Effective Suffering
Sermon
Sermons On The Second Reading
Series I, Cycle A
Many people have heard a part of this lesson before. Most particularly, the last two verses, the part about "neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."
These verses are often a part of funeral services. In the context of a funeral service, these verses are a source of comfort for those in attendance, a consolation for the bereaved, and a strong reminder of the reward which awaits us all at the conclusion of this life. In the context of this lesson from the letter to the Romans, these verses are the summary of a very important passage, one which is about much more than simple consolation at a funeral.
Back at the beginning of the lesson, we start with our weakness. That can seem a rather inauspicious place to start - our weakness. We likely would prefer to begin with our strengths, the things which are to our credit; not with our weakness, the things which are likely to embarrass us.
Many parents seem to take a special delight in humiliating their adult children by bringing up embarrassing stories about growing up. Stories about odd manners of dress, especially when backed up with pictures; stories about difficulties with toilet training or bed wetting; stories about the things a child once did when growing up, but has long since ceased to do. No matter how cute the story might seem, particularly to the parents, the result for the child is often utter embarrassment, diminished self--esteem, and humiliation.
And here we are, at the beginning of this lesson, speaking of our weakness. And a very specific weakness at that, our inability to pray. To pray. Such a basic activity for a Christian, praying. Hans Kung, the Roman Catholic theologian, once wrote a book titled On Being a Christian. In over 600 pages of text, he never devoted a chapter to the subject of prayer. When asked about this curious lapse, he responded that prayer was so basic a part of a Christian life it could safely be assumed to be a part of every page. And we have trouble with prayer.
Everyone has heard the definition of prayer - a conversation with God. But most people have trouble with the dialogue. Instead, our prayers often sound more like a monologue or an inventory of our troubles and desires or even a listing of our failures.
While the controversy goes on about prayer in the classroom, many people have pointed out that as long as there are tests, there will always be prayers in the classroom. While that might be true, many of those prayers are mostly acknowledgments of a student's failure to prepare properly, and a demand, or at least a certain amount of begging, for divine intervention to take the place of the lapses in studying - listing of a failure and an inventory of troubles and a desire for help.
And many, if not most, of our prayers are like that. Not the sorts of prayers we should be making, but the ones we can manage, often under pressure, even though we know our prayers are less than perfect, even less than they ought to be. And, before it seems we are getting too personal here, consider a comment of Martin Luther's on the subject.
A man who devoted hours every day to prayer and devotions, Luther was once sitting at his dinner table when a roast was brought out. He noticed Topol, his dog, staring at the meat, and he said, "Oh, if only I could pray the way my dog watches this meat! All his thoughts are concentrated on this piece of meat. Otherwise he has no thought, wish, or hope."
"If only." Two little words which can serve as a summary of our weakness - our weaknesses in general, and our weaknesses regarding prayer in particular. But things do not end in "if only," with our weakness. Our weakness is only the beginning, not the end, no matter how often we are tempted to end the discussion as quickly as possible when we start with our weakness.
In our weakness, the Spirit helps us. We are not alone in weakness, but helped, mentored, and coached by the Spirit. And even if we really do not know everything we should about prayer, the Spirit helps us, and more. More than merely standing on the sidelines and yelling encouragement, more than simply providing the words for us, more than instructing us in the proper ways of prayer, the Spirit actually intercedes for us. To express that in another way, when we pray in our weakness, the Spirit takes our place, and prays with and for us.
And when God searches hearts to discover the content of prayer, it is not our hearts that are searched, but the mind of the Spirit. This is likely a good thing, as our hearts can be a significant problem. Our hearts can be filled with the details of our weaknesses, with all the things that distract us from our prayers. But, even if we are unable to concentrate our thoughts on our prayer as we should, the Spirit focuses properly on prayer, on our on--going discussion with God.
And so, we begin in our weakness, and we find that we are not alone there. The Spirit is with us, even to the point of standing in our place and interceding for us with God. In the midst of our weakness, we find that our strength is with us, the Spirit saves us from our failure and weakness.
And then, as we read this lesson, we come to a sudden shift of thought. Rather than a further discussion of the role of the Spirit, or prayer, the thought of the lesson shifts rather abruptly to a sentence we can easily find ourselves rejecting. The sentence is: "We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose."
