The Overflow of a Weary Heart

A Lament

A few weeks ago, I wrote an article on lament. What I’ve written here today does not follow the pattern of lament I described as a step-by-step guide. When these words started coming to me, I did not know I was writing a lament. I just knew that the war-ravaged parts of the world were in a lamentable condition. Words began rumbling around in my head, knocking on the door of my mind, wanting to be let out. These words came out in a lyrical/poetic form that harkens back to the ‘60s protest music of my childhood.

Photo by Austrian National Library on Unsplash

What I’ve written is not meant as a theological argument or a statement about the just war theory vs. passivism. These words are simply the overflow of one man’s heart who is wearied and grieved by war and the death of innocent victims, especially women and children.

Dragon drones drop fire from the skies

4,000 degrees fry the bastardized!

We need Edwin Starr in our playlist sayin’

Good God, war is good for absolutely nothin’!

Some country is always hatin’ another, and nations are gonna brawl

We keep bombs sixty times more powerful than Nagasaki on call

Hey Bob, how many times must the cannonballs fly

Before they’re forever banned? Before we’ve no tears left to cry?

Cluster bombs and glide bombs with pop-out wings

Wait! Civilians are people, not collateral things!

Several generations have taken an anti-war stance

But sorry John, we still haven’t given peace a chance

Still feelin’ Barry McGuire’s frustration

Still feelin’ on the eve of destruction

Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young warned many years ago

Too much protest and we’ll have more than four dead in Ohio.

 I think of Haiti and all the world’s hate

Of Israel, Gaza and Lebanon, Ukraine, and Russia,

I wonder why bloody streets don’t scare us straight

It isn’t too late to put our swords back into place

To join Jesus and Francis as instruments of peace

Marvin Gaye’s what’s goin’ on still carries weight 

War is not the answer, only love can conquer hate

When we can’t find our own words to form prayers that articulate our lament and grief, the Anglican Book of Common Prayer provides a place to start:

O God, you made us in your own image, and you have redeemed us through your Son Jesus Christ: Look with compassion on the whole human family; take away the arrogance and hatred which infect our hearts; break down the walls that separate us; unite us in bonds of love; and work through our struggle and confusion to accomplish your purposes on earth; that, in your good time, all nations and races may serve you in harmony around your heavenly throne; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen…Yes! Please, Lord, let it be so—soon! 

If you are not a Boomer (:-)), here is a link to the music I referenced in honor of the artists’ work. Artists are not theologians or makers of public policy. But they do help us see the world in fresh, timeless, and evocative ways. Such stirrings can lead us to pray for and advocate for just causes.