One minute you are yelling “No, it can’t be this way!”
and then you are whispering, “Why? Why
must it be this way?” That why – the
prayer of lament – is the prayer you offer on the longest night of the year…
It acknowledges, “I don’t have an answer, but still dares
to hope there is an answer, so it asks.
Brian
McLaren
___________________________
I don’t have an answer.
Perhaps there is no good answer.
We don’t like that answer, and so we get creative.
God knows
God only knows
There is a bigger purpose we can’t see
God is working God’s purposes out as year succeeds to
year
Maybe
Or maybe not
I don’t understand cancer
Or Donald Trump and his wrecking crew
I don’t understand why people can cheer a cruel,
hate-filled man
And thus cheer hate and cruelty
I don’t understand why God would let bad people flourish
And put their picture on money
And let beautiful, innocent people suffer
Why God would allow bombs to fall
And missiles to fly
And people to starve
And children to die
Why?
Maybe we are just out here,
On this decaying planet on our own
Making bad choices
And wandering toward a bad end
Maybe it is about free will (seems like a stupid idea)
Why?
Is it ridiculous to hope for an answer?
To believe that someday love will win?
Maybe someday, Trump will wake up and feel a momentary
pang of compassion
Maybe someday a CEO will suggest that a slight increase
in the profit margin
It is not worth the destruction of the planet
And that bigoted white supremacists will call a black man
his brother
And mean it
And that ICE officer will look in the mirror and see what
he or she has become,
And resign
Maybe
Why do I still dare hope?
Because I see something sacred in most (I wish I could
say all)
People I meet
That spark of the divine
It is there!
Because I watch people do random acts of kindness
And march on No King's Day
And give to the food bank
And help their neighbor
Because I see love and joy
Blossom in the most unlikely places
Sometimes I think it is true
That life sucks, and then you die
But sometimes I know better
And simply ask why
Why not now!
Today would be a good day
For love to win
