The Faith We Sing Hymn Interpretation
"God Weeps," Number 2048

by Dean McIntyre, Director of Music Resources, The United Methodist General Board of Discipleship

"God Weeps," Number 2048
Words: Shirley Erena Murray
Music: Carlton R. Young

One of the most remarkable hymn texts and joining of hymn text and tune of the late twentieth century is to be found in "God Weeps." How can God experience the same emotions we humans experience? How can God participate in the very human acts of weeping, bleeding, and crying? This hymn masterfully articulates one of the great paradoxes of our faith: How can the God who created us, who loves us, who saves us, who nurtures and cares for us, allow us to experience evil and suffering? How can the God who numbers the very hairs on our head and who holds us in the palm of his hand — how can this same God seemingly remain detached from our suffering and pain?

The answer is — as the text of "God Weeps" so eloquently and poignantly tells us — that God does not remain detached from us. The answer is that God does, indeed, participate in our suffering and pain.

• When children suffer because of a lack of love or because of physical abuse, we weep; and God weeps.
• When women are battered and afraid of fists raised in anger, we bleed; and God bleeds.
• When people go hungry, go without medical care, or die without cause, we cry; and God cries.

The text of "God Weeps" recognizes that tragedies are a part of human existence. It is only through human action that these evils will be corrected. Until we change the way we love, win, and care for one another, God continues to weep, bleed, and cry. God waits for us to understand the Christ, to understand the message of Jesus. That understanding will change human hearts, minds, and actions.

The intensity of the text of "God Weeps" is made even more so by the tune and accompaniment of the music. The descending, chromaticism of the opening and closing two notes ("God weeps") is the traditional musical depiction of sorrow and suffering, of crying out. The leaping and descending of the melodic line as it carries the disturbing, unsettling portions of this text likewise portray in music a sense of sorrow and anguish. The unsettled, unresolved harmony leaves us in a state of incompleteness, of yearning for resolution. There is no nice, happy, satisfying "Amen" conclusion to this most difficult hymn. There is a marvelous moment of relief and contrast in the line, "and till we change the way we . . . ." The composer gives us a brief moment of rest on a major harmony, with a rising melodic line (the only one in the hymn) as if to remind us that God works in this world through human efforts. It is our job to work to relieve the sorrow, suffering, anguish, pain, abuse, death, and fear that infect the human condition and cause God sorrow. Note that the tune's name assigned by the composer — "HIROSHIMA" — brings to mind the scenes of ultimate human devastation and suffering that resulted from atomic warfare at the end of World War II.

This hymn will not be a favorite of congregations, but it will be one of the most powerful that they will sing. Worship leaders must exercise great care and caution with this hymn. It must be sung only with preparation of the people beforehand. You might consider concluding the singing with a time of reflection, silence, and prayer, perhaps including a unison praying of "The Prayer of Saint Francis," number 481 in The United Methodist Hymnal.

Copyright © 2001 The General Board of Discipleship of The United Methodist Church, P.O. Box 340003, Nashville TN 37203-0003. Worship Web Site: http://www.umcworship.org. This hymn interpretation may be downloaded, copied, distributed, reprinted in church bulletins or newsletters, or otherwise used for nonprofit local church worship or education with the inclusion of the copyright citation and General Board of Discipleship Worship Web Site as its source. It may not be used for profit or republication without prior permission.

Posted 4-30-01