Romans 8:22-27

May 24, 2015

Thats a Groaner!

Today is Pentecost Sunday, the celebration of the birthday of the church, in which we remember a group of Jesus followers waiting in Jerusalem for something to happen. What it is going to be exactly no one knows. But Jesus has told them to go to Jerusalem and wait. Jesus had been busy making a 50-Day Resurrection tour, showing himself risen, transformed, alive and well, and finally ascended into heaven. But before he left wait, theres more he promised something big in Jerusalem during the annual Jewish harvest festival of Pentecost.

When the day finally arrives, the Holy Spirit comes to these faithful Jews from many nations and they can all understand one another. Without subtitles or dubbing. There are no language barriers, for the Holy Spirit has brought them into a unified community.

God continues to be at work with us. The apostle Paul believed that there are two ages in which all persons live. First, there is the present age in which humanity is all wrapped up in themselves and in which sin reigns supreme. This world is incomplete and broken. Then there is the coming age, in which God will make all things right and good. When Jesus rose from the dead, the sin of the present age was dealt a fatal blow and we were invited to see the world as God sees it, with the coming age and Gods Kingdom revealed.

Both of these ages coexist in this in-between time in which we are not what we once were but we are not yet what we are to be. Its really a confusing mess, but thats life. What can you do about it?

All you can do is groan. There, I said it! Why arent things figured out yet? Why does God keep us waiting? Paul, a man, compares this age to labor pains! 2,000 years of labor pain! Lets get this C-section started!

Groan. Sigh. Breath in. Breath out. Groan.

But its not all bad. We are so conditioned to think of groans as a way to resign ourselves to frustration and pain, it is easy to forget that groans give us an opportunity to set aside wordy explanations of the past and ponder the possibilities of a yet unknown future.

An unknown future was all that these first Christians had. First, they followed Jesus and expected him to kick into full Messiah mode, defeating Rome and bringing Gods people into power. Instead, Jesus got nailed on a cross as a criminal. After the resurrection, the church expected Jesus to return any day. That didnt happen. And the persecution of the church was going full force in the meantime. There anticipated future didnt happen.

Andrew Lester, a pastoral counselor, has said that ultimately all of our future stories are fragile and will fall apart. Young adults today have accepted this better than earlier generations. Out of the fickle economy and job insecurity, they have recreated a world in which they accept lifes uncertainties and are more open to the potential finality of any career choice. I predict that we will see more pastors make career changes after a decade or more of parish work, as others come into the profession as a later calling and career.

The rest of us just groan.

No matter how shaken up the world seems to be, Paul suggests that we will find our ultimate hope for the future not in our personal future stories, but in God and in Gods future. We as a church will do our best ministry when we set aside our personal desires and even the institution churchs assumed desires as we wait to discover what God desires of us.

Its taken me a while, but I have come to the realized that when my short-term ideas about what should happen hit the wall, rather than sit in a heap, I have learned to get up, pray, and wait for God to lead me to new possibilities.

I remember well the year that I spent between college and seminary and one time. One day I decided to simply allow God to show me all of the things that had led me to the place where I was my family support, friendships and challenges, the three different colleges I attended in four years, my happiness in journalism school, good friends. I saw clearly that I was where I needed to be and that the year apart made that clear.

Once I arrived in Evanston for seminary, the first year got off to a challenging start. Shortly after Thanksgiving break I broke up with my girlfriend in Columbus. I had made plans with Lyle Hibben, another first year student, to be roommates. During a semester break, Lyle was killed in an automobile accident, as a passenger in a car with his sister and brother-in-law. I also discovered that I was having a hard time talking about my faith at family gatherings.

Groan. But God was behind the scenes, working things out.

The seminary president decided to send two of Lyles friends to Iowa to represent the school at Lyles funeral. The other student was John Darlington, and our friendship continues to this day. The girlfriend that I broke up with found a great husband and got in touch with me years ago as a Facebook friend. (We were both better off!) And the next year this beautiful new first year student named Sue Glader showed up at seminary to bless my life. I stopped talking about religion at family gatherings, which went well, too!

I am convinced that somehow God had given me hope that things would work out, even when things were not going so great. Paul says it well: For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. (Romans 8:24-26)

The thing with hope is that the future is always unknown and the presence of God in the midst of trials can only be seen clearly in the rearview mirror. I would never presume that God creates terrible stuff or desires our suffering, but I would suggest that some of the things that seem bad at the time arent as bad as we thought at the time, and that no matter how awful things can get, God will never fail or forsake us.

Memorial Day is a time to remember all of the women and men who have lost their lives in service to this country. It is a solemn holiday, because a life is a terrible thing to lose; most of our fallen soldiers died while still young. But we know that we live in a Democracy where we have the right to enjoy lives of freedom. And we have the privilege of electing members to Congress who will represent us well. Sometimes. Individually, if not as a group. And who will get things done. Eventually. Maybe.

Groan.

Gods Kingdom is greater than America at its best. Gods reign is more to be wished for than the church at its best. As we seek to follow Jesus and allow the Holy Spirit to guide us, God will lead us in the way that we should go.

We will groan. We will sigh. But God, who knows us better than we know ourselves, has hopes for us that are beyond words. We cant always explain it, but we can live into it.

Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

(1 Corinthians 15:57)