Advent Week 2 | Tears

“O LORD GOD OF HOSTS,

HOW LONG WILL YOU BE ANGRY WITH YOUR PEOPLE’S PRAYERS?

YOU HAVE FED THEM WITH THE BREAD OF TEARS,

AND GIVEN THEM TEARS TO DRINK IN FULL MEASURE.”

-PSALM 80:4-5

As jaunty holiday music blasts sentimental happiness, the psalmist’s talk of eating and drinking tears feels inappropriate, even rude. Yet the message of Advent is not one of superficial optimism, but rather of tenacious hope. Jesus becomes incarnate not because the world overflows with peace, joy and kindness. Jesus comes to earth to bring light to those who sit in deep darkness.

Days of aching, seasons of longing – each of us serves terms of suffering.

The birth of Jesus, the colliding of the mystery of divinity with the finitude of humanity, means that nothing – no feeling, no experience, no question, no doubt, no pain – is off-limits to God’s redemptive power and saving grace. Jesus himself knows the diet of tear-filled bread and water; his mother, Mary, does, too. Do not be ashamed of screaming, “O Lord God of Hosts, how long?” That groan from the dark night of the soul reverberates through history and all the way up to heaven. That cry is answered by Immanuel, God with us, no matter what.

FOR REFLECTION

• When have you eaten the “bread of tears”? How about your neighbors? Our country? Our world? How might the bread of tears be replaced with the bread of life?

• Around Christmas it feels difficult to express lament and sadness. How can you make room for those who may find this season not one of delight but one of pain?

How long, O Lord God of Hosts, will we eat and drink salty tears? We trust that no feeling or experience is off-limits to your redemptive grace, Lord, and so we cry out to you in our weakness and sorrow without shame or embarrassment. We pour out our hearts to the One who sends Immanuel to save us. We wait for your face to shine upon us, the light no darkness can overcome. We wait in hope even as we pray in anguish. Amen.