Are There Tears in Heaven: Meditations of January 11, 2018

Were there tears that day

When Jesus said goodbye

To his faithful disciples

Did you see those grown folks cry?

They’d been together

For a few short years

When He wrapped it all up

Did they do so with human tears?

In some of His very last words

He prayed for Himself and the disciples

He prayed for all believers, too

Me and you, or so I read there in my Bible.

One line really catches me

As things sometimes do

He prayed for complete unity

To let the Father’s love shine through.

That was a long time ago

And today is still today

That prayer is still not answered

And I wonder, what do you say?

The Right has seized the story

At least that seems to be true

The only ones who are true believers

Where does that leave me and you?

Does the Right own the story

Or is it religion that they claim

Whatever you want to call

It causes a lot of pain.

Are there tears in heaven

I this morning do wonder

We have messed up the message

Just one blunder after blunder.

What He prayed for seems like fiction

If the conversations that I hear

We’re no less one in unity

Is what I’ve come to fear.

So, are there tears in Heaven

Does Jesus look on us and weep

Upon this mess we created

We despise His other sheep.

We have our left and our right

Everyone assigned a place

That sure seems misguided to me

Just looking for some sacred space.

Surely Jesus weeps

When political speak

We all do seek

Our own inside ideology we keep.

Does Jesus weep

When we speak our very own labels

We spew them left and right

Right there at our church’s tables.

Are there tears in heaven

When our rhetoric is so loud

If He really sheds a tear

Could we really stand that proud?

Are there tears in Heaven

To me it’s an important question

How we violate that prayer

Today is my one obsession.

Are there tears in heaven

Am I the one to cause

If so, I’ll think it over

With that question will come a long pause.