Creation is Waiting on us to Get Better

Rev. Harriette Cross First United Methodist Church of Wilmington July 19, 2026 Romans 8:12-35 Creation is waiting on us to get better 8th Sunday of Pentecost Year A Prelude Greeting Call to Worship (in response to Psalm 139) L: Friends, come! Today we lift our hearts to praise God, who knows each of us, and all of us. P: God knows us, thru’ and thru’! L: No matter where we go, God is with us and for us. P: Even when the way seems fearful, God leads us. L: So we rejoice, for God knows us, loves us, and leads us! P: At home, traveling, moving to step into a new life chapter, wherever we are, in the day or in the night, God steps with us, ALL: Together we worship the Lord our God! (Disciples of Christ Center for Faith and Giving) Opening Prayer In the midst of summer, some of us celebrate the ability to slow down and relax; others find it a more hectic season. Thank you, God of all time, that you continue to lead us no matter how these summer days unfold. We give you thanks for your constant presence, and pause to drink in the wonder of you caring for each one. In this hour, fill us with awareness of you and of your desire for each of us and each one of ALL your beloved ones to be cherished and cared for in your love, AMEN (Disciples of Christ Center for Faith and Giving) Song Swing Low Sweet Chariot UMH 703 A Sermon for all Ages Children’s Sermon: God’s Family Has Hope Scripture: Romans 8:12–25 Good morning, children! Have you ever waited for something exciting? Maybe you waited for your birthday, Christmas morning, summer vacation, or a visit from someone you love. Waiting can be difficult, but it is easier when we know something good is coming. In Romans 8, Paul tells us that we are God’s children. He says that God has adopted us into God’s family. Adoption means being chosen, welcomed, and loved. Because we belong to God’s family, we are never alone. We can call upon God just as a child calls for a loving parent. Being part of God’s family also gives us a responsibility. God wants us to help care for the beautiful world God created. Sometimes people harm creation. We waste food and water. We leave trash on the ground. We pollute the air and water. We may forget that trees, animals, rivers, and oceans are gifts from God. Paul says that creation is “groaning.” That means the world is hurting and waiting for things to become better. How can children help creation? You can pick up litter. You can turn off lights when you leave a room. You can avoid wasting water. You can care for animals and plants. You can share what you have instead of always wanting more. Most importantly, you can ask God to help you become a kinder, more grateful, and more responsible person. When God changes our hearts, we begin to treat other people—and the whole world—with greater love. Paul says that even though the world is hurting now, we have hope. Hope means believing that God is working, even when we cannot yet see everything God is doing. Paul tells us that today’s pain cannot compare with the wonderful future God is preparing. Something better is coming! We do not only keep this hope for ourselves. We share it with others. We give hope when we encourage someone who is sad, include someone who feels left out, help someone in need, and remind people that God loves them. Whenever you show kindness, care for creation, or help someone who is hurting, you become part of God’s good work in the world. You show others that something better is coming. Let us pray: Loving God, thank you for choosing us and welcoming us into your family. Help us care for your creation, become kinder people, and share hope with those around us. When life is difficult, remind us that you are with us and that something better is coming. In Jesus’ name, amen. (ChatGPT 6) Responsive Reading Psalm 139:1-12, 23-24 UMH 854 Scripture Romans 8:12-25 Sermon Creation is waiting on us to get better Something Better Is Coming Scripture: Romans 8:12–35 Romans 8 is one of the greatest chapters in the Bible. It begins with freedom and ends with assurance. It begins by declaring, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,” and it concludes with the promise that nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Between those two declarations, Paul speaks honestly about sin, suffering, creation, prayer, hope, and the future. Romans 8 does not pretend that life is easy. It does not deny the pain of the present moment. Instead, it tells us that pain will not have the final word. Sin will not have the final word. Death will not have the final word. God’s love will have the final word. The message of Romans 8 in its entirety is this: Through the Holy Spirit, God is freeing us from the power of sin, adopting us into God’s family, renewing creation, helping us in our weakness, and leading us toward a glorious future from which nothing can separate us. In other words: something better is coming. We Are More Than Our Sin Paul begins this section by saying: “So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.” When Paul speaks about “the flesh,” he is not saying that our bodies are evil. He is talking about that part of human nature that resists God. He is talking about our selfishness, our pride, our greed, our fear, our anger, and our desire to place ourselves at the center of everything. Sin is not just something outside of us. Sin is a part of us. We see sin in the world, but we must also recognize it in ourselves. It is easy to identify the failures of other people. It is harder to look honestly at our own hearts. We may criticize the