Mission Yearbook: Pasadena pastor reassures residents it’s OK to lament

The Rev. Dr. Lisa Hansen delivers her sermon on Jan. 12 at Pasadena
Presbyterian Church. (Screenshot)

Presbyterian church strives to be supportive and meet the needs of the displaced.

“By the rivers of Babylon — there we sat down, and there we wept when we remembered Zion.”

With those opening words from Psalm 137, the Rev. Dr. Lisa Hansen took the congregation of Pasadena Presbyterian Church back to a moment when people from ancient times felt the kind of anguish and heartbreak that many in her community have experienced since unprecedented wildfires began tearing through parts of the Los Angeles area.

In the ancient account, exiles from Israel are being told by their captors to sing songs of Zion, but “How could we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?” the captive wonders. “If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right-hand wither! Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy” (Psalm 137:4–6).

Hansen, the church’s senior pastor, was using the psalm to reassure listeners that it’s OK to lament in this time of tragedy when some people have been left with little more than what they could grab at a moment’s notice. Those in worship included members of the Pasadena congregation as well as some visitors who’d been displaced by the wildfires.

“It's important for people to understand that you're allowed (to mourn), God wants you to lament,” Hansen explained in an interview. “God wants you to feel your pain and to share your pain with others, and the laments in the psalms really help us to get to that place and then realize what it is we need to do and how we need to be.”

Hansen delivered her sermon Jan. 12, the first Sunday after an outbreak of fires, fueled by high winds, blazed through populated areas such as the Pacific Palisades, damaging thousands of structures and killing at least 29 people.

Before the tragedy, residents were focused mostly on routine things like watching ball games and taking down Christmas decorations, Hansen noted in her sermon.

But “on Tuesday, (Jan. 7), our lives changed dramatically, more for some than for others,” she said. “The fires that erupted and led to catastrophic destruction altered the course of all of our lives.”

Similarly, in the biblical account, the exiles were dealing with a situation in which everything had been taken away from them, Hansen said. “Their homes were gone, their place of worship was gone, their livelihood was gone,” and yet their captors were telling them to snap out of it and sing.

“That's what we hear over and over again: ‘Just be grateful for what you have; don't worry about things; it will all be OK,’” Hansen said. “But the singers and the dancers and the people sat down and they wept as they remembered their homes and what they had lost.”

Just like in ancient times, “now is the time to weep,” Hansen said. “It’s OK to want things to be the way they were before.”

But take heart in knowing that “our shared grief gives us strength” and “God provides comfort and assurance to those who trust in God, especially those who are hurting.”

Hansen cited Isaiah 43, which says in verses 2-3, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.”

That and other biblical texts provide assurance that we are precious to God, who promises to be with us, even in the most difficult of times, Hansen said.

Watch Hansen’s sermon here. It begins around the 19:06 mark.

Financial support for relief efforts through Presbyterian Disaster Assistance can be designated to DR000165, which supports the church’s response to wildfires in the U.S. Gifts can be made here.

Darla Carter, Communications Strategist, Interim Unified Agency Click here to read original PNS story)

Let us join in prayer for:

• Tammy Gish, Treasurer, Controllers, Presbyterian Foundation
• Thomas Goetz, Long-term mission volunteer serving in Japan, World Mission, Interim Unified Agency 

Let us pray:

Loving God, help us to remember that we can grow to know and love you in the small congregation as well as the big congregation. Grant that all of us may find the joy of your Spirit as we drop what we have in service to others. Amen.