Guest Blog - Learning to Mourn - Paul DelSignore

Apr 15, 2008

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”
(Mtt. 5:4)

Two weeks ago at emergence, Justin gave a sermon on the beatitudes, and it prompted my thoughts on the subject of mourning. Jesus’ words here are both intriguing and necessary.

I don’t think, that what Jesus meant was that one should seek mourning, as if the intent is a mournful life. Nor do I think, that mourning is simply an outward expression of a inward feeling. Mourning is deep-seeded. It is the natural response to the way the world is. When we look at the world… the way things are… it is appropriate to mourn. However, It’s not just about observing the oppression throughout the world; the wars, the sickness, the sad condition in third world countries. It’s also about the cancer that your neighbor is fighting; the senseless acts of violence around your neighborhood; the tragedies in your family.

What if, what Jesus meant by mourning, was not an individualistic perspective on ‘how I should mourn about things in my own life” but rather ‘how we, as the Jesus community” need to mourn. You see, when I look at my life right now, it’s actually not that bad. But if I am in community, then I am participating in the suffering that those within my community encounter. Mourning is relational, and it is a necessary condition for the Jesus community.

I am not very good at mourning, but I am learning. As the whole creation eagerly awaits her liberation from bondage to decay, in a state of groaning… I participate with her. Mourning is the natural response of a dying world waiting to be redeemed. Mourning is not the opposite of joy, but sits alongside joy, and those who participate with her, who both love and mourn together, are called blessed.