screaming
is screaming an option
is anger ok
in wrestling to see
any point in the mess?
when innocent lives
suffer much in our time
do you dare to suggest
God has blessed?
excerpt from “screaming”
There are times when eloquence does not become. It is neither wanted nor needed. Not now. What else could contain our horror, our mistrust, our grief, our anger but a scream, a groan, a cry?
Refugee children washed lifeless on the shore (whether the world is watching or not). Parents selling little ones to traffickers, weeping goodbyes, because there is too little food, too little hope to sustain.
There is in both Jewish and Christian Scriptures a rich seam of writings, a litany of sighs and wondering whys. No fury is held back. No question reigned in. The implication being that there is place for our sternest word, our fiercest cry.
And, yes, screaming is most definitely an option.
Yesterday I was standing in a train bound for Glasgow- it was packed, jammed against a rather burly gentleman I tried to balance my ipod and ruck sack with some kind of dignity and longed to open a window. At each passing station, the train got busier and busier, and I plucked up courage to ask “Is it ok if I open this window? At that point, a certain melody came on my i pod – “Is screaming an option?” I was glad to arrive at my destination but it made me think… yes, screaming is most definitely an option – wherever there is injustice, hurting, when we have no answers that seem to fit, when bad things happen to good folks- I think it must have been something Jesus himself often felt like doing-and today, in a world of uncertainty and despair – I feel He weeps with us and nothing, not anything in this life or next can separate us from His love. We are safe in His arms..and all will be well