September 25: Life is suffering (coma)...

Romans 8:18-27

¹⁸ I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. ¹⁹ For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; ²⁰ for the creation was subjected to futility,not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope ²¹ that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
²² We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; ²³ and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. ²⁴ For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? ²⁵ But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. ²⁶ 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. ²⁷ And God, who searches the heart,knows what is the mind of the Spirit,because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

Suffering

“Life is suffering,” so says the Buddha. There are times when I think this tenet of Buddhism can be no further from the truth, yet there are other times when it is hard for me to imagine it as anything else. Is life suffering?

The apostle Paul picks up this section of Romans where he left off with the theme of suffering. In the last verse tells the Christians in Rome that we must share in Christ’s sufferings if we wish to share in his glory. Now the Christians in Rome must have known something about suffering for Paul immediately goes on to speak of the ‘sufferings of the present time.’

Creation is suffering

He starts with creation, as Julie Andrews sang, ‘that is a very good place to start.’ “Creation was subject to futility… “ It is in ‘bondage to decay.’ And most graphically he says that ‘…the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now.’

Have you ever thought of this, that creation is groaning? In Genesis 3, the passage Belva read, we hear where this pain arose. As a consequence to the disobedience, distrust and distraction of Adam and Eve, God says, “cursed is the ground because of you, through painful toil, you will eat of it all of your life.” Were the ground a person I imagine it sitting there with shock upon its face, “Hey! Why am I cursed, these folks eat an apple and I get in trouble, where’s the justice in that?” And so it has been ever since that the sins of humanity have been visited upon creation causing it to ach and groan.

The rivers gasp from the fumes of the toxins we dump in them. The oceans groan from the weight of not only the pollution, but of course the release of oil that it had held secure for millions of years. The mountains scream when we cut their heads off to suck out their ore and coal. The trees choke from the fumes of our factories while the ice-bergs meekly whimper as they shrink from gradually increasing heat. We have done so much to harm creation and yet are so surprised when its groaning turns to shouting in the form of eruptions, hurricanes and earthquakes. Yes, from the time of Adam, creation has been groaning. But not just creation, writes Paul, we humans as well.

Suffering of the early Christians

“…we who have the first fruits of the Spirit groan inwardly…” The year was approximately 57AD and Nero was the emperor of the Roman empire. If you know anything about ancient history, then you are likely aware that Nero was no friend to the Christian people. Seven years after the writing of Paul’s letter, there would be a great fire in Rome which Nero would blame on the Christians and begin the first large phase of Christian martyrdom. The government was no friend to the early Christians. Before this point, the greatest amount of conflict had come from their own people, the Jewish folk. We know from the book of Acts that the first martyr was Stephen who died at the hands of the very person who was writing this epistle. This suffering was tied to another struggle which occurred when a person became a Christian. In so doing, they were often rejected by their family as heretics. The people to whom Paul wrote knew what it was to suffer at the hands of their government, their neighbors and their family. This is not even to mention their experience of suffering that is common to every life, that of loss, and illness and grief. Yes, the people to whom Paul wrote knew the truth that Buddha would later speak, life is full of suffering.

Our suffering

What about us? What do we know of suffering? Having been here for over 8 years I know the answer to that question. I have sat beside your hospital beds with IV’s and wires encircling your bodies. I have listened to your worries for the health and peace of your own children and I have stood at the edge of the grave with you as you tearfully say goodbye to a loved one.

My neighbor was moved into a nursing home several years ago. Before he passed away I went to visit him a few times and my experience was a reminder of the depth of the suffering of humanity. I can always tell the quality of a nursing home by the way it smells when I first enter. If it smells of lemon, baking bread or no smell at all, then it is usually a quality place. However, if I enter a nursing home and my first smell is of ammonia, then most often it is a poor facility. My neighbors nursing home was the later.

I remember sitting with him one day when I began to hear this sound in the hall. It started low grumble but began to rise to a loud howl and then it stopped…for a few seconds only to grumble and rise again, over and over again. I departed my neighbor’s room and looked in the adjacent room to see an elderly woman slumped over in her wheel chair. It was hard to believe such a sorrowful sound could come from such a small body. I approached an orderly to ask if she was okay to which is replied. “Joan? Oh yeah, she groans like that all the time. After a while, you don’t even notice it.” Poor Joan, the woman with a groaning whose pain could not be alleviated.

No, no one is free from suffering. The Buddha was right, “Life is suffering.” And yet, this passage makes me wonder if the period at the end of that sentence should not have been a comma.

The glory about to be revealed

Let’s return again to the beginning of this passage, how is it Paul begins? “I consider that the sufferings of the present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed in us.” (Repeat). Isak Dinesen, author of Out of Africa, once wrote that “All suffering is bearable, if it is seen as a part of a story.” How true this is. And what does Paul do? He reveals and reminds the Roman Christians of the greater story of which they are a part.

First, the creation; this creation that is in bondage to decay. This creation, whose very sun is moving closer with every moment to becoming a dull star that will eventually die is in bondage to decay it is part of a story in which it will be liberated and ‘obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.” In fact, Paul makes the bold claim that instead of groaning with death, that creation is groaning like a woman in the delivery room. Groanings come from nursing homes and yet, this is not the only place. There is another place that makes the nursing home groans sound like a whisper. One of these places is on the 13^th floor of St. Joseph’s hospital. That, of course, is the delivery floor.

