The Importance of Psalms of Lament in Christian Theology

This essay discusses the importance of psalms of lament in Christian theology, focusing on the Costly Loss of Lament. It explores how these psalms help individuals cope with difficult times and establish a deeper sense of unity with God. The essay also highlights the relevance of psalms of joy and the need to balance both joy and sorrow in life.

Running head: CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY
Christian Theology
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY
The purpose of the following essay is to discuss about the psalms of lament. The psalms
of lament and joy are essential documents of the Christian theology. These psalms help the
human beings to understand the problems of the human beings in their lives. Both the psalms of
the joy and sorrow are crucial because te psalms of sorrow or lament help the individuals to
understand how they can cope up with the difficult times in their lives. This is also essential
because people face difficult times in their lives and they would like to come out of it by the
messages of love and peace from Jesus Christ in the Bible.
The psalms of joy are also very much relevant in this scenario as well. In these psalms,
people are advised how they should behave in their difficult times and not get flown away by
joy. Difficult times might arrive in their lives and they have to realize both joy and sorrow are
important phases of their lives. If they enjoy their joyous moments, they must learn to tackle with
their sad moments as well. The psalms of lament are crucial because people generally lose their
faith in God when they go through very sorrowful moments. In this essay, the discussions will be
made on the importance of the psalms of lament. The psalm of lament that will be discussed here
is that of the Costly Loss of Lament by Walter Bruegermann.1 The ways the worshippers will be
able to form a deeper sense of unity with God will be discussed here.
Recently, the psalms of lament have gained greater significance than previous times. It is
due to the fact that people in the current times face a lot of complications and uncertainties
because their lives have become very much complicated. In this discourse, it is quite important
that the worshippers take the help of these lament psalms. The Costly Loss of Lament is also one
1 Brueggemann, Walter. "The costly loss of lament." Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 11, no. 36 (1986):
57-71.

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such psalm in which the worshippers have been able to establish a sense of communion. The
Omnipotent God always takes care of His followers in their difficult times. This is why
worshipping communities confess their guilt to God and ask for salvation from the sins. They
come to realize that their difficult times might be the reason for their sins. So, they take the help
of God only to escape from that sin. The believers of faith and liturgy of Israel can be discussed
in this context. The person who has done enough research on this issue is Claus Westermann.2
He has outlined crucial factors that are significant for the worshipping communities. The
worshippers should address the main reasons for their difficult times and ask God what they
should do to get better. When one goes through extreme pain and suffering in their world, they
should always opt for psalms of lament and listen to the messages from God and Holy Scripture.
Some or the other painful things always takes place in people’s lives and this psalm of lament is
something they can account for. The loss or grief in the lives of the individuals can be overcome
by the human beings through worshipping to God only. God is the benevolent ntity in the world
who has always thought of His followers in their difficult times. This chosen psalm has been a
very effective element of giving the opportunity to all the people to overcome their laments to
live a better life in the future.
As per the words of Claus Westermann, the laments of the human beings will surely end
by the praise. When someone gets to praise the other for their efforts to overcome the difficult
times in their lives, it is surely one of the best moments that one can achieve in life.3 Wetsremann
2 Brueggemann, Walter. "The costly loss of lament." Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 11, no. 36 (1986):
57-71.
3 Graham, Wyatt A. "The Psalms as Christian Lament: A Historical Commentary." Journal of the Evangelical
Theological Society 58, no. 1 (2015): 169.

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has been very much active in proving that the success of psalms is to move from plea to praise.
The lives of the human beings can be surely changed when someone has highlighted his or her
good works in lives. This is the reason Westermann’s points have been very much valid indeed.
The condition of the concerned person goes through a proper transformation because of these
things. When someone is deeply in grief, God intervenes in this mentally traumatic situation and
He tends to solve the problems of that person. This is how plea turns to praise with the
intervention of God. In this psalm, the author has again the drawn the works of Claus
Westermannn and mentions of the song of thanksgiving. These songs of thanksgiving will surly
resolve the laments of people in the society.4 The correspondence between the thanksgiving and
praise is also something very important to be noted in this scenario. The laments always tend to
end in the plea i.e. the gateway to the resolution of all the problems. The issue of life setting for
the laments has been a very crucial fact as well. However, Westermann in his works has not
discussed of the significance of cult in his writings. Therefore, it has been one of the unresolved
factors associated with lament.
In other ways, it can also be said that Brueggermann has discussed about the lament in a
form that it can lead to the overall development of personalities within the human beings.
Through describing his points, he has used the analogy of the relationship between the mother
and the child.5 The responsiveness to various actions is crucial from every aspect in this scenario.
4 Ásgeirsdóttir, Guðlaug Helga, Einar Sigurbjörnsson, Ewan Kelly, Rannveig Traustadóttir, Sigríður Gunnarsdóttir,
and Valgerður Sigurðardóttir. "Out of the depths: theology and spirituality within palliative care." Studia
Theologica-Nordic Journal of Theology 68, no. 2 (2014): 147-168.
5 Brueggemann, Walter. "The costly loss of lament." Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 11, no. 36 (1986):
57-71.