greed of corporations while still buying far more than we need. We may condemn the hatred in society while carrying resentment against a neighbor. We may complain about the dishonesty of leaders while making excuses for the small ways we avoid the truth. Sin is a part of us, but thanks be to God, sin is not the only thing within us. God is also at work within us. A man and his wife once pulled into a gas station to refuel their car. As the tank was being refilled, the station attendant washed the windshield. When he finished, the driver of the car said, "The windshield is still dirty. Wash it again." "Yes, sir," the attendant answered. As he scrubbed the windshield a second time, he looked closely for any bugs or dirt he might have missed. When he finished, the man in the car became angry. He rebuked the attendant again saying, "It's still dirty. Don't you know how to wash a windshield? Now do it again!" The attendant cleaned the windshield a third time, carefully looking for any place he might have missed, but he could find no messy spots anywhere. By now, the driver was fuming. He screamed, "This windshield is still filthy! I'm going to talk to your boss to make sure you don't work here another day. You are the lousiest windshield washer I have ever seen!" As the angry driver was about to get of the car, his wife reached over and removed his glasses. After carefully wiping his glasses with some tissue paper, she then put them back on his face. The driver embarrassingly slumped down into his seat as he observed a spotless windshield! Critical people view others through their own dirty glasses. The dirt on their hearts causes them to see everything from an unclean, critical perspective. They become angry at what they perceive to be dirt on other people, when in reality they are looking at others through the dirt on their own heart. Their critical spirit will cause them to continue to find fault in others until the filth in their hearts has been cleansed. (5) That is what sin is: Sin is not on the outside, it is an inner condition that causes us to see life in a distorted way. The Holy Spirit lives in us. The Spirit reminds us that we do not have to obey every selfish desire. We do not have to remain trapped in old habits. We do not have to become the worst thing we have ever thought, said, or done. Paul says, “If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” The Christian life is not about pretending that sin is absent. It is about trusting that God’s presence is greater. There is a struggle within us, but we do not struggle alone. The Spirit gives us the strength to change, to grow, to repent, and to become more like Christ. We Have Been Adopted Paul then gives us one of the most beautiful descriptions of our relationship with God: “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.” We have not received a spirit of slavery that pushes us back into fear. We have received a spirit of adoption. Through the Spirit, we cry, “Abba! Father!” Adoption means that God has chosen us. God has welcomed us. God has brought us into the family and given us a place at the table. Adoption would have been an interesting concept for Paul the Jew. In that culture, you took orphans into your home, but they still maintained their identity. In the Roman world, the child would take on the identity of the adopted father. Biological children could disown their parents, but a legal adoption was permanent. So when Paul says that we are adopted into God’s family he is saying.. We are not strangers in God’s house. We are not temporary guests who may be asked to leave at any moment. We are God’s children. Some people live as though they must spend their whole lives earning God’s love. They believe that if they pray enough, serve enough, give enough, or behave well enough, perhaps God will finally accept them. But the gospel tells us that we do not work in order to become God’s children. We work because God has already adopted us. We serve because we are loved. We forgive because we have been forgiven. We care for others because they, too, are part of the family God is gathering. And if we are children, Paul says, then we are heirs—“heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.” What an extraordinary promise! We share in the mission of Jesus. We share in his suffering, his service, and his hope. We also share in the future God is preparing. To be a joint heir with Christ means more than waiting to receive something in heaven. It means participating in Christ’s work now. God has made us partners in the work of healing, restoring, and renewing the world. We are not the Creator, but by God’s grace, we have become co-creators with Christ. We are invited to help cultivate the good future God intends for creation. Sin Wounds Creation Paul then moves from the human family to the whole created world: “We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now.” Creation is groaning. The earth groans under the burden of pollution. Rivers and oceans groan beneath waste. Forests groan as they disappear. Animals groan as their habitats are destroyed. Communities groan beneath storms, droughts, floods, extreme heat, and environmental neglect. Paul helps us see that there is a relationship between human sin and the suffering of creation. When greed becomes more important than stewardship, creation suffers. When convenience becomes more important than responsibility, creation suffers. When profit becomes more important than people, creation suffers. When we believe the world exists only for our consumption, creation suffers. The biblical stories