TEARS IN HEAVEN

Have you ever wanted to accomplish something so badly that no matter what you did to make it work, how hard you tried to create the right scenario for success, it just wouldn’t come together? Have you ever dedicated your entire heart and soul to something, only to have it fail, over and over again? Have you ever broken down in tears of sheer frustration after giving something absolutely all you had to give – your head in your hands, tears streaming down your face?

If God were personified in flesh and blood in the year 2004, I think He would feel this way. Imagine the sight: the most capable of beings, the most talented of artists, the most beautiful of creatures, the most blessed of souls, slouched over, head in hands, shaking His head in disbelief and confusion as the tears flowed like a river down His cheeks.

He has created this world with the endless possibility for peace and beauty. He has created humans with the infinite possibility for happiness and love. He endlessly provides example, direction and guidance for mankind to realize the potential He has created – harmony, from one end of the earth to the other. In short, He offers paradise.

Yet our choice is this:

We – the human race – continue to terrorize each other and kill each other in His name and in the name of peace, freedom and moral justice. We see history, calamity and human nature repeat itself. With the Cold War threat of mutual mass destruction comfortably in our past, we now have perpetuated instability, danger and threat to humanity through rogue religious fundamentalism located in unpredictable “cells” at our very doorsteps. We, the peace-loving peoples of Eastern and Western religion, have the audacity to cloak this perverse struggle in the hypocritical shroud of religious righteousness. We practice intolerance of others who do not share like values and behaviors. We judge and destroy others for not being and thinking and acting as we do. We perceive all as a threat. We protect by killing, and we seek likeness by eradicating what we perceive as different.

Truly, there must be tears in Heaven.

I believe that all religions are different expressions of the same thing. I believe that what I practice and believe is the Word of God, yet I know that people down the street and across the waters practice and believe the Word of God, although it is manifested in different ways. Religions are like complex and rich languages that have developed over time by people of differing circumstances to express and accomplish the same thing: an effective method for worshipping a greater being – carried out in ways that fit environments, cultures and psychological needs for shaping thought, reality and behavior.

After practicing my Christian faith in foreign lands, amidst Muslims, Buddhists, Quachuan Indians and living with and loving those who practice those faiths, I could believe nothing else. We, God’s human race, are bound together by a common need for belief in One greater than we, of a need to live our lives in the likeness of One greater than we, and to prepare for what will be in the hereafter.

We are governed on earth by man, and let us pray for worldwide wisdom for those charged with leading people and decisions throughout the world. But let us remember that God’s law is the only law wise enough to govern us all. It transcends national boundaries, language and human practices. It rings clear and true in mosques, temples and sanctuaries. It is present in all holy text. The law is love and tolerance of those like ourselves and those who are different, be it by choice or by ignorance.

Let us pray that amidst security codes, threat levels and suicide bombs, we can live by His law when faced by the challenge and in so doing teach our children to do the same so that there might be a tomorrow unlike yesterday and today where there are no tears in Heaven.

— Mary Ellen Flather

Courtesy of The Church of the Good Shepherd United Methodist