“This liturgy is intended to move us from lament to hope.”
As co-chair of the Northern Illinois Synod Worship Committee I have the privilege of working with a dedicated team in planning worship for our life-together as people and congregations of the Northern Illinois Synod. In collaboration with our synod staff, we are pleased to offer this Service of Lament and Observance of Christ the King.
Over the course of these now more than eight months of living in this pandemic there is much to lament: the sickness and death from Covid-19, the economic impacts on families and businesses, the loss of rituals for celebrations and grief, the fatigue of online meetings, the stress on daily life in an anxious and uncertain world, and so much more.
This service is an opportunity to name the laments we share collectively and those that are personal. And in naming our laments, we remember God’s faithfulness in the past as a sign of God’s faithfulness for us now and turn our hearts toward hope in God’s presence with us and promise to deliver us again.
As Bishop Jeffrey Clements has said, “This liturgy is intended to move us from lament to hope.”
In the sermon, Bishop Clements helps us move from lament to hope in a conversation with his pastor the Rev. Dr. Janet Hunt, First Lutheran Church, DeKalb, IL, with Psalm 13 as a guide.
Synod staff are the primary leaders of this service with music coming from congregations throughout the synod including Bob Rub and St. Mark singers who provided the music for the Gathering Hymn in this service. We are grateful for their music offering and all who contributed to this service.
I invite and encourage you to experience this Service of Lament and Observance of Christ the King as a way to move from lament to hope in your own life and share in our life-together as people of God in the Northern Illinois Synod.
This worship service is available for
streaming at the Northern Illinois Synod YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/_Px-ra4pswY
Peace,
Pastor Robert
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