tell us that there is a direct correlation between human sin and the condition of the world. In today's Romans text Paul joins the trajectory of human existence with all the rest of God's creation. Paul's text reminds his readers that the fate of the world and the fate of humanity have been intimately tied together since the beginning of creation. Paul reminds us that the transformation of the garden of Eden into a world of toil and sweat was, in fact, due to Adam's transgression. The perfect world God had initially created was made imperfect in order to house its now fallen, failed human inhabitants. Indeed, humanity's first toxic waste dump was the Garden of Eden - which had to be closed because human disobedience so perfectly fouled that perfect environment. From a biblical perspective, we can't escape this truth: the state of creation is intimately linked to the state of human actions and attitudes. Poisonous attitudes begat a poisoned environment. The rage of war leaves behind ravaged, savaged land. No ecosystem can remain in balance as long as the desires of humanity are imbalanced. Paul links together the fall of Adam and the consequent fall of creation with a poignant description. All creation groans, as he puts it, to be brought back into its God-created condition, its perfect relationship with human beings and the divine. All men and women who through faith have perceived the terrible brokenness that exists between God and God's children likewise groan at this brokenness of creation itself. Humanity and the whole of creation are bound together in their brokenness and are joined together as they await their final redemption and wholeness. Our redemption is tied to the redepemtion of all of creation. After reflecting on this text we read this morning, Lutheran theologian Joseph Sittler concluded that our #1 ecological mistake as Christians is to separate creation and redemption. We can no longer put nature "out there" and grace "in here." It's not immaterial whether we preserve or pillage the earth. Let me end by quoting the late Pope John Paul II. It's a summary of both our text and our homily this morning. "Our responsibility within creation and our duty toward nature and the Creator are an essential part of our faith." - "Peace with All Creation," no. 15, Origins 19, no. 28 (14 December 1998), 468. ChristianGlobe Networks, Collected Sermons, by Leonard Sweet The destruction of creation does not begin only in factories, government offices, or corporate boardrooms. It begins in the human heart. It begins with greed, selfishness, carelessness, impatience, and the belief that our choices do not affect anyone else. That is why caring for creation is about more than changing policies and practices, although those changes are important. It also requires changing people. How do we help creation? We begin by becoming better people. We become less greedy and more grateful. We become less wasteful and more responsible. We become less selfish and more concerned about our neighbors. We learn to distinguish between what we need and what we merely want. We stop treating the earth as disposable and begin treating it as a gift from God. A better world requires people with better hearts. Recycling is good, but we must also recycle our attitudes. Conservation is good, but we must also conserve compassion. Cleaning the environment is good, but we must also allow God to clean our hearts. When the Spirit transforms us, the transformation affects how we treat people, how we use resources, how we spend money, and how we care for the earth. The renewal of creation and the renewal of human character belong together. Creation Is Groaning—but It Is Not Dying Paul describes creation’s suffering as “labor pains.” That image is important. Labor pains are real, but they are not meaningless. They are pain connected to the arrival of new life. Creation is groaning, but creation is not groaning without hope. Paul says that creation itself “will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.” God has not abandoned the earth. God’s plan is not simply to rescue a few souls and throw creation away. The God who looked upon creation and called it good is still working to redeem it. The earth belongs to God. Its future belongs to God. We belong to God. As children of God, we are called to live as signs of that coming renewal. Every tree planted, every river protected, every community garden tended, every resource shared, and every wasteful habit changed can become a small sign that we believe God is not finished with creation. We cannot repair everything by ourselves, but that is no excuse to do nothing. We do what we can, where we are, with what God has placed in our hands. We care for creation not because we believe we can save the world by our own power, but because we believe the world is loved by God. Saved in Hope Paul says: “For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen?” Christian hope is not wishful thinking. It is not closing our eyes to suffering and pretending everything is fine. Hope looks directly at what is wrong and still trusts that God is working. We hope for what we do not yet see. We do not yet see a world without violence, but we work for peace. We do not yet see a world without hunger, but we feed people. We do not yet see a world without racism, but we practice justice. We do not yet see the complete healing of creation, but we care for the earth. We do not yet see the fullness of God’s kingdom, but we live according to its values. Paul says that we “wait for it with patience.” Biblical patience does not mean