Pursuing justice and practicing lament

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Written By Jessica Bell

Jessica first came to know about Just Love while a student at Oxford. After graduation, she became a part of a L’Arche community, living with, supporting, and ultimately learning from adults with additional needs, and she still keeps a toe in this as part of a team at her church which runs accessible services. Jess now works for Welcome Churches - a charity which aims to equip ordinary UK churches to see refugees fully integrated and thriving in community - having had little prior engagement with people with lived experience of seeking sanctuary herself. She’s figuring out where her love of writing and all things creative fit in.

Working in the refugee sphere has opened my eyes to the art of biblical lament.

Coming to God’s throne of grace, completely empty-handed yet with confidence, and acknowledging the gap between His purposes and goodness and our messy, painful reality builds trust in us - even if restoration doesn’t happen immediately.

At Welcome Churches, we pray daily as a team as well as running prayer meetings which are open to the general public. Earlier this year, in one of these bigger gatherings, we were praying alongside the Bible Society for the safety of our communities and refugees in anticipation of protests and riots which were due to escalate during the early-August weekend. The situation felt surreal and all-encompassing - my hometown was on the ‘hit’ list, and I had friends who are also people of colour and who had experienced intimidation and hostility. It seemed right to me to echo the words of Ezra 9:6 as I cried out to the Lord, as I felt it was a time of seeking God for the sins of our nation and asking for His mercy. I felt prompted to reach out to the people seeking asylum who I know, to remind them to stay safe and to reassure them that they are so welcome here in the UK. It was encouraging to see many pockets of prayer groups springing up in my networks, and the ultimate deescalation of violence was heavenly and - if I’m honest - still beggars belief.

In Scripture, lament usually ends with a declaration of praise or trust, and the whole experience this Summer reminded me that, as we pursue the joy set before us with honesty, with His grace, we are also to celebrate and remember the victories which happen in the tentative in-between. So, I’ve started filling an old coffee jar with scraps of paper on which I write reasons to be thankful, no matter how little.

Maybe you might want to start your own jar of thankfulness - or note down your laments, then look back and see them answered…If you want to be a part of changing the narrative around refugees, then a couple of ways in which you can practically be involved through Welcome Churches include:

Jessica Bell
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