Week 2: Mourning

This week's experiment is based around Matthew 5:4, "blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted." There's many different kinds of mourning and no shortage of reasons to mourn in this life. One of the specific points of discussion last night was the kind of mourning that often occurred collectively among the nation of Israel back in OT days, mourning for sin.

I admit that mourning is not a reflex of mine when it comes to sin. If we're talking about my own sin, then my response to it is usually guilt, remorse, self-loathing, indifference (since I know I'll be forgiven), a desire to "work it off," a redoubling of my efforts to be a good person, or some combination of those things. But mourning? That's not a word I'd use to describe how I approach my sin.

If we're talking about other people's sin, then mourning is almost never on my radar. My response is probably more like judgment ("what a sinful person they are"), self-justification ("I'm better than they are"), or a simple shrug of the shoulders. I don't think to mourn, not for Christians or non-Christians.

To mourn implies that there is some kind of loss, that the sin that has occurred is against the natural order of how things are supposed to be, and that something unfortunate and grievous has happened to someone. It implies sympathy (or empathy? depending on the case?). It implies that there is a victim involved. Is it the sinner, or the people affected by the sinner? I know, I know... probably both.

Anyway, my assignment this week is to commit to prayer for fallen Christian leaders. I'll be interested to see where this takes me and how my views may change. I'm hopeful (strange word) that I'll discover how to mourn and grieve for the people affected by the sins of our leaders. I hope these will be for me more than just cautionary tales. I hope I'll discover redemption on many more levels and in many more situations than I previously knew.

More to come...