sitting still. It means remaining faithful while we wait. It means continuing to pray, serve, love, and work even when change comes slowly. The greatest gift we have to give the world is hope for the future. Years ago, in his book Success through a Positive Mental Attitude, business writer Napoleon Hill told about a successful cosmetic manufacturer—probably Charles Revson, the founder of the Revlon cosmetic company—who decided he would retire at the age of sixty-five. Each year thereafter, his friends and former business associates gave him a birthday party and tried to find out the secret of his success; in other words, the “secret” for his special cosmetic formula. But year after year he refused, good-naturedly, to reveal his secret. “Maybe I will tell you next year,” he would say. This went on for ten years until the businessman celebrated his seventy-fifth birthday. As usual, his associates begged him to share the secret formula with them so they could continue the business after his death. Finally, he yielded to their insistence. “In addition to the things which I use which are commonly known,” he said, “there is one secret ingredient that I package with every bottle.” By this time, everyone at the party was listening with rapt attention. “What is it?” an anxious friend inquired. “Please, don’t keep us in suspense any longer.” Revson replied: “I never told a woman that my product would make her beautiful, but I always gave her hope.” “Hope,” he said, “is the magic ingredient.” (1) Well, hope is the magic ingredient—whether in life or in death, in good times or times of sorrow. The magic ingredient is the assurance that regardless of how challenging today is, God is in charge and that, as St. Paul says in Romans 8:28, “all things work to the good for those who love Him.” That’s hope. People are surrounded by reasons to give up. Some have given up on themselves. Some have given up on their families. Some have given up on the Church. Some have given up on the possibility of justice. Some have given up on the future of the earth. The Church must not become another voice of despair. We are called to announce that God is still working, grace is still available, transformation is still possible, and something better is coming. The Spirit Helps Us Sometimes the suffering around us is so great that we do not know what to say. Sometimes our personal pain is so deep that we do not even know how to pray. Paul says: “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness.” When words fail us, the Spirit prays for us “with sighs too deep for words.” There are tears that become prayers. There are groans that become prayers. There are moments of silence that become prayers. There are times when all we can say is, “Lord, help me,” and the Spirit carries even that broken prayer into the heart of God. We do not have to be strong all the time. We do not have to understand everything. We do not have to know exactly how God will bring us through. The Spirit helps us in our weakness. And then Paul gives us the familiar promise: “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” Paul does not say that all things are good. Sin is not good. Suffering is not good. Injustice is not good. The destruction of creation is not good. Paul says that God is able to work in all things and through all things for good. God can take what is broken and begin a work of healing. God can take what was intended for harm and create a testimony. God can meet us in our suffering and shape us into people who are wiser, kinder, stronger, and more compassionate. The Pain of Today Is Not the End Earlier in the passage, Paul writes: “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us.” Paul is not minimizing our pain. He knew suffering personally. He was beaten, imprisoned, rejected, threatened, and persecuted. Paul was not speaking from a comfortable distance. He was testifying from experience. He was saying that present pain is real, but it is not permanent. The pain is great, but God’s future is greater. Somebody listening today may be in pain. You may be grieving someone you love. You may be waiting for healing. You may be worried about a child. You may be struggling financially. You may be tired of seeing suffering and injustice. You may be looking at the condition of the world and wondering whether there is any reason to hope. Romans 8 answers: Yes, there is reason to hope. Our hope is not based on perfect circumstances. Our hope is based on the character of God. If God is for us, who can be against us? Who can condemn us when Christ intercedes for us? Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Not hardship. Not distress. Not persecution. Not famine. Not danger. Not death. Nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of God. Give Hope to Others It is not enough for us merely to possess hope. God calls us to give hope to others. We give hope when we remind someone that failure is not final. We give hope when we visit someone who is lonely. We give hope when we feed the hungry and help the struggling. We give hope when we encourage a child. We give hope when we forgive. We give hope when we care for creation. We give hope when we stand beside those who suffer. We give hope when our words say, “God has not forgotten you,” and our actions prove that we have not forgotten them either. Hope becomes visible through people who live as though God’s future is already on the way. As God’s adopted children and co-creators with Christ, we are called to help create signs of that future in the present. We help turn neglected spaces into gardens, loneliness