"All things work together for good"? Are you kidding me? How can we really say something like that? That statement is almost as bad as the old clich , "God's in his heaven, all's right with the world." And for that clich , there is some good news and some bad news. The bad news, in case you haven't watched the evening news recently, is that all is, most emphatically, not right with the world. The good news, on the other hand, is God's not in his heaven either. God's right here, with us.
But that idea of all things working for good? There's plenty of bad news about that, too. There are certainly things happening to people which do not seem to be working for good. The difficult events can be explained in a variety of ways.
We could talk about the need for bad things to enable us to appreciate the good things that happen to us. While this might sound quite rational and comforting, it is a terrible, gruesome interpretation of this verse when it is applied to things such as sudden, accidental deaths, incurable illnesses, debilitating diseases, and the long list of things which abruptly change people's lives.
It is also not a correct view of a loving God who listens to the Spirit rather than us to imagine that God sends or allows the bad things to happen so we can appreciate the good. Rather than a God who is with us, this is a picture of a remote God who is cold--hearted enough to allow the destruction of people and families and lives simply for the sake of encouraging a sense of appreciation in the survivors.
Alternatively, we could talk about how everything that happens is really a part of God's greater plan. Even though this is an excuse which has been offered frequently, the same objections apply.
This excuse requires a God who is somewhat cruel in the details required for the sake of a greater plan. Our human plans often impose suffering on individuals for the sake of a larger plan, which is intended to provide good things for a larger number of people. This is because of our human failure to grasp the full implications of the plan.
For example, consider the idea of providing high--quality, low--cost housing for people. While the idea sounds very good, and as if it could be an example of "working for good," when the current residents have to be moved out to allow for the building of the new structures, substantial difficulties and dislocations usually occur.
But if our best intentions and efforts often lead to problems, we might expect that God's efforts should avoid these problems. We believe in an all--powerful, all--knowing, loving God. To suggest that some people have to suffer in the course of God's greater plan is really a misunderstanding of what it means to have an all--powerful, all--knowing, loving God. There is no good reason that explains why such a God would punish his people.
There is plenty of bad news about that verse, "All things work together for good." But there is also good news. The bad things that happen to people are really a result of our own sinfulness. But the good news in the midst of our suffering, in the midst of all the things that result from our sinfulness, as we go through the bad stuff that is such a part of our lives, is: God is not in heaven; God is here with us.
Those who study such things say there are few things which are worse for an individual than to have one's child die. And we should remember that this is precisely what happened to God, when Jesus died on the cross.
Suffering is aggravated for most people when it is done in isolation. Quite often the response to people who try to help is, "You wouldn't understand." Or even more, "You don't understand." But the good news is, God understands. The terrible isolation that means people are forced to suffer alone, with no one to share their problems, need not be a problem for us. Our suffering, our sorrows, our problems are all understood by God. Because Jesus came and lived among people, as a person, and suffered all the things that happen to people. And, most especially, because God has suffered the death of his Son.
And the good news is even more than simply a companion in our difficulties. Some people are able to understand that their suffering is a path to help them grow in their faith and their connection to God.
Today's lesson concludes with those sentences often read at funerals. Once, at a funeral, a comment was made in the sermon, "Some people suffer more effectively than others." It sounds strange to speak of "effective suffering," but the phrase is worth our attention. We can be fairly certain that at some points in our lives we will suffer. It might take different forms for different people, but the fact of suffering is a part of our lives.
And since we will suffer, it makes sense to learn about the idea of effective suffering. If nothing else, perhaps we can learn how we can manage effective suffering.
First, we should be clear that this does not mean that we should go looking for more ways to suffer, just for the practice. It should be clear that we face plenty of suffering without looking for more.
But in our suffering, we need to be clear that God is with us. We are not abandoned, not alone in our suffering. We are always accompanied by God and by Jesus. In part, this is the answer to our problems with prayer. Even when we might doubt it, even when it seems as if we are absolutely alone, God is with us in our suffering. More than just a presence, God has a complete and total understanding of what we are going through, and complete comfort for all our sorrow.
Effective suffering is the way we learn that these things are true and we learn to take strength from them. Effective suffering is a growing of our faith and a developing closeness with the God who is with us at all times.
