The God Who Fell From Heaven
On this Good Friday, here is a poem and a song.
A PRAYER TO THE GOD WHO FELL FROM HEAVEN
by John Shea
If you had stayed
tightfisted in the sky
and watched us thrash
with all the patience of a pipe smoker,
I would pray like a golden bullet
aimed at your heart.
But the story says you cried
and so heavy was the tear
you fell with it to earth
where like a baritone in a bar
it is never time to go home.
So you move among us
twisting every straight line into Picasso,
stealing kisses from pinched lips,
holding our hand in the dark.
So now when I pray
I sit and turn my mind like a television knob
till you are there with your large, open hands
spreading my life before me
like a Sunday tablecloth
and pulling up a chair for yourself
for by now
the secret is out.
You are home.
That is the best image of Good Friday—”the story says you cried/ and so heavy was the tear/ you fell with it to earth.” At the close of Mel Gibson’s movie, “The Passion of Christ,” as Jesus utters, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit,” and breathes his last, the camera shifts to a Shuttle-eye view of the planet, and the Eye beholding the spectacle of Golgotha on earth begins to well up. A tear forms, a single tear falls from heaven, plunges through space until the grim scene of three crosses comes into focus from 20,000 feet, and the divine tear drops down, falls and falls, splashing in the dust before the cross.
You see this Crucifixion and feel tears well up. Well, so does God. That’s all we need to know.
* * *
Let’s end with a song of personal Calvary.
No one sings the hard songs like Leonard Cohen. He wrote “If It Be Your Will,” as you’ll hear in this version, during a period of deep conflict in his life. The title words and the recurring refrain, “from this broken hill,” make this a personal trek up Golgotha. It’s a cry from a broken hill from a broken man living in a broken world. In this rendition, Cohen introduces the song and then turns it over to The Webb Sisters, who joined him on his world tour in 2008. Cohen remarks that this song is “more of a prayer.” Amen. (Full lyrics below)
If it be your will
That I speak no more
And my voice be still
As it was before
I will speak no more
I shall abide until
I am spoken for
If it be your will
If it be your will
That a voice be true
From this broken hill
I will sing to you
From this broken hill
All your praises they shall ring
If it be your will
To let me sing
From this broken hill
All your praises they shall ring
If it be your will
To let me sing
If it be your will
If there is a choice
Let the rivers fill
Let the hills rejoice
Let your mercy spill
On all these burning hearts in hell
If it be your will
To make us well
And to draw us near
And bind us tight
All your children here
In their rags of light In our rags of light
All dressed to kill
And end this night
If it be your will
If it be your will
And now, David, I am ready for Easter. Thank you.
Thank you David. The Shea poem is amazing. One of the best attempts ever at theodicy. About as good as it gets.
Me too. Now I’m ready for Easter.
The image of a God that feels our pain is a powerful one. Maybe it always feels this way, but gotta think lotta tears emanating from Above these days. I learned so much reading this blog over the past almost 40 days David, thank you.
It seems we’re the only “tight-fisted” ones. Friday’s words and music were good for helping them open.