Rev. Cari returned to worship leadership today, launching a three-week series called ‘Exile and Return.’ Today’s topic is “lament” – which is both a Biblical genre, and also an emotional function which is feeling more and more relevant.

Her text this morning is the entirety of Psalm 137… yes, even including those brutal final verses that express the exiles desire for vengeance on their Babylonian captors.

This is not an easy text, but it is not an easy time, either. Cari has some help from Rev. Nadia Bolz-Weber,  from the late Bishop Ken Untener, and from Dr. Walter Brueggemann, as she tries to find her way through the complex terrain of lament.

Here, just because you might want to refer to them later, are the discernment questions Rev. Nadia offers, from her mentor Suzanne Stabile:
What’s mine to do and what’s not mine to do?
What’s mine to say and what’s not mine to say?
What’s mine to care about and what’s not mine to care about?