Lament

How long, oh Lord, how long? 
Will you forget me, am I forsaken?
How long will you hide your face?
Oh Lord, I am shaken

See how I pass my weary days
In sighs and groans; and when it’s night
My bed is watered with my tears;
My grief consumes, and it dims my sight.

How long, oh Lord, how long? 
Will you forget me, am I forsaken?
How long will you hide your face?
Oh Lord, I am shaken

Look, how the powers of nature mourn!
How long, how long, Almighty God, how long?
When shall your hour of grace return?
When shall I make your grace my song?

How long, oh Lord, how long?
Will you forget me, am I forsaken?
How long will you hide your face?
Oh Lord, I am shaken

I feel my flesh so near the grave, oh my soul
My soul is tempted to despair;
But graves can never praise the Lord,
For all is dust and silence there.

How long, oh Lord, how long?
Will you forget me, am I forsaken?
How long will you hide your face?
Oh Lord, I am shaken
How long, oh Lord, how long?
Will you forget me, am I forsaken?
How long will you hide your face?
Oh Lord, I am shaken

LINER NOTES

“In the spring of 2014, Seth, Theresa, Kristina and I were privileged to lead music at a retreat for Virginia Mennonite Conference pastors. The theme had to do with trauma, and we were lead carefully and courageously through the weekend by Mary Thiessen Nation. I don't remember if Mary asked Seth to do it or if he just did it himself, but Seth wrote a hymn of Lament using an Isaac Watts text and an original chorus. When he played it for us, I remember thinking, ‘Yes. Yes! This is what we need! The church needs more songs of lament.’

When we first sang this song, I would think of people I knew who had experienced great loss, and I sang for those people. I wanted to give voice to their pain and to let them know that crying out and shouting at God was OK. Then when I actually experienced a traumatic loss, it became almost impossible to sing. I couldn't even cry out or shout at God. I needed my brothers and sisters in the band to keep singing this song for me...I needed for us to have a song that expressed some of the anger, some of the hurt, some of the despair that I was feeling. And that's the power of Jesus' love and Jesus' body, the church. It's people not being afraid to come sit with me in the darkness, people not being afraid to sing the songs that I cannot sing, people being OK and holding me when I cannot see the Light. So, if you need the Lament, let us sing it for you. And if you are lucky enough not to need it now, sing it for your brothers and sisters who do.” - Greg

Michael – Lead/Harmony Vocals; Rachel – Lead/Harmony Vocals; Adam – Harmony Vocals; Greg – Lead/Harmony Vocals; Seth – Piano/Harmony Vocals; Kristina – Harmony Vocals; Jackson – Harmony Vocals

Text: Isaac Watts, 1719 with chorus by Seth Thomas Crissman, 2015; Music: Seth Thomas Crissman, 2015