Sermons for the Month
God Hears Beyond Our Groaning
DATE: June 4th, 2006
SERVICE: The Day of Pentecost
TEXT: Romans 8:22-27“To all of you Saints here this morning, grace and peace to you from God our Father, from His Son, Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit. AMEN
On Tuesday afternoon Kate, a member of my Clergy Peer Group, called and innocently asked, "What are you doing?" My somewhat unexpected response was that I was reading an article by theologian Paul Tillich on the paradox of prayer. "Oh", she said, "What did he write about that?" My quick response was, "I do not have the slightest idea." After a pause she said, "I thought you said you were reading an article he wrote." "I did", I replied, "but I did not say that I understood it." Perhaps that's how all of us feel about what we read today - the Day of Pentecost - about the Holy Spirit. We read it, but that does not necessarily mean we understood it. The reality of the Holy Spirit is just a bit difficult to grasp. So, perhaps today we should begin with a very basic concept; we all know what it means to groan, don't we? A groan is a sound - made not just by people - that expresses pain, distress, disapproval, frustration, strain. It's an expression that unites people, animals and all of creation in announcing that life is at times a burden. The Apostle Paul writes in Romans 8 that the whole creation is like a woman delivering a baby. It - even we who have been touched by God's grace - cry out in the midst of pain, longing for the arrival of new life. For Christians the "ultimate" birth for which we wait, and the source of our hope, is the resurrection when we and all of creation will be reborn. In the meantime, though, the universe groans. And the scope of this groaning is amazing - even the diseased elm trees, the pollution loaded atmosphere and the over-populated deer herds are weary - they join us in these labor pains. Every day we see signs of, and hear, the groaning. From road side bombs exploding in Iraq to anti-American rioting in Afghanistan to 200,000 homeless earthquake victims in Indonesia to people who feel compelled to steal from, murder and violate fellow human beings in our own city, the groaning is loud. Sometimes it builds inside of us, as we deal with an unjust employer or an unexpected illness or an out-of-control child. We all know how wearying it all is. Yet, there is good news in the midst of the groaning. First, these are birth-pangs, not the cries of dying. And, second, we do not groan alone. The Holy Spirit groans with us, or perhaps we should say for us. While we may struggle at times to understand who or what the Holy Spirit is, Jesus makes is clear that it is something (someone?) we need. This Advocate, this Counselor, this Comforter and Helper not only is a force that gives us faith and empowers us to witness, conveying to believers God's will and ways, but also is a source of loving support. The Apostle Paul emphasizes this when he writes that while groaning has a cosmic dimension, we are gifted with personal attention from the Holy Spirit who helps us in our weakness and speaks for us in sighs too deep for words. We need that help because, as Paul says so directly, we do not know how to pray. Oh, we try, but we fall short. That's because, to quote the elusive Paul Tillich, it's not humanly possible for us to pray. What? Well, he's a theologian and may be prone to extreme statements, but after going through his article a few times I think I see what he's getting at. The first problem is that we are trying to talk to "somebody" who is not a "somebody". In other words, our minds cannot grasp the scope of the Divine. Oh, God coming to us in Jesus helps, but we still have this tendency to shrink God. Second, we tell God what God already knows. In fact, God knows what is behind what we said. "God knows more about us than that of which we are conscious," Tillich writes. So, it's hopeless for us to pray on our own. "We cannot bridge the gap between God and ourselves even through the most intensive and frequent prayers…." (1) Thankfully, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. I like to think of it this way. We do our best in our prayers; it is important for us to acknowledge our needs, our doubts and fears, and express gratitude and praise. But, our prayers will never be what they ought to be. So, the Holy Spirit - who knows the deep things in our souls - steps in. Our prayers are revised and each time that happens it is as if there is an adjustment deep within us and we move a bit closer to the Divine will. The groaning continues, of course, but since the Holy Spirit is groaning with us we are not overwhelmed. I often hear the groans of people I have never - and will never meet - through our website where anyone anywhere in the world can submit a prayer request. This week I received one that was three pages long, single spaced. The writer's request was overflowing with groaning. His mother had been cheated in a job; he wanted justice to be done and the accused to express regret. His father was being forced by the government in China to sell property; he asked for wisdom to deal with the situation. He feared losing his job, and pleaded for mercy from God so that he might keep it and improve his efficiency. He begged for relief from mental illness and being compelled to take medication. His prayers were for a Christian girlfriend and for forgiveness because of a failed marriage He wants his family members to accept Jesus and stop drinking and gambling. Finally, he requested more time to read the Bible and pray. And that's just the beginning of this man's groaning; I think his request covered most of the needs with which human being struggle. And then there was the ending sentence, "And I am sorry for any inconvenience and any mistakes I made in submitting my prayer request." I'm not sure if that was directed at me or at God, but the latter certainly would be appropriate since we can be assured that we'll make mistakes in our praying. But, we can be equally assured that the Holy Spirit is intervening, bridging the gap, and placing us in God's care. That is the essence of prayer, really, not what we say, but the activity of God in us, adjusting us, as we wait for the day when the groaning ends. Perhaps the reality of the Holy Spirit is difficult to grasp. Yet, it's not so hard to understand that God's love for us is so expansive that our praying is done for us, so that no matter what we utter - or regardless of what we fail to say - our whole being is brought before a God who not only hears our groaning, but understand it better than we do. (1) The New Being by Paul Tillich, Chapter 18: The Paradox of Prayer, www.religion-online.org.
AMEN