Lament WITH Children and Youth: Practices, Rhythms, Rituals that Empower Faith Communities to Address Loss and Injustice

My story: In 2021, I lost both of my parents suddenly to Covid within 10 days. As a worship leader, I was immediately struck with how little room our faith communities provided for grief, let alone a framework or language for offering Christian lament. Interestingly, my children became my worship leaders, teaching me the rhythms and practices of daily lament, as we grieved together.
Proposed Workshop Content: Like adults, children and youth experience loss, trauma, transition. They encounter deep disappointments and grief, sometimes even the loss of a family member, or friend, or a special pet. Like us, younger generations often learn to inhabit the liminal spaces of waiting, disappointment, illness, moving, divorce, and so much more. We live in a world full of bullying, violence, racial injustice, poverty, and discrimination. But do we, as God’s children, no matter our age, know that we can approach God honestly with our pain and confusion? Do we realize that God invites us to practice daily rhythms and rituals that allow us to lament with one another, no matter what age, in community?
In this workshop, we will discuss the following:

  • a brief theology of lament as a spiritual practice for worship and daily life that enables us to approach God and community with honesty, vulnerability, and authenticity
  • an exploration of how we might make room for lament in our faith communities and at home
  • new language to aid us in practicing lament with children and youth together utilizing the Psalms of lament and biblical examples (Job, David, Hannah, Jesus)
  • practical resources drawing from culturally diverse faith communities and experts (over 22 interviews I conducted in 2023) in this field to facilitate and create practices of lament through rhythms and rituals.

Room: