Why you and why not me?

Brennan Manning wrote:

How do we live in the presence of the living God? In wonder, amazed by the traces of God all around us.

Grace abounds in contemporary movies, books, novels, films, and music. If God is not in the whirlwind, He may be in a Woody Allen film or a Bruce Springsteen concert. Most people understand imagery and symbol better than doctrine and dogma. Images touch hearts and awaken imaginations. One theologian suggested that Springsteen’s “Tunnel of Love” album, in which He symbolically sings of sin, death, despair, and redemption, is more important for Catholics than the Pope’s last visit when He spoke of morality only in doctrinal propositions. Troubadours have always been more important and influential than theologians and bishops.

In the collection of Psalms in the Bible, the troubadour let God know when he was hurting.

Long enough, God—
you’ve ignored me long enough.
I’ve looked at the back of your head
long enough. Long enough
I’ve carried this ton of trouble,
lived with a stomach full of pain.
Long enough my arrogant enemies
have looked down their noses at me.

In the aftermath of the Las Vegas slaughter of ‘his people’, Eric Church struggles with the loss of so many innocent people.

Why you with your long brown hair flowin’?
Or you with your fresh tattooed skin?
And you from the Western Virginia
That you’ll never get to see again.

As darkness descended the desert
And a bad actor started his play,
Why you from from Tennessee did life capture
And me from Tennessee get away?

And when the morning sun hits the mountains
And a glorious still calms the breeze
I asked the God of all knowing wisdom
Why you and why not me?

Yeah the Lord is my refuge and fortress
My God with whom I trust
But I’ll never know why the wicked
Gets to prey on the best of us.

Why you full of life and promise
At the top of your lungs so loud
My songs that you sang so sweetly will ring
In my ears forever now.

And when the morning sun hits the mountains
And a glorious still calms the breeze
I asked the God of infinite wisdom,
Why you and why not me?

And when the morning sun hits the mountains
And a glorious still calmed the breeze
I asked the God of my salvation,
Why you and why not me?

As we all struggle with the emotions of this nightmare, let us remember that grace and beauty still surround us. We won’t find it by arguing about this or that public policy. We’ll find it in the acts of love that we give, and receive, from those around us. And we’ll find it in the songs of the troubadours and the words of the poets that God has placed among us, that we may see His grace.

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