Ordinary Time
Every night I lie in bed
The brightest colors fill my head
A million dreams are keeping me awake
I think of what the world could be
A vision of the one I see
A million dreams is all it’s gonna take
Oh a million dreams for the world we’re gonna make
from “A Million Dreams” in The Greatest Showman (2017)
I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad about my people. No one will ever hear the sound of weeping or crying in it again. No more will babies live only a few days, or the old fail to live out their days. The one who dies at a hundred will be like a young person, and the one falling short of a hundred will seem cursed.
Isaiah 65:19-20
Coach Jimmy Dugan yells at one of the women’s baseball players on his team for missing an easy play in the outfield. He makes fun of her, treating her so rudely that she begins to cry. He continues yelling, “Are you crying? Are you crying?! There’s no crying! There’s no crying in baseball!” (A League of Their Own) Jimmy wants everyone to follow his idea of toughness. There’s no crying!
In God’s dream for the future, we’re told that no one will ever hear the sound of weeping or crying again. Not because God wants us to be “tough.” Not because we need to ignore all the things that make us cry. No! There will be no more crying. There will be no more reasons to cry.
God dreams of a world without violence and injustice, without hatred and heartbreak. It’s ok to cry now. There is much that is hard and painful about our world. God knows that and cries with us. AND God reminds us that we can trust in a future when there will be no more need to cry.
Laura Edgar
Caring God, sometimes I cry. I hurt over small things that will seem less important tomorrow and big things that overwhelm me day after day.
Compassionate Christ, thank you that you are with me when I cry.
Comforting Spirit, help me trust that one day there will be no more crying.
Amen.
The world is not as it should be, not as it could be, not as it will be.
Trust God’s dreams for you and the world around you.
Dream with God of what could be…