The Steadfast Love of the Lord (Kinnamon Bible Study #1)

From a member of our leadership team, renowned scholar and ecumenical leader, Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon, in celebration of DJAN’s twenty-five years of faithful, impactful witness, here is the first of twenty-five brief Bible readings and reflections on the theme of justice, one for every other day between Easter and Pentecost.

Dear DJAN Friends,

The first reading in our series is only three verses. However, you may want to read what comes before them in Lamentations (“I am one who has seen affliction . . . The thought of my affliction and my homelessness is wormwood and gall!”) and to read these verses more than once.

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him” (Lamentations 3:22-24, NRSV).

The Book of Lamentations was written by an unknown poet to mourn the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in 586 BCE and the subsequent exile of the people of Judah in Babylon. The book as a whole is a reminder that it is not wrong for God's people to lament the state of the world–then and now. Lamentation for the medical, economic, and emotional toll taken by this pandemic, and for the spread of misinformation that has made it worse. Lamentation for this nation's history of race-based oppression, and for the death of Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Walter Scott, Freddie Gray, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Daunte Wright, and other Black neighbors at the hands of police. Lamentation for the way poverty stunts so many lives in a nation where a few have far too much. Lamentation for this nation's penchant for violence, much of it carried out with guns. Yet even as we lament, says the author of this biblical text, we have reason to remember that God's love is steadfast and to look with hope for God's new mercies every day. For people who trust in God, there is no rejoicing without remembrance of the things we should lament, and no lamentation without remembrance of the reasons we have to rejoice. 

May God grant us understanding and commitment.