“How lonely sits the city,
once so full of people!
How like a widow is she,
who once was great among the nations!
She who was queen among the provinces
has now become a slave.

Bitterly she weeps at night,
tears are on her cheeks.” Lamentations 1:1-2a

The book of Lamentations is a poetic record of grief, loss and pain after the fall of Jerusalem. A survivor’s view of a world upended, leaving only devastation and rubble. Cities left standing are empty of life. Those who once lived there were killed, fled, or in exile. It is a  place were hope has disappeared.  Lamentations’ images of desolation speak to the horror of war, to the denial of personhood and the dehumanization of those who have been victimized. This is the experience of every war torn country,  and the visible reality of Gaza’s population.

*Pastor Munther Isaac, in his book,   “Christ in the Rubble,” quotes Palestinian poet, Samih al-Qasim’s poem, written after a previous war with Israel in 2008. It too speaks of heartache, loss and devastation.

“I am deeply distressed
the soldiers are driving me away from the door of my house
I hope for my life through my death…
My father’s homeland has become a graveyard
the homes of those who believe are desolate
The orchards of those who believe are desecrated
their schools are forsaken… My God, my God is there any forgiveness? Is there no forgiveness? No forgiveness? My God, my torment is long, cruel, and unfortunate
you are forgiving, merciful, and just
my God, my God, I’m sorry
I am sorry, God. God, I am sorry
I am sorry
I am sorry.” Samih al-Qasim

Pastor Munther Isaac describes how al-Qasim’s words embody the world of Gaza today . . . Touching hearts of all Palestinians, living in the turmoil of Gaza, silenced in Israel, or struggling in the West Bank.

He bemoans the reality that so many Christians in the U.S., are oblivious to the pain of Palestinian Christians. He lives the anguish of being a Palestinian, subject to the limitations, of what Christians in the West believe. Munther Isaac  reflects on how people of faith in the U.S. can presume land that has been in the possession of his ancestors for generations, going back hundreds of years, should somehow belong to the state of Israel.

Munther Isaac wonders why so many  U.S. Christians’s support of Israel is  absolute, in spite of the decimation of Gaza’s cities, it’s human rights violations, the desecration of places of worship, destruction of hospitals, schools and thousands of dead children. He questions how Western Christians, can be so blind to the atrocities, that he deals with everyday.

Pastor Isaac says of Samih al-Qasim poem, *“This is how Palestinians throughout the war have felt – – – abandoned in the deep pit of darkness, awaiting our fate, with only our faith to hold firm to. Yet somehow from deep down the pit of darkness, Palestinians feel closeness to God – – calling out the divine, pleading for mercy and forgiveness.”

In the midst of exile and a city in ruins,  our ancient writer found hope . . . Homeless, afflicted, and grieving . . . memories of God’s faithfulness spring up.

“The thought of my affliction and my homelessness
is wormwood and gall!
My soul continually thinks of it
and is bowed down within me.
But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope: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 the Lord.” Lamentations 3:19-24

*Christ in the Rubble, Faith, The bible, and the Genocide in Gaza, Muther Isaac, Wm B. Erdmans Publishing Co. 2025, pg 36