Lament
Lament — a passionate expression of grief and sorrow.
Like many of you, Auburn Theological Seminary is lamenting this moment. As leaders, we are also acutely aware of how our children are watching how we move and speak on this day. They offer us a mirror, reflecting our emotions, actions, fears, pains, sorrows, hopes, and dreams. As leaders, we offer lament as a practice to share with future generations, especially on a day like today.
As those curious, fearful, and hopeful eyes look to us, Auburn is encouraging leaders to ask themselves these questions:
What are you lamenting? Be honest with yourself and your community. What is it about the results from last night that have you pained? What world were you longing for that you thought might be expressed in this election? What met or unmet expectations have you grief-stricken?
How are you expressing your lament? Be authentic in your practice of lament. When you have come to terms with what you are disappointed in, now pay attention to how you express that grief. What do the youngest among you see when you offer your prayers and songs of lament? How are you treating your neighbors on this day? What words do you say or not say? What spaces do you go to or not go to? What do you draw on from your traditions or do you leave some behind because they no longer align with your values?
Auburn is lamenting the amount of hurt, pain, and fear people are experiencing, many of whom were already suffering before the election.
We are lamenting that fearmongering and scapegoating are practices used to both achieve outcomes and justify them.
We are lamenting that for so many people a healed world seems impossible.
And we have been here before.
We offer you this reflection from Howard Thurman in Jesus and the Disinherited:
Fear is one of the persistent hounds of hell that dog the footsteps of the poor, the dispossessed, the disinherited. There is nothing new or recent about fear—it is doubtless as old as the life of man on the planet. Fears are of many kinds—fear of objects, fear of people, fear of the future, fear of nature, fear of the unknown, fear of old age, fear of disease, and fear of life itself. Then there is fear which has to do with aspects of experience and detailed states of mind.
Our homes, institutions, prisons, churches, are crowded with people who are hounded by day and harrowed by night because of some fear that lurks ready to spring into action as soon as one is alone, or as soon as the lights go out, or as soon as one’s social defenses are temporarily removed.
We lament that fear is the narrative that holds the upper hand today. But fear will not win us over.
Auburn Theological Seminary is working to support leaders to lead not with fear, but with love.
Today, that love leads us to lament with you.
With all the love of our ancestors and hope for our descendants —
Auburn Theological Seminary Leadership