First Sunday in Lent Audio

There could be no book of Lamentions if there were no God. If there is no God, no grand plan, no purpose or reason for our existence other than being an accident of time and space - then lamenting makes no sense. If you cry out, "Why?" - the answer is "Why not?" If you ask, "How can this be?" - the answer is, "why shouldn't it be?"But the response changes if there is a God, a grand plan, a purpose, a reason. If - as Christians claim - the Book of Revelation is not just a hopeful vision - but rather an actuality that is already real in God's timeline even if it hasn't happened in ours yet - then a lament is not only perfectly acceptable - but necessary. "How can this be?" - we ask. And we expect God to answer. And the most important part of the grieving and mourning process is the waiting for that answer.I normally don't like to spoil the ending - but in this case, I must. As dark and smelly and loud as it is going to get when we ask God, "how can this be?" - there is a reason to stick around until the end.