Pulpit Voices: What Nazarenes Are Preaching

by Dan Boone

"The Last Time You Cried" - A Lenten Series

The season of Lent is a time of brokenness. We misunderstand the season when we try to "break ourselves open" by giving up things and denying ourselves. This denial approach to Lent tends to focus on our activity, rather than God's activity. This is not to say that there is no value in self-denial, especially in fasting and other spiritual disciplines. It is to say that a Godward focus reveals the places where we have been broken by life in this world. As we attend to God, God opens us to see our brokenness in the light of the sufferings of Jesus. This is where our pain connects with his pain, our tears connect with his tears, our prayers connect with his prayers.

Tears are a telling human response to brokenness. The things that make people cry are found in the Psalms. Primarily, they comprise the psalms of lament. Therefore, the Lenten season is a good time for a series from the psalms that express our hurts.

We used the following titles:

"The Last Time You Cried: Rejection" (Psalm 44). In this Psalm the people of God are accusing God of failing them, even rejecting them. We explored the many places humans feel utterly rejected, from a dateless teenager to an elderly parent in a nursing home. Rejection by people causes us to wonder where God is. Jesus' cross prayer of forsakenness becomes our prayer in these times.

"The Last Time You Cried: Abandonment" (Psalm 77). There is a difference between being purposefully rejected and casually forgotten. Psalm 77 is asking the hard question of God's faithfulness. Questions like: "Has God forgotten to be gracious? Are we only a blip on God's radar screen? Has he lost track of us?"

"The Last Time You Cried: Anger" (Psalm 69). This Psalm is almost too hot to handle in church. It is the cry of people who have been so deeply wronged that their only prayer is for swift revenge. Note carefully what the writer is asking God to do with their enemies. Humans can get that angry! This psalm gives us permission to take this anger to God and express it fully and freely.

"The Last Time You Cried: Enemies" (Psalm 109). This Psalm is even angrier than the week before. We took the theme of enemies and helped our congregation determine who their enemies are. It is a helpful thing to admit that there are people in the world who are bent on hurting you.

In the life of Jesus of Nazareth we find the fullest expression of how God deals with human pain. It was very easy to hold each Psalm alongside Jesus en route to the cross. Each Psalm fit easily alongside the life of Jesus giving it a Christological focus.

One discovery we made in the series was that people wanted to talk about the questions that were raised. As a way of response we initiated a very productive Sunday evening coffee hour for those who wanted to discuss the issues.

Dan Boone is the Senior Pastor of College Church of the Nazarene in Bourbonnais, Illinois.