Grace to you and
peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ. Amen
“8I consider that the sufferings
of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be
revealed to us.”
One of my deepest
convictions is that within history there is an advancement, a progressive
movement toward a greater good.
More than
anything else, this is the reason I consider myself a “liberal”, though such
labels are not always helpful.
Let’s just say
that within our culture there is a divide.
That divide centers around the question “Do you believe that our best
days are behind us, or ahead of us.”
There are some
who look to the past and seek to preserve and reclaim that which they perceive
to be great about it.
And others look
to the future and the hope that we might advance as a people and a nation and
become greater than we have ever been.
It is in this
second sense that our founding Fathers wrote in the preamble to the
Constitution:
“We the people of the United States, in
order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic
tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and
secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and
establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
The whole premise
upon which our nation was founded as the great experiment of democracy, was
that indeed, we could create “a more perfect union.”
Notice that it
does not say, that we can create a “Perfect Union”. Nope, can’t do that. But we can work toward a more perfect
union.
And so over the
years we have striven to achieve this lofty goal of creating a better future
than the past.
There is a
tension though. As much as we hope for a
better future we need to be realistic that there will always be evil and
hardships and challenges along the way.
That’s why Jesus
told the parable of the Wheat and the Weeds.
If you try to destroy evil, you will destroy the good as well.
In the face of
this we hear words of hope from the Apostle Paul.
“8I consider that the sufferings
of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be
revealed to us.”
There are two
basic hopes that sustain us as Christians:
The first is that tomorrow might
be a better day.
And the second is that after all
is said and done there awaits for us in heaven a glory beyond all others.
We are to keep
these two things before us. That in the
face of the “sufferings of this present time” tomorrow might be a better day,
and that in the end all suffering will be gone and all creation will be
redeemed.
The sufferings of
this present time—
When Paul wrote
those words he likely was referring to the persecution that the early church
was experiencing, especially the Christians in Rome to whom this letter was
written. Paul would eventually be
martyred in Rome. And yet for all the
hardship he experienced he clung to the hope of the redemption that is in
Christ Jesus.
Throughout the
ages hope has abounded in the face of suffering.
One thing that
bears mentioning is that historians have told us is that one of the most
powerful witnesses that the early Christians gave was in the context of the
pandemic, the plague, that attacked the Roman Empire.
Why most people
fled, the Christians stayed behind and cared for the sick and the suffering,
standing firm in their hope that this present suffering might be overcome both
in this world and the next.
We live in
uncertain times once again.
And faced with
the suffering that is taking place in our world we are torn between longing to
go back in time to a better place and situation or to move forward beyond this
‘present suffering’ to an even ‘more perfect’ day.
Covid 19 struck
close to home for us on Wednesday.
Our daughter-in-law
tested positive, and though she is currently symptom free, as is our son, we
worry.
That being the case it is no longer an abstract
reality.
Our son was
scheduled to visit this weekend. Had our
daughter-in-law not been tested at work, we might all have been infected. We dodged the bullet this time.
Not only that,
but on Thursday I learned that one of the members of Point of Grace that also
worships in our building tested positive.
Precautions have been taken, and so far no one else has been infected,
but it points to the vulnerability we all share.
Fears abound.
With respect to
COVID 19 we don’t know how bad it will get or how long it will last.
And individually
we face other issues.
I had some
symptoms develop over the last few weeks that left me dealing with my
fears. One of the blessings and curses
of living in this age is that when you have some medical symptom you can google
it and get all sorts of information.
It’s a blessing because you quickly can determine if it merits a
doctor’s visit. It’s a curse because you
learn about everything that might be wrong and you end up fearing the worst.
In my case,
further tests revealed that it was nothing to worry about at this time.
Other issues
abound.
Murder hornets
are in Washington State.
Global warming
continues.
Racial tensions
are unabated.
Some have said
that it appears “Mother Nature” is mad, and you don’t want to mess with “Mom”.
The sufferings of
this present time.
And the hope for
tomorrow.
Again I will say,
that our response to such suffering is twofold.
- We faithfully do what we can to create a better world for ourselves and others.
- And we live in hope that evil will not be the final word on our lives.
We pray.
And we ask God’s
guidance.
But most
importantly we trust that he will deliver us.
Amen
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