The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,
God’s mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in God.”
The LORD is good to those who wait for God,
to the soul that seeks God.

The word mercy speaks to both the epic power and the deep compassion of God. The word mercy implies that the one who holds the power could wield that power to create life or to destroy life. How do we attribute such power to God? These verses come in the middle of the book of Lamentations when the Israelites were in the midst of exile, death, loss and fear of being annihilated. In the midst of their cries for God’s help the writer clings to this story of God:

When the powers of fear, death and real danger threaten to overwhelm us we often call on God as if we imagine God has abandoned us. When isolated or alone it’s easy to let the whole story of God go and become focused on only our own story in the moment. We rely on the words of the faithful, the Prophets, the communities that we belong to and the ancient ones who again and again tell of the story of God’s compassion, God’s accompaniment, God’s faithfulness and God’s mercy.

In the midst of darkness we often begin to worry that God is angry or punishing us. Human beings have wrestled with this since the first humans walked the earth. What is the nature of God? The writer of Lamentations reminds his own community and those that would follow and us, “The Lord is our portion.” That is, God will join us in our struggle, will provide comfort and give refuge. And so we wait on God together reminding one another, telling and re-telling the story of the God of love, compassion and mercy.

Holding the story together that would be lost if we tried to carry it alone. We need the collective memory of the community to hold us tight and give us hope.