When Preaching Meets Lament: A Word for a Wounded World (A GUEST POST)
Rev. Dr. Eliana Ah-Rum Ku serves as an Assistant Professor of Homiletics at the Graduate School of Practical Theology in South Korea and an Adjunct Professor of Worship and Preaching at the Presbyterian University and Theological Seminary. She also serves as an associate pastor at Supsam Presbyterian Church and is actively involved in the Social Welfare Committee of the Presbyterian Church of Korea, where she contributes to the planning, organization, and development of materials for seminars on issues related to disabilities, social service, and welfare. Dr. Ku earned her Ph.D. in Theological Studies with a specialization in Homiletics from Emmanuel College at the University of Toronto.
Dr. Ku’s scholarship focuses on homiletics and biblical interpretation, particularly exploring themes of lament, hospitality, and justice through postcolonial feminist and Asian immigrant perspectives.
She employs interdisciplinary approaches integrating Asian philosophies, diaspora literature, and visual arts. Her recent works include Lament-Driven Preaching (Pickwick, 2024) and a chapter on “Towards an Asian decolonial Christian Hospitality: Shù (恕), Pachinko, and the Migrant Other” in Practical Theology and Majority World Epistemologies (Routledge, 2024).
Outside her professional life, Ku is a dedicated mother to two teenagers, an avid webtoon reader, and a boundless dreamer—a combination that guarantees no two days are alike.
We live in a world trembling under the weight of sorrow—headlines filled with war, ecological collapse, racial violence, and mental health crises.
For many preachers, the pulpit feels like an inadequate place from which to respond.
What does the pulpit say when war redraws borders and families disappear in the chaos?
What do we preach in a time of growing political division and economic instability—when trust crumbles not only in governments, but even in communities of faith?
What do we preach when a community is silenced after yet another racially charged injustice—when grief simmers beneath the surface, but the church doesn’t know how to name it?
What do we say when immigrant families quietly mourn the loss of home and belonging in a new land, or when mental anguish gnaws at people who’ve learned to hide it behind smiles?
And what can we offer—not just on Good Friday, but on ordinary Sundays—when our congregations carry invisible wounds the sermon rarely acknowledges?
What does our preaching sound like in a world that is, at every level, aching?
Too often, sermons try to lift us out of suffering. We preach resurrection before we’ve sat with the tomb.
But what if hope doesn’t begin with resolution?
But what if the call is to enter suffering?
To name it. To stay with it. To tell the truth, before we promise hope?
What if Preaching begins with lament?
That’s the heartbeat of my book, Lament-Driven Preaching.
My central conviction is this: if the church is to proclaim hope, it must first learn to name suffering.
Without lament, hope rings hollow.
In my book, I define lament as:
“The impassioned expression, witness, and personal and/or social protest of those who suffer in the face of evil and injustice, a longing for God’s saving presence.”
Lament doesn’t avoid grief—it speaks it out loud.
It resists silence.
It names suffering without shame.
And when lament shapes our sermons, something powerful happens.
“Lament-driven preaching... employs lament as a transitional space that holds and bridges suffering and hope.”
Lament is not a detour on the road to resurrection—it is the road.
Drawing on the theology of Holy Saturday, I show how lament holds space between crucifixion and resurrection, where silence is not abandonment but divine presence in mystery.
Lament is not passive grief, but active resistance.
It is what gives shape to memory, voice to injustice, and ground to prophetic preaching.
It moves through it—truthfully, slowly, faithfully—until we find God again.
What I hope make this book both accessible and practical is it’s not just about why we should lament—it’s also about how. Readers gain homiletical strategies that move beyond moralizing or superficial optimism. Strategies like narrative tension, metaphor, communal memory, and trauma-informed preaching are offered as tools for those of us who have stood in the pulpit with trembling hands, unsure of what to say in the aftermath of collective grief.
Lament may be one of the few faithful responses left to the violence and grief our societies have long tried to bury.
How Can We Practice Lament in Our Preaching?
In Lament-Driven Preaching, I outline eleven ways preachers can begin to incorporate lament—not as an add-on, but as a central homiletical and theological act.
I introduce three of them here.
1. Name the Suffering Before You Preach Hope
Don’t start your sermon by resolving pain—start by naming it. Whether it's political division, economic instability, racial injustice, or quiet grief within your congregation, ask:
“What suffering is present in this room—and have I acknowledged it?”
“What is the truth this pain longs to hear? What if I didn’t try to solve it, but stayed with it?”
“What pain—personal, communal, or global—are we tempted to rush past?”
Allow space in your sermon for people to see their pain reflected before moving to promise.
As I share in the book’s introduction:
“To proclaim hope amid suffering…I encourage preachers to consider embracing lament in their preaching... lament in preaching evokes in hearers comfort that their suffering and distress are acknowledged and a part of both the community’s life and God’s life.”
“…Preachers would benefit sufferers by being more intentional in dealing with suffering, specifically by practicing lament as a transitional place between suffering and hope.”
2. Let Lament Be Truth-Telling, Not Just Feeling
Lament is not a complaint—it’s a confrontation with reality.
It names what others avoid.
Try saying, “For some of us, God feels silent. For others, injustice speaks louder than mercy. Let us begin there.”
This opens space for solidarity and honesty before moving to proclamation.
As I describe in the book:
“Lament is not passive grief, but active resistance. It is what gives shape to memory, voice to injustice, and ground to prophetic preaching.”
3. Show Why Hope Without Lament Feels Hollow
When hope is proclaimed too quickly, it can feel like denial.
Instead, linger with your congregation in the tension between suffering and promise—just as the biblical texts often do.
For example: “Even on Easter, the wounds of Christ remain visible. Resurrection doesn’t erase pain—it redeems it.”
In the book, I explain:
“Rather than advocate for one or the other...show the value in inhabiting the tension between them.”
Lament is not just personal—it is public, political, and deeply Christian.
It confesses sin, names harm, protests injustice, and dares to imagine healing.
And when we follow lament faithfully, it leads to hope—not a shallow optimism, but a hope that rises slowly, steadily, through the darkness like the dawn.
This book is for anyone who wants to preach not just what is true, but what is healing.
It doesn’t offer a formula—it offers a way.
A way to preach in the silence. To stand in the gap. To speak a Word made flesh.
In a time when so many are wounded by the church’s silence, I see Lament-Driven Preaching as a call to begin again—with tears, with truth, and with hope.
If you've ever stood at the pulpit unsure how to speak after a national tragedy…
If you've ever felt the tension between your congregation’s grief and the need to proclaim good news…
If you've ever longed for language that honors pain without letting go of hope—
I wrote this book for you.
In Lament-Driven Preaching, you’ll gain:
Biblical exegesis rooted in Lamentations
Homiletical strategies for integrating lament into any sermon—not just on Good Friday
Cross-cultural insights from Korean theology, including Han and Hanpuri
A theology of Holy Saturday—preaching in the space between suffering and resurrection
· A theology of Holy Saturday-preaching in the space between suffering and resurrection
Whether you are a seasoned pastor, a student of homiletics, or simply someone who believes the church must speak more truthfully in these uncertain times—this book offers a theological, pastoral, and prophetic way forward.
Eliana Ah-Rum Ku spoke to The Collective+ on “The Hermeneutics of Suffering” on May 27th, 2025. The recording is available to members.