The Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 22, 6 October 2019
The Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 22, 6 October 2019 Track One: Lamentations 1:1-6 Lamentations 3:19-26, or Psalm 137 Track Two: Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:1-4 Psalm 37:1-10 II Timothy 1:1-14 Saint Luke 17:5-10 Background: The Lament The lament was the province of women and was common to all the cultures of the ancient near east. Using music, poetry, or song, women would make dramatic expressions of their grief and often represent some of the earliest forms of writing and literature. They first make their appearance in Mesopotamia, most notably Sumer and Ur, and date back at least to 4000 years ago. We know them in the Iliad and the Odyssey. They are also known in Scandinavia, and in the Hindu Vedas as well. Finally, especially pertinent here, we know them in the Hebrew Scriptures in the Book of Lamentations, Job, or in some cases in the Psalms, as well. Track One: First Reading: Lamentations 1:1-6 H ow lonely sits the city that...