October 1st Reflection - The Funeral - by Bill Lynch

Lamentations 1:1–6
The Deserted City

How lonely sits the city
   that once was full of people!
How like a widow she has become,
   she that was great among the nations!
She that was a princess among the provinces
   has become a vassal.

She weeps bitterly in the night,
   with tears on her cheeks;
among all her lovers
   she has no one to comfort her;
all her friends have dealt treacherously with her,
   they have become her enemies.

Judah has gone into exile with suffering
   and hard servitude;
she lives now among the nations,
   and finds no resting-place;
her pursuers have all overtaken her
   in the midst of her distress.

The roads to Zion mourn,
   for no one comes to the festivals;
all her gates are desolate,
   her priests groan;
her young girls grieve,
   and her lot is bitter.

Her foes have become the masters,
   her enemies prosper,
because the Lord has made her suffer
   for the multitude of her transgressions;
her children have gone away,
   captives before the foe.

From daughter Zion has departed
   all her majesty.
Her princes have become like stags
   that find no pasture;
they fled without strength
   before the pursuer.

Reflection
Here we read a passage by Jeremiah. This is a dirge or a kind of funeral song as the Jews suffer in isolation from their city Jerusalem. The Israelites are captive and exiled away from the land they love. They feel the pain of separation. They feel the pain of their sin against God from beginning to end. Beginning to end is the pain of the sin they feel, represented by the makeup of the readings being identified with the Hebrew alphabet and each verse in the writings. This is an acrostic method of writing sometimes used to aid memory of these special words.

The sins of the people have left the Jews sorrowful and missing their relationship with God and their home. With Jerusalem destroyed the people long for a return to the days past and mourn for the city and the way of life they once had in Jerusalem.

We separate ourselves from God in our sin. But, God is gracious and merciful and rescues us in our separation. We will not be forgotten. God loves his people and gives us chance after chance for renewed relationship with him. In these times, it's needed that we feel the pain of separation and realize that we cannot save ourselves. We cannot do this on our own. We need God to save us. We need God and God sees fit that we need his children as well to live. So we repent, we turn around, we return and face God and live in harmony with God and each other.

Prayer
Lord, forgive me when I turn and run off on my own. As I turn and see your loving face in a Savior, Jesus, show me how to be one with you and with one another. Forgive me and return me to your favor... today... tomorrow... and forever. --- Amen