| Palm Sunday, April 1 |
Read Luke 19:41-44 |
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As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, "If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes." (v 41-42) GOD WEEPS I am comforted to know that God weeps with me in times of heartache and sorrows. And as Jesus weeps for Jerusalem, I realize that God weeps for ways we cause suffering for others in our world. God weeps at conflict and violence, unfairness and abuse. God weeps when we make others outcasts, when we turn away from need. God weeps when we do not see the things that make for justice and peace. One Lent I walked a living Stations of the Cross in Kansas City. We stopped at a hospital, jail, school, city hall, factory, bank - places where lives intersect and decisions are made. Finally, we met at a church. At each station, we heard Jesus' words, knew God's presence and prayed for all at that station. This Lent I again notice "stations" and remember that God weeps with us and for us in our Jerusalem. Among those stations: an ambulance, a bridge sheltering homeless people, lines at the unemployment office, a soldier returning in a wheelchair, a family divided, policies affecting the vulnerable, sighs of weariness of a shopper at the store. God weeps for us. I will notice, and I will pray. I believe God sheds glad tears, too, seeing acts of kindness and compassion that touch the heart, rejoicing in efforts for understanding and respect, in offers of warmth, hope and new possibilities. There is the Station of the Cross, the sign that God is with us, leading us to new life, and showing us the things that make for peace. The Rev. Sally C. Fahrenthold, retired |
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