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.

We are paying the price of our sin - and the sin of our family and neighbors and community and the strangers we've never met. "Everything happens for a reason" - and our reason is sin. I get that we don't like it. And it's possible we aren't as guilty as others. But we are guilty. That's what this day is all about. And sitting by the river, refusing to sing while we wait for God to fix things - isn't going to help.

It's a day of penitence. A day to be honest about who we are as fragile, mortal creatures. We lament the condition of the world - and our own condition. We think about the sins which brought us to where we are today. I'll go first - I'm sorry for all the things I ever said that hurt or offended you. I'm sorry for not being the person you needed me to be. Hebrews 5 says the pastor has to first confess his sins and receive God's forgiveness before he can hear the sins of God's people and speak to them God's word of forgiveness. Something I need to take to heart.

There is a very tiny speck of light in all this darkness. There is a muted echo of the word alleluia wafting in the wind. There is the smell of incense as our prayers rise to God. There is still the promise of our laments turning into songs of joy.

We don't know when Peter, James and John finally told everyone what they had seen and heard on that mountaintop. Once Jesus was dead, there was no sense in keeping the secret anymore.

I know most of us like to think if we had been there - if Jesus had told us He was going to die and rise again after three days - we would have believed Him. We would have been standing outside the tomb with a "welcome back" banner, some cake and maybe some presents. But the truth is - I doubt it.

When I pour the water over the head of a child - do you believe it actually washes away their sin and makes them a child of God - that simple water and a few words are enough to cheat death? When you taste that little wafer and sip the wine - do you actually believe it's the body and blood of Jesus - that mysteriously the wafer and wine are now also Jesus in the flesh - emptying you of your sin and filling you up with God's love and mercy? When you hear God's Word read - can you tell it's different than all the other words in the world that get read?

To say that God is a mystery is in a way saying you can't quite nail Him down - that there is something more to Him and His Word and Sacraments that no matter how hard we try - we can't fully comprehend - and so we must take them on faith. And I suppose, if we want to take the metaphor just a little further - Pontius Pilate and the Roman soldiers couldn't nail Jesus down either - they tried - but He just got up out of the grave and went back to loving and forgiving and healing and raising others from their graves.

The prophet Micah says: "What does the Lord require of us? Act justly, love faithfulness and walk humbly with your God."

Such acts are not easy for us mere mortals - which is why we tend to build buildings, install stained glass windows and make pews more comfortable - those things are easy. Did you hear Jesus' words in the Gospel lesson? "If you don't want to be near me - I won't judge you because I didn't come into the world to judge - I came to save - and besides, I don't need to judge you because the stuff you have surrounded yourself with and the words you speak will judge you."

How close do you need to be to Jesus? The church has never, ever saved anyone. The church can't save anyone. No building, music, pew, program, pastor or DCE has ever saved a single soul. The only one who can save you is Jesus. The Bible is very clear on this - if you want to be saved you hold on to Jesus - who is and always has held on to you.

The manger in Bethlehem, the miracles, the crucifixion, the empty tomb - that is God holding on to you with all His love.

If you read the Bible - you will find every argument and complaint and disappointment vocalized by people like Ricky Gervais and the Atheist social media darlings. As Solomon said - there isn't "anything new under the sun." These individuals and others who rail against the "God they don't believe in" are not the enemy - nor should we treat them as such. They are the mission field.

I have come to love a God who accepts and acknowledges that I will have doubts and days when my words fail. I am beginning to understand and accept a God who refuses to micro-manage my life, my community or my world. And I am whole-heartedly in love with a God who can love you and me and even those who deny He exists.

The worst thing about depression and darkness is you know you need to get into the light - but you just don't have the energy. Newton's first law, "a body in motion tends to stay in motion - but a body at rest tends to just give up." That's my paraphrase.

Last Monday was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Two of his quotes I love are: "Faith is taking the first step even when you can't see the whole staircase" and "If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward." Finding Nemo paraphrased that when Dory said, "just keep swimming, just keep swimming..."

There is nothing more powerful than the light of a new dawn when you have been surrounded by darkness all night. There is nothing sweeter than the love of a friend who stands beside you when your life is falling apart. There is nothing more important than the words of forgiveness spoken by someone we hurt. There is nothing more important than Jesus

Being a disciple is not about what you know or can prove or even how much you believe. Faith is something we can make sound a lot easier than it really is. When we say someone has faith - it doesn't mean they don't have doubts or fears. You know those clear, glass walkways at the Grand Canyon or Tianmen Mountain in China or the CN Tower in Canada. I know engineers spent a lot of time and the contractor a lot of money to make sure they are totally safe - I have faith in their work - but I'm still not going out on one.

A disciple is known for the risk they are willing to take. They know there are bad people in this world - that everyone is dying, there may not be a monster under the bed but he might live down the street, there are babies in cancer wards, little boys and girls living without fathers and mothers, elderly people living alone. They accept all that as true. The leap of faith - the risk - is they are willing to make is in spite of all these terrible things - there is a God who loves the world and is working through His people to bring light into the darkness and hope into a hungry void that doesn't want to let go of its victims. That is a risk!

The simplicity of baptism is a deeper story than we will ever understand. We tried to become like God - not just His image but His power - and we failed - that's the Creation story. Since we could not become God - God became like us - that's the Christmas story. Jesus got baptized and walked this earth showing everyone how to forgive and love and live - all things we should know but forgot because we are still obsessed with becoming God - that's the Lenten story. Not a surprise, but turns out we weren't big fans of God showing up and living a holy life - as any two year old can say, "I do it myself" - so we nailed Jesus to a tree - that's the Good Friday Story. The only thing you can do with a dead body is bury it - Jesus didn't have His own grave so He borrowed one and they put Him in it on Friday afternoon - and that gave everyone time to think about what it means when God is dead - that's the Holy Saturday Story. That should be the end of the story - but it's not. Turns out when you bury God - He just gets up and walks out of the tomb - and instead of running around smiting everyone because they killed Him - He forgives people and loves people and says He will never die again - which is the Easter Story.

God doesn't stop there. Even after Jesus went back home to heaven, He continues to hold out His nail-scarred hands through His church - crying out, "Peace be with you" to anyone and everyone who is willing to listen. He calls you by name. He forgives you. He resurrects you. And one day He will take you home to heaven so you can experience life - your life that was supposed to be before sin messed things up. That is your Story and it all starts with your baptism.