14 Jun 05 Calling All Angels
A friend of mine brought this song by Jane Siberry to my attention. It was performed by Jane Siberry and K.D. Lang in the film Until The End of The World.
a man is placed upon the steps, a baby cries
and high above the church bells start to ring
and as the heaviness the body oh the heaviness settles in
somewhere you can hear a mother singthen it’s one foot then the other as you step out onto the road
how much weight? how much weight?
then it’s how long? and how far?
and how many times before it’s too late?calling all angels
calling all angels
walk me through this one
don’t leave me alone
calling all angels
calling all angels
we’re cryin’ and we’re hurtin’
and we’re not sure why…and every day you gaze upon the sunset
with such love and intensity
it’s almost…it’s almost as if
if you could only crack the code
then you’d finally understand what this all meansbut if you could…do you think you would
trade in all the pain and suffering?
ah, but then you’d miss
the beauty of the light upon this earth
and the sweetness of the leavingcalling all angels
calling all angels
walk me through this one
don’t leave me alone
callin’ all angels
callin’ all angels
we’re tryin’
we’re hopin’
we’re hurtin’
we’re lovin’
we’re cryin’
we’re callin’
’cause we’re not sure how this goes
I think about pain and suffering quite often. Usually I’m thinking how to avoid pain and suffering. If given the choice, certainly our first impulse would be to trade in all of our pain and suffering. We read the stories (look at Hebrews 11) of all those men and women of God who endured so much for God and we think “I’m glad my name is not on that list!”
This, as the above lyrics suggest, would cause us to miss the beauty of the light upon this earth and the sweetness of the leaving.
Put another way, if life here on this earth was without trouble, was without pain and suffering, we would never want to leave. On the contrary, life here on this earth abounds with trouble, is full of pain and suffering and most of us still have trouble wanting to leave. We have trouble wanting to leave even though God has provided something better for us!
Even with all these faithful witnesses begging us to lay aside those things which entangle, enslave, and ensnare we have trouble running the race. We often find it difficult to keep our vision focused on Jesus. We forget the shame and scorn he joyfully endured for us. We forget the hostility he endured and we grow weary. Yes,
we’re tryin’
we’re hopin’
we’re hurtin’
we’re lovin’
we’re cryin’
we’re callin’
’cause we’re not sure how this goes
And even in our uncertainty we just have to keep trying, we have to keep hoping. In spite of the hurt we keep loving. Through our tears we keep offering our petitions, calling to the only One who can save us.
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Of course we prefer to avoid pain and suffering, but it often comes as a gift (as you well know). I had an uncle / best friend in life who, at a rather early age in life (40’s) discovered he had a very aggressive cancer in his lungs. He’d smoked for years, but the type of tumor he had was more commonly identified as breast cancer in women! His doctor said is was not the type of cancer that one typically gets from smoking, and Tom smoked the non-filtered Camels and Pall Malls! Go figure.
Anyway, the cancer ultimately took Tom’s life and he suffered greatly for a couple of years. Though Tom had been a “Christian” for years, his walk w/ the Lord was all but non-existant … until the cancer came. Shortly before his death, he told his daughters never to hold this againt God, that it took something as serious as a fatal disease to get his attention back to where it needed to be. In his final two years, he was an incredible missionary for the Lord!
I try to keep the perspective that suffering allows a degree of fellowship with Jesus that is found no where else. It also allows us the opportunity to use our suffering to comfort others (2 Cor. 1)
So … Go and suffer!
I like any song about Angels.
One of my favorite authors is Philip Yancey and he’s devoted more time and study to the problem of pain than perhaps anybody. He makes the same point you do, that without suffering in this world, there would be no reason to yearn for our own.
He also points out though that pain is usually an indicator that something is wrong. The reason that lepers lose eyes and feet is that they have lost their sensation to know that something is wrong. They don’t know when they have stepped on a nail. They don’t blink and their eyes dry out.
Pain is the gift nobody wants but a gift nonetheless.
It’s interesting how often your blog reflects what my day or week is feeling like! I needed to be pointed back toward Christ today, and because of certain circumstances, I will need to constantly remind myself for a while to keep my eyes on Him. (What do I mean, for a while - actually for all of my life!)
Physical pain and suffering is hard, but we keep tryin, hopin, wishin, prayin, hurtin’ for many reasons. Among them, rejection….it can be so acute as to actually feel like physical pain. I think it’s called the “human condition.”
I had occasion yesterday to call to mind a recent sermon/class study, derived from the 2nd chapter of Hebrews, at my congregation. It had to do with the peace we receive from knowing that Christ suffered in all things just like we do, and He understands what we are feeling. And having done so, He makes us understand that we will make it through.
Sunday we completed a series on our hope this side of heaven…basically, what’s in it for me here on earth if I follow God? As the conclusion Sunday, we actually focused on the gift of heaven…eternal life.
Our last two songs were Blessed Assurance and When We All Get to Heaven. When we finished, Clora Ann Crum turned to me and said “there weren’t nearly enough smiles on those faces to be singing the songs we were singing!”
She was so right…don’t you think we have it so easy most of the time we don’t even realize what a Comforter, Provider, Shepherd, Gift we have at our disposal?
I can’t help but think about the fact that most of what constitutes pain and suffering in the world today came into the world as a result of original sin.
We have come a long way since then and suffering and pain are now considered instructive and character building. Since pain and suffering are unavoidable that perspective is particularly useful.