A Liturgy of Grief – A Pastoral Commentary on Lamentations

Leslie C. Allen (PhD, University of London) is senior professor of Old Testament at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. He has written several major commentaries and has been a hospital chaplain for more than a decade.

Foreword by Nicholas Wolterstorff
Introduction
Exposition
First Poem: Grief, Guilt, and the Need for Prayer
Human Losses (1:1-6)
Material Losses (1:7-11)
Zion's Cry of Culpability (1:12-16)
Comments on Zion's Cries (1:17)
Zion's Confession and Prayer of Grievance (1:18-22)
Second Poem: Grief, Guilt, and the Need for Prayer
God's Awesome Anger at Work (2:1-5)
God's Systematic Destruction of Zion (2:6-10)
A Sea of Troubles (2:11-17)
A Call to Zion to Pray and Zion's Prayer (2:18-22)
Third Poem: The Wounded Healer
His Testimony of Guilty Wounds (3:1-16)
His Second Thoughts (3:17-24)
The Wounded Healer's Sermon (3:25-39)
His Call to the Congregation to Pray (3:40-51)
His Testimony of Prayers of Appeal and Grievance (3:52-66)
Fourth Poem: Grief and Guilt Prolonged--and to Be Reversed
The Cheapening of Human Life (4:1-6)
More Horrors of the Siege (4:7-11)
How One Guilty Group Suffered (4:12-16)
Despair--and Eventual Hope (4:17-22)
Fifth Poem: The Congregation's Prayer as Turning Point
Present Distress and Confession (5:1-7)
Humiliation, Sorrow, and Confession (5:8-16)
Challenging Cries for Help (5:17-22)