It means we don’t turn a blind eye to all the areas of life that aren’t right. We invite God to grieve with us and be with us, as we hope for the change that is possible while on earth.

We’re also curious about why things are as they are. So as a church, we ask questions about the plan God has for us and we dig deep to find meaning out of all the mess, learning from God and other people. 

Like you, we experience the temptation to isolate or exist only in circles that affirm us, so at Emmanuel, we reject that temptation, and try our best to feel together, explore together, and practice the narrow way of the faith together.

Lament is grieving with God. It is the act of feeling the pain of life while holding onto hope that there is more. Lament both sees today and knows of tomorrow. It sees division and hopes for unity. It feels injustice and articulates justice. It feels not yet, but also fully now.

Lament is divine for it is communication from us to God, for God truly is with us. Lament hopes for a better today and a better tomorrow.

At Emmanuel, we try to embrace lament as a way of being, so that the pains of human life have a place to go. This softens our hardened hearts and teaches us that the one we serve cares about what we care about, and loves more deeply than we can love. This shapes us as disciples.

Disciples study the ways of their teacher. Part of the healing process for so many of us is learning to unlearn things that may not be true to the God of Scripture.

This is why at Emmanuel, we take seriously the basics of the faith like Holy Scripture, the Lord’s Prayer, the Ten Commandments, and the Apostles Creed. We spend time with Jesus and discern our personal learning style and prayer language.

We also don’t do this alone, as though we’re the first one to walk this path of discipleship. We explore the young and old voices the church holds up as exemplars of the faith, while being a church of shared learning among the generations of elders to children.

We believe God desires a better way for us and we seek to learn as much as we can about it, so that as He sends us, we can tell others the Good News of Salvation and the Kingdom of Heaven.

Lament is honesty and learning is humility. Those things together can create healing, but healing always requires humanity choosing to live a new way, together.

We can learn all day long what God desires, but if we don’t do it, little changes, therefore at Emmanuel we invite your lament and learning to be applied on the practice field of the faith, called the church. We invite you to live with one another and walk with one another. We invite you to reconcile and grow. We invite you to strengthen the muscles of faithfulness and to become a new creation in Christ. 

All of this is possible by the power of God, and our ultimate prayer is that you draw nearer by faith through these steps that may aid you or the specific steps God is calling you to.

If these align with your heart, you’re always welcome to give Emmanuel a try.

God is with us through it all.  

Amen