Pastor Joy Bonnema led us this week in chapel through a very tangible practice of lamenting. Regarding the chapel service, she wrote, “For anyone who is burdened by the headlines, aching with grief, overwhelmed with sorrow, tempted to despair or frustrated with systems and situations that never seem to change, this chapel is for you. Keeping with the theme of lament we’re going to revisit John 11 using it as a frame to linger in lament and lean forward in hope.”
Along with calling us to lament and inviting us into a space where we could do so, Pastor Joy reminded us that sometimes we lament even if our hearts are light. We weep with those who weep and we mourn with those who mourn. Even if Wednesday was not a specific day of pain for us, she encouraged us to “weep with our siblings around the world who are weeping.”
Due to technical difficulties, audio for this chapel is unavailable.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Dr. Bonnema taught biology at Calvin College for 10 years before becoming a pastor at Madison Square Church in 2008. She is ordained as a commissioned pastor in the Christian Reformed Church and since 2013 has been pastoring a site of Madison Square that meets on the NE end of Grand Rapids near where she lives with her husband and daughter. Joy considers herself a recovering perfectionist who continues to discover greater depths of grace and joy through the gospel of Jesus!