into community, conflict into reconciliation, despair into possibility, and suffering into service. We cannot do everything, but we can do something. We cannot fix the whole world today, but we can allow God to change us—and changed people can begin to change the world. Something Better Is Coming Romans 8 begins with no condemnation and ends with no separation. Between those two promises, creation groans, people suffer, believers struggle, and the Spirit prays. That is where many of us are living: between no condemnation and no separation. We are loved and saved, but we are still waiting. We have received God’s promise, but we have not yet seen its complete fulfillment. So we wait with hope. We work with hope. We pray with hope. We care for creation with hope. We encourage one another with hope. Sin is a part of us, but so is the Spirit of God. Suffering is present, but so is God’s promise. Creation is groaning, but new life is coming. Today’s pain is real, but it cannot compare with the glory that will be revealed. Let us become better people through the transforming power of the Spirit. Let us live as beloved children in God’s family. Let us serve as co-creators with Christ, caring for one another and for the world God made. Let us not only hold on to hope but also place hope into the hands of others. For God is with us. God is working in us. God is working through us. And by the grace of God, something better is coming. Amen. (inspired by ChatGPT 6) Song Immortal, Invisible, God only Wise UMH 103 Pastoral Prayer Lord’s Prayer Stewardship Moment For many families, adoption is an important part of their story. If adoption has touched your life—whether you are adopted, have welcomed a child through adoption, are part of an extended family shaped by adoption, or love someone whose story includes adoption—take a moment to reflect on what that has meant to you. At its best, adoption is a powerful expression of belonging: the promise that someone is welcomed, loved, claimed, and embraced as family. In Romans 8, we hear, “When we cry ‘Abba! Father!’ it is the Spirit bearing witness…that we are children of God…heirs…” Yes! YOU are an heir and have already received part of your inheritance from God. As people who have inherited much, we respond with gratitude! We can share our delight in our adoption by offering some of that inheritance back to the One who has claimed each one of us. With your financial gifts, your time, and the sharing of your talents, you offer from your inheritance in order to live your life fully. So let us receive our morning offering. Prayer of Thanksgiving Abba! We give thanks for the inheritance we have already received from your gracious hand. Accept these gifts as an offering to identify ourselves clearly with you. Help us use them wisely to care for this part of the Body of Christ, and for those who struggle to find food, clothing, shelter, or even a cold cup of water. AMEN (Disciples of Christ Center for Faith and Giving) Announcements Closing Prayer for YouTube As we go from this place, let us look for God in unexpected places and unexpected people. Let us love and serve our Lord by loving and serving those around us. Let us honor the most vulnerable and lift up the weak, rejoicing in God’s presence among us. And may the grace of Christ Jesus, the love of the Creator God, and the connecting power of the Holy Spirit accompany us all on our journeys. Amen. (Presbyterian Outlook, Gina Bairby) A Service of Farewell for Barry and Diane Oswald – see insert Community Time: Joys and Concerns Benediction Beloved, the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God. May the Spirit bless us and empower us to reveal ourselves as the children of God as we work for the flourishing of all creation. Amen. Written by Dr. Lisa Hancock, Discipleship Ministries, January 2026. Additional Illustrations In today’s lesson, which is devoted to hope, St. Paul writes, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” Think about that for a moment. This is what hope is all about. It is the admission that the present times may not be perfect, in fact they may be heart-wrenching, but, if we trust in God, better days lie yet ahead. “Our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” St. Paul knew that none of us gets through life without wrestling at some time or another with some daunting challenges. [Could someone give me an “Amen” to that?] At times, all of us will face difficult challenges. Years ago, a husband, wife, and their grown son emigrated from Sicily to southern Illinois. There both father and son found work in a coal mine. But then tragedy struck. There was an explosion in the mine. The father was killed, and the son was maimed. While he was recovering in the hospital, the young man, along with his mother, came to trust Jesus Christ as their Savior. This had such a profound effect on them that they changed their surname. The name they chose for themselves was Sperondeo. In Italian that means, “My hope is in God.” This phrase became the young man’s inspiration to complete college and graduate study and become a college professor. His name was the motto of his life—Sperondeo—“My hope is in God.” (3) Where else is such hope to be found? Do you know any other place? Government? Education? Science? None of these can reach where you hurt during dark times. Only faith in God’s promises can do that. It’s like a story that a Lutheran Pastor named Reuben Youngdahl tells. It is about a young man he met while visiting in Dublin, Ireland one summer. Youngdahl noticed this young man had on the desk in