Start:Stop - We cry to you Lord

Roy Lichtenstein, Crying Girl, 1963

You can listen to an audio recording of this Start:Stop reflection for St Stephen Walbrook at this link.

Hello and welcome to this week’s Start:Stop reflection from St Stephen Walbrook, when we stop for a few minutes and start to reflect on a passage from scripture. 

This year, our season of Remembrance, which includes All Souls Day when we remember all those who have died; and Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday, when we remember those who died in times of conflict, was preceded by period of national mourning. At some point during this extended period of reflection, we may have found ourselves shedding a tear or two. 

While watching the funeral of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, I cried. At a funeral of a friend recently I cried almost from start to finish; so much so that I felt the need to apologise to everyone sitting around me; even though grief seems to be one of the times when it is socially acceptable to cry. 

For some, crying is seen as a sign of weakness - a chink in the armour of our much prized self-sufficiency. A visible sign of the inward emotions that we try so hard to control. As it happens, this, may be the very purpose of tears.

Scientists do not really know why we cry; but recent studies have suggested that the chemical composition of tears seems to change depending on different circumstances. “Emotional” tears contain more protein, sticking to the face more easily than when we cry when chopping onions. Perhaps these “emotional” tears are meant to be seen? A signal to others that we are not as self-sufficient as we like to think! An unspoken cry for help; showing the world that, in spite of our desire for control, we cannot go it alone; there are times when we the need of the support of others. 

In Psalm 6 we hear the words of someone who realised this. You can find the text on page 521 of the pew bibles:

 

Bible Reading – Psalm 6

 

O Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger,
   or discipline me in your wrath.
Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing;
   O Lord, heal me, for my bones are shaking with terror.
My soul also is struck with terror,
   while you, O Lord—how long?

Turn, O Lord, save my life;
   deliver me for the sake of your steadfast love.
For in death there is no remembrance of you;
   in Sheol who can give you praise?

I am weary with my moaning;
   every night I flood my bed with tears;
   I drench my couch with my weeping.
My eyes waste away because of grief;
   they grow weak because of all my foes.

Depart from me, all you workers of evil,
   for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping.
The Lord has heard my supplication;
   the Lord accepts my prayer.
All my enemies shall be ashamed and struck with terror;
   they shall turn back, and in a moment be put to shame.


Reflection

Psalm 6 is the prayer of someone in great distress. The psalmist gives graphic detail about how their emotional state has affected them physically. Their bones are shaking with terror. Their eyes waste away because of grief. Their bed saturated with tears.

It is a prayer that transcends time; we move from terror and anguish to contentment in ten short verses. But what has really changed? Their circumstances? Their situation? There is no evidence to suggest either of those is any different. At first, their cry of “O Lord—how long?” seems to go unanswered. But we read later that “the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping.” 

God heard their wordless prayer; tears were the turning point.  

A turning point that meant all the “workers of evil” plaguing the psalmist can now “depart”. It is not clear if these dark forces are external or internal - a mental anguish or a physical threat. But perhaps that doesn’t matter – the fact that the Lord heard the sound of the psalmist weeping changed their perspective on life.

Margery Kemp was a fourteenth century Christian mystic who is remembered by the church this week. She is known particularly for her tears - her crying was viewed with suspicion by many - including some in the church. Her writings (which were set down on paper by a series of scribes because she could not read or write herself) were rediscovered in the 1930’s and suggest she was a strong character to say the least; setting off alone on pilgrimages to Jerusalem and Compostela with no provisions and no knowledge of the local language.

Her constant wailing and talking about God infuriated the pilgrims with whom she was making the long trip to the Holy Land. They cut up her clothes and made her eat alone, treating Margery as if she were mad. On the way they met a well known friar who had connections to the Pope and the group invited him to dinner. They asked him if he could do anything to cure Margery? To stop her incessant babbling about God and her spontaneous wailing! He refuses to admonish her, telling her travelling companions  that Margery's tears are a gift of the Holy Spirit. The group throw her onto the street, taking her maid servant and her money. 

 

Eventually she reaches Jerusalem where her emotions intensify. On visiting the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, she experiences a vision of the suffering Christ, causing her to fall on the ground and writhe about. Afterwards, she sees Christ in others who are suffering - children and animals on the street, the sick and wounded. 

 

On her return to England, Margery came to the attention of the church authorities as she went from town to town telling people about her visions. A dangerous thing for a lay person - especially a woman - to do at the time. 

 

Margery was questioned by the erudite Archbishop of York, who asked “Why do you weep so, woman?” The illiterate mystic replied “Sir, you shall wish some day that you had wept as sorely as I."

Perhaps, like the then Archbishop of York, the rest of us need to lose our hang-up with tears.

 

To realise, like the psalmist, that tears can be a turning point in our lives. When we acknowledge that we are not self sufficient; we need the support of others, to be heard by them. 

 

To appreciate, like Margery Kempe, that our tears draw us closer together to each other, and to God. 

 

After all, as the shortest verse in the English translation of the bible reminds us; “Jesus wept.”

 

 

Prayers 

 

As we pray, the response to each petition is; 

 

“We cry to you Lord”

 

That we have confidence in your constant presence with us through the ups and downs of this day;

 

We cry to you Lord

 

That we hear and respond to the cries of those in our midst who are in need;

 

We cry to you Lord

 

That we are attentive to the groans of your creation in all its suffering;

 

We cry to you Lord

 

That those who are sick know the comfort of your healing presence;

 

We cry to you Lord.

 

That those who have departed this life are welcomed into your eternal kingdom.

 

We cry to you Lord. 

 

That those who mourn find hope in the promise of your resurrection;

 

We cry to you Lord.

 

In thanksgiving for the knowledge that you will wipe every tear from our eyes;

 

We cry to you Lord

 

 

Blessing

 

And may the blessing of God Almighty, 

the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, 

remain with us and all those whom we love this day and always.

Amen. 

 

 

 

Image : Roy Lichtenstein,Crying Girl, 1963

The text has been adapted from a similar reflection I gave in 2020 which can be found at this link.