I’ve heard they try to make the walls extra thick so others can’t hear the shouting, but I’ve been on that floor two times, and I can tell you that no wall is thick enough to completely impede the shouts of a mother in delivery. This groaning is loud, pain filled and somewhat frightening. And yet, it has such a different feeling about it than the groans of the nursing home. Why is that? One is a groaning that leads to death, while the other leads to life. Do you see what Paul is getting at? This groaning of creation will not end in death, but life. In the Revelation of John we get a glimpse of the baby that creation will deliver when he writes, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth…I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God.” All suffering is bearable if it is seen as part of a story.

But Paul doesn’t stop with the new creation, no he speaks of us as well. Yes, like creation we are groaning. We groan with pain, with grief and with depression. But our suffering is not without end either. No, “we groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.” Just as the heavens and earth will be new, so too our bodies will be new. They will, to refer back to last week’s message, be right. There will be no more aches, no more pains, no more sighing, no more weeping, no more need for knee replacements and by-pass surgeries. No more need for a pill box or daily injections. No, the day will come when our mourning, as the Psalmist writes, will turn into dancing. All suffering is bearable if it is seen as a part of a story.

But what about now?

Okay Ken, that is great, you might be saying. But what about now? My body aches now. My heart aches now. My marriage aches now. My job or lack thereof, aches now. How am I to deal with the suffering in my life now? In response, Paul offers two companions; hope and the Spirit.

Hope

“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.” Who has ever been lost in the woods? Do you remember that feeling? At one point you were enjoying the sound of the birds, the warmth of the sun and the beauty of the fall colors and the next moment, when you realize your lost, all of that disappears. Like a door closing, your world narrows and you don’t notice anything but your fear, your anxiety. Why is this? All because you don’t know, you can’t see where you want to be; which is at the end of the trail, out of the woods; home.

Now consider the other situation. Have you ever been on a hike where you knew the way home? How was that different? Your back may have ached, your feet might have even had blisters, you might have even been hungry or thirsty and yet, you could still enjoy the sounds, the sites and the smells. The world was open and wide and you were at peace. All because you had hope, faith in where you were going. This hope in your destination bred a patience just like the patience of which Paul spoke. Yes, hope is one of our great companions in the midst of suffering. All suffering is bearable if it is seen as part of a story.

The Spirit

“Likewise,” Paul writes comparing it to hope, “the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.” I know that some of you find this verse as really good news. You’ve told me that you don’t feel all that comfortable praying. That you don’t know what to say. Here Paul tells us that God has given us someone to help us in our weakness. When we don’t know what to say, it is okay, because God’s Spirit prays, that is talks to God, for us.

Man I am glad about this. Not because I don’t have a lot to say to God. I can talk about all sorts of things to God. But the Spirit is like the interpreter, when I pray, “Lord, give us more members at Manitou.” The Spirit says, “Father, help Ken to love the members you have given him.” When I pray “Lord, give me enough money to buy a new car.” The Spirit says, “Father, help Ken to be grateful for the cars you have given him.” And even when I don’t pray anything, the Spirit still says, “Father, awaken Ken to Your presence and his need for you today.” The Spirit intercedes for the saints, according to the will of God.” And who are the saints? Look around. We are not only sinners, God has made us saints as well.

A suffering saint

Not very long ago we said goodbye to Lorna; our long time member and expert in welcoming strangers. In looking at Lorna, one was not likely to think of the word strength and power. So petite and quiet it seemed that a good strong wind might come along and blow her away. Yet, those who got to know her story couldn’t help but be amazed. Here was a woman who knew suffering. As a young teenager, she contracted rheumatic fever and missed a whole year of school. She married and was blessed with 3 children, but it wasn’t too long before tragedy struck. Her youngest child, her only son was hit by a car while riding his bicycle and died at the age of 10. How does one endure that pain? Not a decade later, one of her daughters who had struggled with depression died while living in Alaska, she was in her early 20s. How does one endure that pain? Just how did Lorna endure?

One thing that never really failed Lorna was her memory. A few months before she died, we were talking about this and she said it made her think of a song that she learned as a youth. She looked towards the ceiling as if the words were written there and began to half recite and half sing the lyrics,

“My Lord knows a way through the wilderness and all I have to do is follow.

My Lord knows the way through the wilderness and all have to do is follow. Strength for today is mine always and all that I need for tomorrow.

My Lord knows the way through the wilderness and all I have to do is follow.”

The way out…

All suffering is bearable if it is seen as part of a story. How different is it to be in the wilderness, alone, uncertain, without guide and lost. If you’ve ever been lost in the woods, then you know it is a terror. But what difference does it make if you are in the same woods, with the same weather and the same provisions if you are with someone who knows where they are going?

Brothers and sisters, if we believe, if we really believe that God is with us in the wilderness, than instead of worrying about how we will get out and how we will survive. We are able to enjoy the trees, hear the birds, relish the sunsets and taste the blackberries. Do we have this hope? Do we have this Spirit? Do we believe that our Lord knows the way through the wilderness and all we have to do is follow?

Yes, life is suffering. Yes life is full of suffering, yet I consider that the sufferings of the present time are nothing worth comparing to with the glory about to be revealed in us. May we know our suffering is not the end of our tale, but a part of God’s greater story that leads to glory.