New Beginnings

Fifth Sunday in Lent

“ Jesus began to weep.” John 11:35    

It may be a surprise to some of you, but not to my family members, I love Trivia Contests.  Back in the day my spouse and I were a killer Trivial Pursuit team to such an extent that several friends refused to play with us because we, in their words, “Just knew too much.”  It mattered not the subject chosen: I whizzed through history and literature, my husband tackled math and sports…together we aced science and current events.

Now much of it was useless information (for example, did you know that Coca Cola was invented in 1886 and was originally green?? Or that goldfish have a life expectancy of ten years and are subject to motion sickness?), but on a recent cruise, and you all know how much I love cruising, my crackerjack team made up of my two travelling companions (to whom I refer as part of my cadre of Lutheran cousins) and newly met trivia compadres, a married couple from Michigan…a college recruiter and electrical engineer, either won or placed in every trivia game we showed up for. But here was one question that really stumped us.  I wrote it down so I will never forget it: “What is ‘lacrymophobia’?”  Anyone want to hazard an educated guess.  If you studied Italian or Latin at some point in your life…I have four years of it, you might be able to figure out the root word.  In my case, I could identify the root word, but could not pull the meaning up out of my memory.  So for those of you still in the dark, “Lacrymophobia” is the fear of shedding tears or crying.

And, by the way, in case you did not know, there are three types of tears we humans shed. Basel tears are basically eye lubrication. They keep our eyes in good working order. Some medication may cause us to have “dry eyes”, which can easily be treated with a solution of artificial tears that mimic those naturally secreted by our own bodies. Reflex tears are the body’s reaction to irritants like dust, smoke or even cold; they help to clear out these foreign bodies from our systems. And finally “psychic tears” are those that flow as a reaction to emotional stress. These are the tears we learn that Jesus shed when he was confronted by the realization that his friend, Lazarus, was indeed dead.

Jesus is not the only one shedding tears at the tomb of Lazarus.  His two sisters, who we know from prior Gospel Readings, are inconsolable.  Martha has, of course, uttered the words that we hear echoed in hymn 355 when she said, “Yes, Lord I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God who is coming into the world.” The younger sister Mary greets him at the tomb with the words that if he were present earlier, her brother would not have died, and the other witnesses to this event are moved by Jesus’ tears proving his affection for his friend.  As humans we can definitely relate to those psychic tears Mary Martha the crowd and Jesus are shedding. 

Many tears have been shed in this place as well.  I arrived at Christ Church in the fall of 2010 at the invitation of Father Chuck.  He had just struggled through a difficult physical time battling mononucleosis. I remember that I had met him at the Soup Kitchen at Trinity Lutheran and he turned to me and bluntly said, “So, when are you coming to Christ Church to be my deacon?”  I was taken aback, but that opened the conversation.  That evening my husband kept saying, “You should go.  You should go.”  And I did, and it has been really wonderful being here.  But thing have shifted, as they always do.  As I look around this space I have thought about all the times we have shed some very sad psychic tears.  I look at our choir and see some holes where at least six of our senior members are no longer here, but probably singing in larger celestial choir.

I have stood as witness and often as a liturgical participant to times of great communal sorrow as we all shed more of our mutual psychic tears as we laid to eternal rest leaders and faithful members of our congregation who have run the race with great courage and dignity.

And yet there have been other times that our psychic tears are those that sprung from joy filled emotions and not sorrow filled ones. Weddings, baptisms, graduations, homecomings, new beginnings, many, many moments of joy filled and happy celebrations.  The vast number of times our children and those of our larger Christ Church Community have entertained and enchanted us and others with their developing musical skills; these are times that bring smiles to our faces and happy tears to our eyes in the mere act of conjuring up the memory. Christmas pageants and All Saint processions that seem to miraculously come to fruition out of utter chaos have given us a plethora of remembrances that cannot be removed.

These are the memories that I will take with me from this place. A place that will ever hold in the words of Janis Joplin, a rather large “piece of my heart”.

And there is one more thing that we can all hang tight to: Jesus cried.  His humanity broke through, and he shared a very human reaction with those around him and with us. In this Sunday’s passage his tears were those that rose from emotional sorrow, but if he could cry with grief, he could also cry with joy.  And the thought of Jesus joyfully crying is an image I want to hold onto when I think of you all and my time in this sacred space.