We continue our progress through Paul's magnificent letter to the church in Rome.
Sunday we focused on this passage, chapter 8:18-25:
"I consider that the present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently."
We shared, then, some of our experiences of suffering in life. Some thought first of physical suffering; others, emotional and spiritual pain; still others, social miseries. We could add to the categories intellectual and economic suffering. No doubt it's there. A question to consider is how these sufferings relate us to Jesus; as Paul says earlier, we are "heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory." (7:17)
Who likes to suffer? Since it is pain none of us do. Yet we realize that following Christ, taking up our cross as it were, is a choice to work hard and to bear burdens that are meaningful. We observed that churches have often failed to make this point -- in the effort to make church palatable, it has been presented as entertainment, easy, happy, and effortless. How can we get a better view across to seekers -- that church is real community, challenging, joyful in a deep way, and work worth investing in?
An aside -- have you noticed, now, a couple of times Paul has used feminine images to describe Christian ideas and experience -- to the MEN he is no doubt writing to ?(women were generally illiterate in his time). In this passage he expects men to understand having birth pangs (we groan inwardly), and to give birth (we have the firstfruits of the Spirit). Perhaps this is another way to see that Paul is grasping what he says in another place: that in Christ there is now neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female -- but all are one in Christ Jesus.
Blessings to you all & see you this Sunday for a quick scan of chapters 9-11 and to focus on chapter 12.