his study a plaque with two words on it. The words were “But God.” Pastor Youngdahl was so impressed by this plaque that he had one made up just like it for his own desk. Visitors to his office would ask him, “What do you mean by those two words— “But God”? He explained that in his hour of deepest need he had learned to say, “But God . . . will help.” In a moment of utter despair, he could say, “But God . . . will give me hope.” In a moment of loneliness, he could say, “But God . . . is with me.” When he felt insignificant and unwanted, it would help to repeat, “But God . . . loves me.” “That always turned the scale from despair to hope, from defeat to victory, from sin to salvation,” he reported. “But God . . . but God . . . but God . . .” (4) You see, that is much more than blind optimism that everything is simply going to work out all right. Such faith recognizes that life can often be hard—sometimes brutally hard—but if we maintain our faith, and if we will persist and not give up, God will come through for us. As long as there is hope—Christian hope—life is worth living. The late Emil Brunner once said, “What oxygen is for the lungs, such is hope for the meaning of human life.” And he was right. Really, a hope-filled life is the only life worth living. St. Paul writes, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” Do you have that kind of confidence in God? It truly is the magic ingredient that takes life to a whole new level. This whole world God made suffers because of human sin. But for those who receive God's redemptive act made personal in Jesus the Christ, there's hope. Paul envisions this hope as the first-fruit of the Spirit - a honey sweet sensation in our soul that brings the flavor of forgiveness and salvation to our lips and fills our hearts with hope. But first-fruits are also what we must give back to God. It's our way of acknowledging that all goodness and bounty in our lives come as a gracious gift from God. If we have received the first fruit of hope from the Spirit, what first-fruit can we offer back? Romans hitches our hoped-for-future to our disastrous past. The created world we live in shares in our suffering. As Christians it seems only right that we extend our hope of redemption to that creation. Christians who live in hope must in turn give hope to the created world as well. The earth isn't ours to do what as we want. The earth is the Lord's. Why isn't Christianity taking the lead to remind everyone that when God looked on everything God had made and said, "This is good," God was telling us that creation exists to bring God pleasure, and that it doesn't bring God pleasure when humans start acting like, as one writer put it, "a serial killer in Noah's ark." Creation doesn't exist alone to bring us pleasure. Creation exists primarily to bring God pleasure. And why isn't Christianity taking the lead to remind everyone that when God commissioned us to have dominion in Genesis 1:28, it doesn't mean to do what we want to do with what God has created, to treat earth, wind, sea and fire as if we owned them, but to tend and till, to care for and conserve what God created? And why isn't Christianity doing all it can to give Adam Smith's invisible hand a "green thumb" (as biologist E. O. Wilson puts it), rather than Christianity spending its time giving capitalism a middle finger? God has a green thumb. Poet Emily Dickinson called God's original creation "This Whole Experiment with Green." If God has a green thumb, why shouldn't we? And why isn't Christianity doing all it can to make red-white-and-blue more green? We sing patriotic songs like "America the Beautiful," and swear to defend America the beautiful. So why do we do so much to make the song "America the Ugly"? Why are those most dedicated to keeping America beautiful (some politicians are fond of calling environmentalists "green-green lima beans") often seen as the most unpatriotic? A "global positioning system" can tell you the fastest way to drive from Point A to Point B — which streets are one-way only, which streets to avoid due to construction or too much traffic, where to park once you get where you're going. Like a street map, it can show how the roads run north, south, east, and west; which roads are dead ends, or go over a bridge; how they curve and then straighten out again. Like the yellow pages of a telephone book, it can tell you where to find the nearest coffee shop, Chinese restaurant, or grocery store. Like a radio, it can give the latest traffic update. It even provides a bit of company in the form of an audible voice telling you where to turn right or left. For this Day Of Pentecost, our scripture text describes the Holy Spirit, who guides us as children of God. Only the Spirit's leading is not about getting from Point A to Point B in the fastest way possible. It doesn't necessarily mean hearing an audible voice, and it's not mainly about finding the right restaurant or grocery store, although it might make a difference in the way we make some of those choices, too. Instead, our scripture gives the big picture of what it means to be led by the Spirit of God. Instead of focusing more narrowly on the thousands of individual decisions we make each day, it describes more broadly a way of life. Whether we are at Cass Community, in the church, here in our living rooms, at the Knockpatrick village, sitting in our office, or working on the CCCD campus in Montego Bay, we can be living out our hope in God. We are living out our hope in God. A hope that God will redeem us, redeem the world, and make a difference in what we cannot see