And it is effective suffering which allows us to understand what Paul means when he asks, "What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us?"
"Who is against us?" Would you like a list? Most of us can provide a long list in response to that question. We can start with the way things seem to work against us. The refrigerator that stops working just after you put all that expensive food in it. The computer that swallows your file just as you finish making it perfect. The car that won't start when you are late for a critical meeting. And on and on.
"Who is against us?" There are people who seem to take delight in making us look and sound foolish. Not that we need a lot of help, most of the time. But even when things are going well, there always seems to be someone who particularly enjoys calling attention to our shortcomings.
"Who is against us?" If the truth is to be told, entirely too often we are against us. Even when we know what we should be doing, we don't do it. Even when we know what we should say, we keep quiet. We can make quite a list of people who are against us, and the place for the foremost person who is against us is reserved for - us.
That is where the really good news begins in this lesson. Even though we begin in our weakness, and progress to our suffering, and then come to the point of learning that our biggest problem is ourselves, through each of these stages, through each of these points, there is one thing which is constant.
In our weakness, our failures, and our problems with prayer, the Spirit is with us and beside us, praying for us, interceding with God.
In our suffering, as we learn about effective suffering, we also learn that God is with us comforting us, and supporting us in our suffering.
Finally, as we realize that the answer to "Who is against us?" is us, we also realize that Jesus intercedes for us.
There is a pattern here. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all involved in interceding for us, helping us, supporting us, comforting us as we go about our lives. And the best part of the promise comes in the last few verses.
In our lives there are people who come and go. Today, with the Internet and various listings of people and addresses and phone numbers, it is not uncommon to get letters saying things like: My name is ... I once knew someone with your name ... We were in school, the military, college, or some other place ... Are you that person?
Are you that person? Are you the person who once knew the person writing the letter, but over the years drifted apart? Eventually you were separated by distance, time, other interests, and any number of other things.
That separation happens quite easily today, and it is possible that similar separations have happened for much of human history. Certainly, Paul's comments at the end of this lesson sound as if he was familiar with such things. And he knew about the Good News. We face separations, but there is one separation we will never face.
"For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."
That's the good news. Amen.
These verses are often a part of funeral services. In the context of a funeral service, these verses are a source of comfort for those in attendance, a consolation for the bereaved, and a strong reminder of the reward which awaits us all at the conclusion of this life. In the context of this lesson from the letter to the Romans, these verses are the summary of a very important passage, one which is about much more than simple consolation at a funeral.
Back at the beginning of the lesson, we start with our weakness. That can seem a rather inauspicious place to start - our weakness. We likely would prefer to begin with our strengths, the things which are to our credit; not with our weakness, the things which are likely to embarrass us.
Many parents seem to take a special delight in humiliating their adult children by bringing up embarrassing stories about growing up. Stories about odd manners of dress, especially when backed up with pictures; stories about difficulties with toilet training or bed wetting; stories about the things a child once did when growing up, but has long since ceased to do. No matter how cute the story might seem, particularly to the parents, the result for the child is often utter embarrassment, diminished self--esteem, and humiliation.
And here we are, at the beginning of this lesson, speaking of our weakness. And a very specific weakness at that, our inability to pray. To pray. Such a basic activity for a Christian, praying. Hans Kung, the Roman Catholic theologian, once wrote a book titled On Being a Christian. In over 600 pages of text, he never devoted a chapter to the subject of prayer. When asked about this curious lapse, he responded that prayer was so basic a part of a Christian life it could safely be assumed to be a part of every page. And we have trouble with prayer.
Everyone has heard the definition of prayer - a conversation with God. But most people have trouble with the dialogue. Instead, our prayers often sound more like a monologue or an inventory of our troubles and desires or even a listing of our failures.
While the controversy goes on about prayer in the classroom, many people have pointed out that as long as there are tests, there will always be prayers in the classroom. While that might be true, many of those prayers are mostly acknowledgments of a student's failure to prepare properly, and a demand, or at least a certain amount of begging, for divine intervention to take the place of the lapses in studying - listing of a failure and an inventory of troubles and a desire for help.
