our Lord knows what it is like to belong to a broken community, to grieve the loss of a loved one, and to suffer the pain of separation. His words of lamentation show that he not only knows, but also feels. And because he feels, he is able to care. We are not alone in our lament, but deeply loved by our suffering Savior. 

Because of Jesus—because of who he is and what he has done—we know that our lament will not go on forever. This life is a vale of tears. But when our Savior comes again there will be no more tears—only songs of praise and the holy mirth of eternal joy.