When Tears Sing: The Art of Lament in Christian Community

From his long experience in ministry and as a pastoral counselor, and Influenced by such luminaries as Daniel Berrigan and Flannery O’Connor, William Blaine-Wallace offers a fresh construction of lament as fundamentally relational. He asks, “If your tears could speak, what would they say?” When sorrow and suffering are voiced in community, solidarity emerges.

The art of lament is the act of bringing more of our lived experience into congregational and communal life. When Tears sing helps shift congregations away from more charity-based social service toward a more joyful embrace of our suffering world, transforming the lives of members and seekers and the greater community.