And many, if not most, of our prayers are like that. Not the sorts of prayers we should be making, but the ones we can manage, often under pressure, even though we know our prayers are less than perfect, even less than they ought to be. And, before it seems we are getting too personal here, consider a comment of Martin Luther's on the subject.
A man who devoted hours every day to prayer and devotions, Luther was once sitting at his dinner table when a roast was brought out. He noticed Topol, his dog, staring at the meat, and he said, "Oh, if only I could pray the way my dog watches this meat! All his thoughts are concentrated on this piece of meat. Otherwise he has no thought, wish, or hope."
"If only." Two little words which can serve as a summary of our weakness - our weaknesses in general, and our weaknesses regarding prayer in particular. But things do not end in "if only," with our weakness. Our weakness is only the beginning, not the end, no matter how often we are tempted to end the discussion as quickly as possible when we start with our weakness.
In our weakness, the Spirit helps us. We are not alone in weakness, but helped, mentored, and coached by the Spirit. And even if we really do not know everything we should about prayer, the Spirit helps us, and more. More than merely standing on the sidelines and yelling encouragement, more than simply providing the words for us, more than instructing us in the proper ways of prayer, the Spirit actually intercedes for us. To express that in another way, when we pray in our weakness, the Spirit takes our place, and prays with and for us.
And when God searches hearts to discover the content of prayer, it is not our hearts that are searched, but the mind of the Spirit. This is likely a good thing, as our hearts can be a significant problem. Our hearts can be filled with the details of our weaknesses, with all the things that distract us from our prayers. But, even if we are unable to concentrate our thoughts on our prayer as we should, the Spirit focuses properly on prayer, on our on--going discussion with God.
And so, we begin in our weakness, and we find that we are not alone there. The Spirit is with us, even to the point of standing in our place and interceding for us with God. In the midst of our weakness, we find that our strength is with us, the Spirit saves us from our failure and weakness.
And then, as we read this lesson, we come to a sudden shift of thought. Rather than a further discussion of the role of the Spirit, or prayer, the thought of the lesson shifts rather abruptly to a sentence we can easily find ourselves rejecting. The sentence is: "We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose."
"All things work together for good"? Are you kidding me? How can we really say something like that? That statement is almost as bad as the old clich , "God's in his heaven, all's right with the world." And for that clich , there is some good news and some bad news. The bad news, in case you haven't watched the evening news recently, is that all is, most emphatically, not right with the world. The good news, on the other hand, is God's not in his heaven either. God's right here, with us.
But that idea of all things working for good? There's plenty of bad news about that, too. There are certainly things happening to people which do not seem to be working for good. The difficult events can be explained in a variety of ways.
We could talk about the need for bad things to enable us to appreciate the good things that happen to us. While this might sound quite rational and comforting, it is a terrible, gruesome interpretation of this verse when it is applied to things such as sudden, accidental deaths, incurable illnesses, debilitating diseases, and the long list of things which abruptly change people's lives.
It is also not a correct view of a loving God who listens to the Spirit rather than us to imagine that God sends or allows the bad things to happen so we can appreciate the good. Rather than a God who is with us, this is a picture of a remote God who is cold--hearted enough to allow the destruction of people and families and lives simply for the sake of encouraging a sense of appreciation in the survivors.
Alternatively, we could talk about how everything that happens is really a part of God's greater plan. Even though this is an excuse which has been offered frequently, the same objections apply.
This excuse requires a God who is somewhat cruel in the details required for the sake of a greater plan. Our human plans often impose suffering on individuals for the sake of a larger plan, which is intended to provide good things for a larger number of people. This is because of our human failure to grasp the full implications of the plan.
For example, consider the idea of providing high--quality, low--cost housing for people. While the idea sounds very good, and as if it could be an example of "working for good," when the current residents have to be moved out to allow for the building of the new structures, substantial difficulties and dislocations usually occur.
But if our best intentions and efforts often lead to problems, we might expect that God's efforts should avoid these problems. We believe in an all--powerful, all--knowing, loving God. To suggest that some people have to suffer in the course of God's greater plan is really a misunderstanding of what it means to have an all--powerful, all--knowing, loving God. There is no good reason that explains why such a God would punish his people.