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When a mother thinks about the ego-strength of the child, she should not take up initiatives from
her side in an excessive manner. Rather she should always look to encourage the child and
response to the ego-strength that has already been developed in him. In this scenario, that eg0-
strength is very much necessary.
The believer in God should take the initiative with God in order to remove the lament
from his or her life. He also argues that the growth of praise and doxology in those situations
where the absence of lament can be noticed.6 The factor of praise comes in this scenario since the
existence of God is omnipotent and He is always there to be hailed with all the praise. The
existence of God is nothing compared to that of the God. Therefore, he or she has to go on with
the praise. Thus it is his duty of the individuals to praise them and accept the guilt wherever it
turns out to be absolutely necessary. The concept of ‘False Self’ can be introduced in this
situation since human beings suffer from fear and guilt feeling.7 Here, people should be cautious
about the presence of the omnipotent God in the universe.
In this psalm, Brueggermann has compared God with the omnipotent mother. The faith in
Bible and it swritings does not have connotations with the psychological categories. Instead it is
very hard to connect these two things. Good has also discussed about the fact that God is very
much docile and he has always been trying to stimulate the reactors in the conventional sense.
Therefore, it is very clear that God responds to the laments in the lives of the human beings. The
6 Francis, Leslie J. Exploring ordinary theology: Everyday Christian believing and the church. Routledge, 2016.
7 Brueggemann, Walter. "The costly loss of lament." Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 11, no. 36 (1986):
57-71.

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rule of God is providential and God always wants to be the active participant in his rule.
Therefore, it has been very important that God is the being that controls all the things in this
world. God has always worked on to show that it is within his regime to provide space to the
common people to develop an understanding about all the things that have been create by God
only. This is one of the most useful factors for God to intervene in the procedures of theology
and Biblical underpinnings.8
God is also very responsive to the problems of the human beings. It is because He wants
all the human beings God wants all the human beings to seek and question about the creations he
has made. In this psalm, Brueggermann has asked about the challenges that can be made by the
human beings regarding the creations of God.9 God wants to get the response of all His followers
so He can measure how their laments could be resolved. Grief is definitely a very important part
of the lives of the human beings. This is why it is quite obvu=ious that grief periods must come
to the lives of the common people. If they seek the help of God, they should realize God has
plans for everyone in this world. The forms of justice are very important in this matter as well.
Therefore, it has to be regarded with utmost importance on social justice could be served by the
use of the social power.10
8 Katongole, Emmanuel. Born from Lament. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2017.
9 Pembroke, Neil. Renewing pastoral practice: Trinitarian perspectives on pastoral care and counselling.
Routledge, 2016.
10 John, Eeva, Naomi Nixon, and Nick Shepherd. "Life-changing learning for Christian discipleship and ministry: a
practical exploration." Practical Theology 11, no. 4 (2018): 300-314.

6CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY
The course of absence in the religion is a definitive factor in describing the religions.
Therefore, followers or worshippers would only be restricted to coercive obedience to the
religion. If the lament is absent in the lives of the human beings, the only possible thing that
comes along with covenant through joy and well being. This, of course, is not the only thing in
the world to be celebrated. In fact, the laments of the human beings could be dealt in a manner
by God that God is the mother of those innocent human beings. These human beings are the
innocent children that have been suffering from the pain and suffering.
There is another thing that should be considered in this scenario. It is of the relationship
of pastoral care and grief periods of the human beings. This psalm has presented the ideas how
God takes care of His children in their state of crisis.11 So, it is very evident that God should also
enable the human beings to cope up with all the difficulties in their lives. The pastoral care of
human beings is very important to be take care of them in the periods of grief or loss or
suffering. The role of pastors is increasing in this complex life. This is why it is quite evident that
levels of grief are increasing because of the highly complicated lifestyles of people. The pastors
tend to counsel the people on how they can decrease the sufferings of people. People often find
themselves in the most undesirable phases or situations.
This is often the case and they need to go through proper care just to be saved from
damnation. It might be due to their ill fate or a result of their activities. It has already been said in
this psalm that God is like the mother and His responsibility is to protect His children from all
the sufferings. He also has a good idea about the time and reason of His followers facing the
11 Pembroke, Neil. Renewing pastoral practice: Trinitarian perspectives on pastoral care and counselling.
Routledge, 2016.

7CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY
problems or dark times.12 The stress of the human beings should be decreased in order to make
them understand how they can cope up with all these issues indeed. In these situations of pain
and suffering, the role of pastors is to provide the concerned individuals with all the energy and
strength in the world. The pastors will inspire those sufferers with the message of love and peace
of God.13 Therefore, they would feel better in their quest to become well off in these painful
situations. In this scenario, some courses have been identified that can cause severe stress in the
minds of common people.14 These are getting bullied at work, losing of jobs, serious illness of
family members, problems and complications regarding pregnancy, having doubts with the
implications of the Christian faith and many others. These situations can be curbed by several
processes by the pastor caregivers. The caregivers can also give care to these people in the times
of chronic care like mental illnesses, eating disorders, hardships in winning legal battles and
many such things.15 This is why pastor care is shown through love and faith on God. The pastoral
care is given to these members by creating small groups. The sufferers are advised to read out the
12 Katongole, Emmanuel. Born from Lament. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2017.
13 Haupt, Melissa D. From the Depths of Lament to the Heights of Praise: The Psalms as a'Holding Environment'in
Worship and Pastoral Care. Princeton Theological Seminary, 2017.
14 Waltke, Bruce K., James M. Houston, and Erika Moore. The Psalms as Christian Lament. Wm. B. Eerdmans
Publishing, 2014.
15 Lewis Hall, M. Elizabeth. "Suffering in God's Presence: The Role of Lament in Transformation." Journal of
Spiritual Formation and Soul Care 9, no. 2 (2016): 219-232.

8CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY
passages of the Scriptures and pray to God to give His blessings.16 The Church community will
provide utmost care to these people since they think it one of the most important needs for them
to show the omnipotent powers of God.17
This psalm has been very efficient to show how Christian faith can be a blessing for the
worshipping communities. The specialists of theology have given new ideas about how they can
develop their connection with God. God’s caring attitude will give them the assurance that their
suffering will be gone surely at some point of time. The social construction about the reality of
the feelings of people will have to be utilized properly as well. The lament psalm has been an
evident source how power can be redistributed.18 Therefore, the redress of power has some
negative implications in this scenario as well.
Theologians have also argued that the genuine covenant interaction will not be present if
the lament is absent from the lives of the human beings. Critics have also said that it is almost
impossible to remove the lament from the life and liturgy.19 In order to establish a strong between
the omnipotent God and worshipping community, this psalm has indeed played a huge role. This
16 DeClaissé-Walford, Nancy L., Rolf A. Jacobson, and Beth LaNeel Tanner. The book of Psalms. Wm. B.
Eerdmans Publishing, 2014.
17 Graham, Wyatt A. "The Psalms as Christian Lament: A Historical Commentary." Journal of the Evangelical
Theological Society 58, no. 1 (2015): 169.
18 Harrichand, James Japheth Sudarshan, and James Japheth. "Recovering the Language of Lament for the Western
Evangelical Church: A Survey of the Psalms of Lament and Their Appropriation within Pastoral
Theology." McMaster Journal of Theology and Ministry 16 (2014): 102.
19 Card, Michael. A Sacred Sorrow: Reaching Out to God in the Lost Language of Lament. Tyndale House, 2014.

9CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY
is why followers will have to be very much conscious about desiring the well being from the
pangs of joy and suffering. The development of the ego-strength is definitely is one very
important matter in this regard. Thus, it will cater to the well being of the individuals from the
pangs of suffering as well.20
On a concluding note, it can be stated hat ego-strength of the human beings is one of the
most important and effective materials for the growth of personality. The chosen lament psalm
by Walter Brueggermann The Costly Loss of Lament is indeed a very document ti understand
the usefulness if lament in the world and how it helps the human beings to see the brighter side
of life. It can only be seen when the lives of sufferers are extremely painful from all perspectives.
The author has presented his viewpoints in the most useful ways indeed. It must be understood
that the impact of ego-strength in the lives of human beings is always very high. Therefore, it
will be very crucial to address the fact that worshipping communities would be able to establish a
deep sense of attachment with God by reading this psalm of lament. It is conclusive that lament
psalms are indeed very effective to deal with loss or suffering in this world.
20 Mandolfo, Carleen. "Language of lament in the psalms." The Oxford handbook of the psalms (2014): 114-130.

10CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY
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spirituality within palliative care." Studia Theologica-Nordic Journal of Theology 68, no. 2
(2014): 147-168.
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11CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY
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Evangelical Theological Society 58, no. 1 (2015): 169.
Harrichand, James Japheth Sudarshan, and James Japheth. "Recovering the Language of Lament
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within Pastoral Theology." McMaster Journal of Theology and Ministry 16 (2014): 102.
Haupt, Melissa D. From the Depths of Lament to the Heights of Praise: The Psalms as a'Holding
Environment'in Worship and Pastoral Care. Princeton Theological Seminary, 2017.
John, Eeva, Naomi Nixon, and Nick Shepherd. "Life-changing learning for Christian discipleship
and ministry: a practical exploration." Practical Theology 11, no. 4 (2018): 300-314.
Katongole, Emmanuel. Born from Lament. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2017.
Lewis Hall, M. Elizabeth. "Suffering in God's Presence: The Role of Lament in
Transformation." Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care 9, no. 2 (2016): 219-232.
Mandolfo, Carleen. "Language of lament in the psalms." The Oxford handbook of the
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12CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY
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