Day 266: I Cried

 DAY 266

                              Faith in the Midst of a Pandemic                     

A series of daily reflections for people of faith

by Rev. Robert Bayley, Interim Pastor

Patuxent Presbyterian Church, California, Maryland

pastorrobert@paxpres.org

Week Thirty-eight    Saturday 5 December 2020

I Cried

“Raiden Gonzalez will be turning 5 in a few days, and while he will be surrounded by love and support, he will be missing his parents. Raiden’s parents, Adan and Mariah Gonzalez, died months apart this year after contracting COVID-19, both younger than 35. When Adan was fighting the virus in June, quarantine kept his mother-in-law from comforting Mariah. After his death Mariah and Raiden moved in. Mariah felt fine until October, when she started having chest pains that quickly escalated. As she waited for the ambulance... Mariah said, ‘I don’t want to hurt anymore.’ Mariah suffered complications upon entering the hospital and died the next morning. ‘I didn’t realize that would be the last time I would see her,’ said her mother. ‘She passed too quick – we just weren’t expecting that.’ Her advice to those who hear Raiden’s story: ‘They need to take COVID seriously because it’s no joke.’” - From a current issue of a national newspaper.

I think it was a constellation of things, not the least of which is the subtle cumulative effect of living under the coronavirus over the last 9 months, but also the photograph of a beautiful young couple with their 4 year old son who should have had their whole lives before them to raise this child. When I looked at the picture and read the story, tears filled my eyes. This precious little boy will now grow up and do so without either parent. My tears were for his parents who will not be able to love and raise their son; my tears were for his grandparents who will now try to live long enough to raise him to adulthood; my tears were for this little toddler who will only vaguely remember his parents and not know their loving care as he grows up.   

We live in a culture that looks askance at tears, especially in the eyes of men. But the greatest example of a man who ever lived openly wept twice in public, at the grave of a friend he loved, “Jesus wept.” John 11:35, and over the city of Jerusalem: “As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it,…’ Luke 19:41. If Jesus did it we can do it and not feel apologetic or embarrassed. I hope I never lose the ability to be moved to tears by circumstances that affect human beings with whom I share a common humanity. Through my eyes they are always me.

Reflective question: Are you able to comfortably cry? (It’s OK and even healthy, you know.)

Reflective Scripture: Revelation 21:4 – “He will wipe every tear from their eyes.”

Reflective hymn:

“When Jesus Wept” – L. Leinbach, 19^th century Moravian hymnwriter

Jesus wept! Our Lord and Savior, when He was on earth below.

Sympathized and felt for others in their sorrow, grief and woe.

Jesus wept, amazing wonder! For the Son of God to be

So affectionate and tender, to our frail humanity.