There is plenty of bad news about that verse, "All things work together for good." But there is also good news. The bad things that happen to people are really a result of our own sinfulness. But the good news in the midst of our suffering, in the midst of all the things that result from our sinfulness, as we go through the bad stuff that is such a part of our lives, is: God is not in heaven; God is here with us.
Those who study such things say there are few things which are worse for an individual than to have one's child die. And we should remember that this is precisely what happened to God, when Jesus died on the cross.
Suffering is aggravated for most people when it is done in isolation. Quite often the response to people who try to help is, "You wouldn't understand." Or even more, "You don't understand." But the good news is, God understands. The terrible isolation that means people are forced to suffer alone, with no one to share their problems, need not be a problem for us. Our suffering, our sorrows, our problems are all understood by God. Because Jesus came and lived among people, as a person, and suffered all the things that happen to people. And, most especially, because God has suffered the death of his Son.
And the good news is even more than simply a companion in our difficulties. Some people are able to understand that their suffering is a path to help them grow in their faith and their connection to God.
Today's lesson concludes with those sentences often read at funerals. Once, at a funeral, a comment was made in the sermon, "Some people suffer more effectively than others." It sounds strange to speak of "effective suffering," but the phrase is worth our attention. We can be fairly certain that at some points in our lives we will suffer. It might take different forms for different people, but the fact of suffering is a part of our lives.
And since we will suffer, it makes sense to learn about the idea of effective suffering. If nothing else, perhaps we can learn how we can manage effective suffering.
First, we should be clear that this does not mean that we should go looking for more ways to suffer, just for the practice. It should be clear that we face plenty of suffering without looking for more.
But in our suffering, we need to be clear that God is with us. We are not abandoned, not alone in our suffering. We are always accompanied by God and by Jesus. In part, this is the answer to our problems with prayer. Even when we might doubt it, even when it seems as if we are absolutely alone, God is with us in our suffering. More than just a presence, God has a complete and total understanding of what we are going through, and complete comfort for all our sorrow.
Effective suffering is the way we learn that these things are true and we learn to take strength from them. Effective suffering is a growing of our faith and a developing closeness with the God who is with us at all times.
And it is effective suffering which allows us to understand what Paul means when he asks, "What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us?"
"Who is against us?" Would you like a list? Most of us can provide a long list in response to that question. We can start with the way things seem to work against us. The refrigerator that stops working just after you put all that expensive food in it. The computer that swallows your file just as you finish making it perfect. The car that won't start when you are late for a critical meeting. And on and on.
"Who is against us?" There are people who seem to take delight in making us look and sound foolish. Not that we need a lot of help, most of the time. But even when things are going well, there always seems to be someone who particularly enjoys calling attention to our shortcomings.
"Who is against us?" If the truth is to be told, entirely too often we are against us. Even when we know what we should be doing, we don't do it. Even when we know what we should say, we keep quiet. We can make quite a list of people who are against us, and the place for the foremost person who is against us is reserved for - us.
That is where the really good news begins in this lesson. Even though we begin in our weakness, and progress to our suffering, and then come to the point of learning that our biggest problem is ourselves, through each of these stages, through each of these points, there is one thing which is constant.
In our weakness, our failures, and our problems with prayer, the Spirit is with us and beside us, praying for us, interceding with God.
In our suffering, as we learn about effective suffering, we also learn that God is with us comforting us, and supporting us in our suffering.
Finally, as we realize that the answer to "Who is against us?" is us, we also realize that Jesus intercedes for us.
There is a pattern here. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all involved in interceding for us, helping us, supporting us, comforting us as we go about our lives. And the best part of the promise comes in the last few verses.
In our lives there are people who come and go. Today, with the Internet and various listings of people and addresses and phone numbers, it is not uncommon to get letters saying things like: My name is ... I once knew someone with your name ... We were in school, the military, college, or some other place ... Are you that person?
Are you that person? Are you the person who once knew the person writing the letter, but over the years drifted apart? Eventually you were separated by distance, time, other interests, and any number of other things.
That separation happens quite easily today, and it is possible that similar separations have happened for much of human history. Certainly, Paul's comments at the end of this lesson sound as if he was familiar with such things. And he knew about the Good News. We face separations, but there is one separation we will never face.
"For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."
That's the good news. Amen.
