"My City of Ruins": Lament Part 2

(For part one on this topic see the post on "U2 and Lament")

Friday morning I opened my USA Today (America's newspaper of choice)and found an article that has made me return to this topic of lament. First, some background.

In 2001, Bruce Springsteen wrote a modern lament about his beloved hometown of Asbury Park, New Jersey. Once known as the "Jewel of the Jersey Shore," Asbury Park used to be a thriving city, one that inspired Springsteen's 1973 debut album, Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ. Since then, the city has fallen on hard times, a mere shell of its former self. The boarded-up windows, abandoned buildings, and decaying structures testify to a city in rapid decline.

Mourning this state of affairs, Springsteen composed a lament titled "My City of Ruins." (This song was written before 9/11, but after came to represent New York as well - but that's a post for another day). The imagery of "My City of Ruins" recalls that of another lament over a city in ruins: Lamentations. The author of Lamentations bemoans the desolation of his beloved Jerusalem and offers a plea of faith for its renewal.

In my earlier post, I suggest that rock musicians have done a better job than many Christians of comprehending the relationship between lament and praise. This is nowhere more true than with Springsteen who has described his own music this way:

The stanzas are the Blues; the chorus is the Gospel.

The Blues are the modern descendent of lament and you can hear the ancient lament of Lamentations funneled through the blues when Springsteen sings:

The church door's thrown open
I can hear the organ's song
But the congregation's gone
My city of ruins

But Springsteen, like Bono, knows that faith is not the antithesis of lament, but a component of it. Thus, the Blues of the stanzas give way to the Gospel chorus. The hope of renewal rings out as Springsteen sings in the chorus:

I pray for the faith, Lord
(With these hands)
I pray for the strength, Lord
(With these hands)
Come on, rise up!
Come on, rise up!

"My City of Ruins" is a lament song/prayer for the renewal, the rising up, of Asbury Park. Lament derives from the faith that such renewal is possible.

So on Friday morning, I open my paper to see an article on the renewal of Asbury Park. The rebirth has begun and the city's future is bright once more. Lament once again ushers in praise.

If Christians continue to shun lament in favor of a "pie-in-the-sky, all's well with the world, happy-go-lucky, have your best life now" approach to Christianity, then I wonder if we will be missing out on that which helps to ground our faith and give it substance. After all, how can you sing "Come on, rise up!" if you refuse to sing about being down.