March 29, 2021
/Tenebrae: Nocturn One
Lamentations 1: 1-14
The Rev. Jeffrey Bohanski
When I was a freshman in college, in what now seems a century ago, I attended a Wednesday night Bible study. The program was led by the much-loved campus minister, Father Larry Burger. Our group was made up of students from the university and a few Roman Catholic nuns from a nearby convent. One particular Bible study in Lent stands out vividly in my memory.
That memorable evening we were having a discussion about a particular psalm. The psalm number I don’t remember, but I remember telling the group that I didn’t like that particular psalm because I did not find it particularly uplifting. I told the group I liked the parts of the Bible that made me feel good, made me feel happy. It was at that point where Sister Ancelle, a nun who was well past retirement age and who was known to be kind, gentle and meek blurted out in a not quite so kind, gentle and meek way, “That’s spoken like a young person who has not yet experienced life.” Everyone turned their opened mouth heads to look at the kind Sister Ancelle. With a deep breath she continued in her more usual kind tone. She told us that in her life she had, at one time or another, felt all the words in the Psalms and in Lamentations. She said she felt them when she entered the order, she felt them when her parents died, she felt them when she had to, under the vow of obedience, to leave one community which she loved and go to another community that needed her specific gifts of ministry. She told us she felt these words at many other points in her life.
She went on to say that as she lived her life with these words, she became grateful to them because she noticed they gave words to her feelings. She said she became grateful to them when she learned that Jesus used these same psalms and lamentations when he prayed while he was here on earth. She told us that image of Jesus using these same words in his prayers that she used in her prayers brought her a closer connection to Jesus and closer to the Father. She said she knew Jesus was with her and would always be.
As I have grown older and as I am nearing retirement, I’ve learned that Sister Ancelle was right. These words have given words to my feelings. I have felt not quite so alone when I’ve prayed the ancient words in Psalm 69: “Save me, O God, for the waters have risen up to my neck.” Because I know I’m not the only one who has felt this way or will feel this way. I have felt more comfortable with my anguish when I’ve prayed the words in Psalm 70, “You are my helper and my deliverer; O LORD, do not tarry.” because I know someone centuries ago once felt this way, wrote them down and we still use them today.
Like Sister Ancelle, I know Jesus prayed these words. A Christian cannot help but to read Jesus into many of the Psalms. I know he felt every word in Lamentations on his Maundy Thursday.
As it says in the introduction to this service on page two, In the Service of Tenebrae, we are given an opportunity to meditate on the truth that Jesus truly was Emanuel, “God with us,” and that like us, Jesus faced the same emotional challenges that can bring us down. Knowing Jesus used these words give me hope to make it through the times when I am down. They give me the strength to make it to the resurrection.
This week I invite you to join us to pray, to read and to feel these words of Scripture that Sister Ancelle and Jesus once prayed and felt. I invite you to feel the pain of Holy Week. I guarantee it will make Easter Day feel much more meaningful and glorious!