by David Cassidy, Christ Community Church
The Psalmist’s lament that ‘tears have been my bread every day’ feels very close to the experience we are living in this land of deep divisions and growing despair. In the face of a news cycle overflowing with unrelenting sorrow, what is to be done? Can anything resembling healing be said? Many join the diagnostic chorus offering the ‘reasons’ for the escalation in hatred, while others join the ranks of those who choose sides to find the right lobby or candidate or party to blame for our cultural debacle. Is this any kind of way to move forward? I’m turning off the talking heads for now, and simply looking for the reddened eyes. In doing so I have nonetheless witnessed beauty in the dark.
Last night it was my privilege to serve in a wonderful wedding for a beautiful young couple. Multi-generational joy and love filled the church and the party that followed. Fully present, but more quietly so and undergirding every moment, was another great gift we enjoy and give one another – hope. The congregation and family assembled to celebrate this newly minted marriage all knew that these young people have some tough days ahead: there will be sorrows and heartbreaks and disappointments and misunderstandings. Yet we would never discourage the dance they share; we would never tell them not to bother, that the pain is too great to build a life together. Every wedding is a bastion of hope.
Earlier in the week I prayed with a man who had just suffered a heart attack. A friend saved his life with some good advice about not ignoring the heartburn he was experiencing. Now here he was in the ER, prepping for a heart cath, and facing the kind of life changes necessitated by this new reality in his chest cavity. Will there be difficult days ahead? Will there be hard choices and pain? Yes. Did anyone suggest that those things represent are a bridge too far, a price too high, a path too steep to climb? No. The people who love this man will be there to support him in every step of that journey, because life – his life – is precious in their eyes. Every care plan at every nursing station is a testament to hope.
In conversations with a young woman writing a remarkable children’s book, and a young couple preparing to baptize their severely handicapped child; a husband who won’t give up on a marriage that’s broken, and seminary student throwing his future to the whims and winds of the Spirit; a gifted colleague changing life course in midstream to embrace a fresh new call, and in an elderly saint preparing for life’s final journey, I have heard the unmistakable note of hope in the middle of risk and sorrow and doubt and struggle.
“Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops at all.”
― Emily Dickinson
The violent events of this past week have left me wordless, but they have not left me hopeless. Not that my hope is rooted in human abilities to heal the disease that erupts in these spasms of hate. No, my hope is found elsewhere. The ancient prophet Jeremiah stood in the ruins of Jerusalem, weeping for the desolation of his home and people. His lamentation is gut wrenching; his sorrow is immeasurable. Yet surrounded by destruction and the sorrow of exile he sang, ‘The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning. Great is Thy faithfulness.’
Wordless just now is alright, though tearless is impossible. Weeping with those who weep, and weeping over our own heart homicides – the murders we commit through anger every day – is a necessary dimension of our journey. Through the tears, however, quiet but building in strength and resolve, is the growing song of hope. And against this dark night of rage the dawn of hope will triumph. “Weeping lasts for the night, but joy comes in the morning” (Psalm 30). As the old preacher once said, “It’s Friday, and the shadow of death is long, but Sunday’s coming, and with it the bright morn of indestructible life.” Through the tears of this night, let the song of hope grow in your soul. And don’t forget to open your mouth and sing.
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