“Comfort, comfort my people, says your God”
Isaiah 40:1

I tuned in on a webinar last night where a pastor, Matt Woodley, hosted John Ortberg on the subject of ‘Preaching through Disruption.’ John made the point that sometimes prophets speak to God’s people but sometimes they speak for people, that they not only challenge but also identify with God’s people (e.g. Isaiah 6:5). Jonah is the only prophet who doesn’t lament with his audience. Stories are a huge part of how we lament together, so that we can know we are not alone on this journey and that life doesn’t present us with all the answers at times. I had just spoken to Rigby Wallace earlier in the day and he told me about his preach from Sunday- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4h-nIItDGEc
It tied in with what Ortberg was saying and I want to point you to a powerful section that gives voice to fellow Capetonians struggling with this time in our lives. Rigby’s message was called ‘Singing the Lord’s Song in a Strange Land,’ based on Psalm 137. The whole YouTube video is 1hr13 minutes, including worship and an introduction, so I’m taking you to a number of points, with the “Scroll of Laments,” just under 5 minutes, being what I’m referring to above (place on the video is 42:35-47:12, which is under Point 3, How does this Psalm/s help us express our own lament?, starting at the 39 minute mark). I would also recommend you watch from 54:15-57:30 on Where do we take our lament and what do we do with it? (2 great quotes) & 59:30-1:02,35 under How does God respond to our Laments?

Then these 2 resources that Common Ground put after the message are also very helpful, the latter giving you some guidelines on how to write your own lament:

-Lament 6 Reasons We Need The Psalms: https://bit.ly/3ayJzmF

-The Biblical Art Of Lament: How an ancient practice helps us give voice to our emotions https://bit.ly/35069Do