The Courage to Lament: An Analysis of Mainline Hymnody

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Notes

Bernhard W. Anderson, Out of the Depths: The Psalms Speak for Us Today (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2000), 56–60.

James Bruckner, class lecture, North Park Theological Seminary, “Wisdom and the Prophets,” 2003.

Walter Brueggemann, The Message of the Psalms (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1984), 53.

Traditional Pakistani, tr. D. T. Niles, in The United Methodist Hymnal (Nashville: United Methodist Publishing House, 1989), #523.

Georg Neumark, “If Thou But Suffer God to Guide Thee,” tr. Catherine Winkworth, in The United Methodist Hymnal, #142.

Georg Neumark, “If You But Trust in God to Guide You,” tr. composite, in Lutheran Book of Worship (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1990), #453.

Ibid.

Charles Albert Tindley, “Stand By Me,” in The United Methodist Hymnal, #512.

Henry F. Lyte, “Abide with Me,” in The United Methodist Hymnal, #700; in Lutheran Book of Worship, #272; in The Covenant Hymnal: A Worshipbook (Chicago: Covenant. 1996), #757.

Here it is calling on lamenters to be in God's presence: “Come, ye disconsolate,/where'er ye languish,/come to the mercy seat,/fervently kneel” (v. 1). Thomas Moore, “Come, Ye Disconsolate,” The United Methodist Hymnal, #510.

Lina Sandell, “Thy Holy Wings, O Savior,” tr. Gracia Grindal, in The United Methodist Hymnal, #502; tr. Ernest Edwin Ryden, in The Covenant Hymnal, #81.

Kenneth I. Morse, “God of All Living,” in The Covenant Hymnal, #721.

Joy F. Patterson, “When Life for Us Is Full of Comfort,” in The Covenant Hymnal, #717.

These five are: Constance Cherry, “When Will People Cease Their Fighting,” in The Covenant Hymnal, #723; Barbara Harr, “How Can We Sing the Lord's Song,” in The Covenant Hymnal, #417; Bill Wallace, “‘Why Has God Forsaken Me?’” in The Covenant Hymnal, #237; Lina Sandell. “Hide Not Your Face,” tr. Joseph E. Anderson, in The Covenant Hymnal, #769; William W. Reid, Jr., “The City Is Alive, O God,” in The Covenant Hymnal, #690. These last two are the selections that question God directly.

Bill Wallace, “‘Why Has God Forsaken Me?’” in The Covenant Hymnal, #237.

Lina Sandell, “Hide Not Your Face,” tr. Joseph E. Anderson, in The Covenant Hymnal, #769.

James Bruckner, class lecture, North Park Theological Seminary, “Wisdom and the Prophets,” 2003. Bruckner asserts, “Lament provides the possibility of hope with integrity, not just optimism.”

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David Bjorlin

David Bjorlin is a recent graduate of North Park Theological Seminary. He plans to do further graduate study in liturgics.