My Updates
Ash Wednesday: Why Lament Still Matters
Reading the news lately, it’s hard not to think that ancient spiritual practices like Lent might be more relevant than ever.
Lent is a season to express sorrow, grief and protest against injustice, including the role we play in it. Often times priests and pastors kick it off with the 'fun' words 'From ashes you come, to ashes you will return' whilst smearing ash on foreheads. There's emphasis on 'lament'. A stuffy old word that feels out of place in a culture that makes good money helping us avoid any discomfort.
Yet lament may be the most important doorway into healing for our lives and our world.
We lament not only our mortality, but dreams that have turned to ashes—our own and those of others beyond our immediate view. We lament suffering in our world. For example - the reality in Timor Leste where one in four people are hungry. Half of all children are stunted due to failed harvests and lack of clean water.
We lament the groaning of creation under climate change, warming oceans, and fragile ecosystems.
This is where Lent begins to make sense. A spirituality of lament stands in sharp contrast to the egocentric spiritualities of our time. In a world where authoritarianism and “might is right” thinking are gaining ground, lament refuses denial and self-justification. It invites us to sit honestly with uncomfortable truths about ourselves and our world.
Lament leads to repentance—not as shame, but as a turning away from patterns that harm: violence, greed, exclusion, and environmental destruction. It turns us instead toward love, justice, repair, and community. This is the opposite of pretending that all is well, or that suffering beyond our vision doesn’t matter.
In the Judeo-Christian tradition, lament is grounded in hope: that the Good—the One some of us call God—is present even in the ashes. In Genesis, life is breathed from dust. In the Christ story, betrayal and death are not the end; resurrection follows. This hope gives us the courage to lament in the first place. It invites us to journey from authentic awareness of the suffering of others to practical ways we can bring new life.
So perhaps Lent is worth re-embracing this year. Even without signing up to a creed, it offers a counter-cultural way to reconnect with our own pain and the pain of the world—and to let that connection shape how we live.
Why not sign up to be part of UnitingWorld's Lent event here https://donate.unitingworld.org.au/lent-event Or just sponsor my 360-kilometer paddle over the season of Lent. I've already completed 20KM so a solid start.
