Tues Dec. 6 - A Time to Speak (Eliza Gilkyson)

      

            Sometimes the beginning of an answer to our deepest needs is someone's invitation to name them, to speak them out, without fear or judgment. This kind of naming, this kind of speaking, this lamenting is a faithful, necessary model given by our ancestors of faith. Beyond that, it is an inherent human need.  But as someone who was raised in a culture devoted to self-sufficiency, stony strength and rationality, I am not prone to the kind of lament modeled for us in the Psalms or even in today’s song. As a young person, I observed people like my father (whose emotions still reside right under his skin, perhaps some around his very strong vocal chords, too), those who couldn’t restrict their emotions to the cultural box of reserve and control, dismissed, "dealt with" or boxed out by others. Message received, social/communal circles of my youth: weeping is for funerals, and anger, raised voices are not for us.

            So, now as an adult, I am on the LONG road to reclaiming this powerful gift that I’ve abdicated to the social status quo.  Most days I still feel severely limited in my capacity for public emotion sharing.  I have, however, learned to recognize and cherish those few blessed saints who, full of grace, invite, question and prod me, to pull out my laments; those who encourage hollering and even the occasional curse word (when the situation calls for it); and those who wait in the moments when I can not word my emotion, but can only sigh.

            There is an added burden that gets piled on top of our sadness, longing, or pain when we are unable to name them. Likewise there is some kind of release, easing, healing even, when our burden may be shared with another. In the church I come from part of our confessions claim that God helps us to hear the voices of people long silenced.  This confession points to the great sin of the silencing that happened/is happening to many people groups across history; it also affirms, for me, the great power of voice and the sacred gift of being heard. This advent perhaps we could take up this very important justice practice for ourselves, as well as those around us.

Word of God, give to us those who will listen us into our own language, releasing our laments, our frustrations and our confusions; Easing us out of the bondage of silence, into the blessedness of a shared journey.

                                    -Lindsey

**Today I offer a prayer of thankgiving and blessing for those who invite our voices and hear our laments. You are invited to add a comment with the names of those for whom you are thankful as a litany.