or hear. For God is at work in the world. Now we can be at work, too. Now we can be at work in the world. Oh, the places we’ll go to together. Amen. Prayers: Wherever we go, you are there. Dear Jesus, show us the way to go where you are leading. Help us to trust in you. Guide us to the place we can serve in your name. Bring us the courage to learn some sign language and find new people to laugh with as we expand our world. We thank you for your presence in our lives, Amen. CSS Publishing Company, Inc., The alchemy of hope: Cycle A sermons based on the second lessons for Lent and Easter, by James D. Monnett, Jr. My wife and I have three daughters and five grandchildren. (I had to tell you that.) One great model change in my life comes from a grandson. One night when he lived in California, he called me long-distance and said, "Grandpop, I want you to help me with my homework." I replied, "How are you able to do this?" He said, "My parents have to be away and they said I could call you once." We did homework together from New York to California! When I hung up, I thought, "If God gets as much joy out of our prayers as I received out of this young rascal calling me to help him with his homework, how much joy there must be in the heart of the Almighty!" Have you asked the Lord to help you with your homework recently? What I am setting before you is one word - the mode - in which you experience the changing, enriching, growing, expanding meaning of the facts. We believe by faith that this is a universe in which there is a divine Architect-Creator, a mathematical Intelligent Being, who holds it together, who redeems it, who renews it, who brings springtime after the winter, who brings renewal to the heart after the heartache, who brings us forward from medieval ages up to the Space Age and beyond that we know not what. We believe he brings us along in an orderly fashion, but we know this infinite God only in part. The teacher of a junior high class was trying to illustrate the word miracle. "Young people," he said, "Suppose I stood on the roof of a 10-story building, lost my balance and fell off. Then all of a sudden, in midair, a whirlwind swept me up and brought me safely to the ground. Now what word would you use to describe this?" After a long silence a boy raised his hand and asked, "Luck?" "True, true," replied the teacher. "It could be luck. But that's not the word I wanted. I'll repeat the story. There I am on top of the 10-story building again, and I fall. A whirlwind catches me in midair and places me safely on the ground. Think now, what word would describe the situation?" "Accident," cries out one girl. "No, no," answered the teacher. "Listen carefully for the third time. I'm on that same building, I fall and am swept to safety by a sudden whirlwind. What word would account for my safely reaching the ground?" The boys and girls shouted in unison: "Practice!" (1) There is a popular story circulating about a woman who had just learned her cancer was terminal. She invited her pastor over to help her plan the funeral. After deciding on the order of service, the woman made one final request: she wanted to be buried with a Bible in one hand and a fork in the other. The pastor couldn't hide his surprise. Why in the world would she want to be buried with a fork? The woman explained that the favorite part of any meal for her was when the hostess, while clearing away the dinner dishes, announced, "Keep your forks." That meant that there was something more coming, something special, a dessert. The dying woman wanted to remind her loved ones that she was looking forward to something more too. Some people look at Christian faith as a bitter pill they have to swallow. Mature believers recognize that it is the dessert. God loves us. Neither life nor death nor anything else in all creation can separate us from God's love. It is a gift. We only have to receive it. ONCE WE HAVE RECEIVED THAT GIFT, HOWEVER, SOMETHING INVARIABLY HAPPENS IN OUR LIFE. WE START LOOKING AT LIFE IN A DIFFERENT WAY. When we accept God's gift--the gift of God's Spirit--freely poured out on all who will receive it, we begin to see life in a different way. We start seeing possibilities we never saw before. Our bitterness is swept away and in its place we find hope for a better life. Paul preserves the Aramaic original of the word that Jesus used to address his father. Jesus didn't just call God "Father." He used the very intimate and personal word that first-century Jewish children used to call their fathers in the intimacy and familiarity of their own homes. There they called their fathers "abba." It is the equivalent of "daddy" or "papa." When Jesus dared to address God in this manner, eyebrows were raised. It caught people's attention. Who did this guy think he was to dare to talk to God like this? Did he actually think God was his papa? Did he really think he was God's child? You got it! That is exactly what he was saying! And Paul says that this same privileged status is ours. We can dare to believe and act and behave as if God was our very own daddy, which, of course, he is! Why? Because he has adopted us! There is something about adoption that is even is more powerful than actually being the biological child of a mother and father. I remember once reading a letter that a father wrote to his son on the occasion of his son's eighteenth birthday. In the face of his adolescent son's questions, doubts, and insecurities, he wanted to assure him that there was nothing wrong with being adopted. In fact, in some ways it made him more special. He pointed out that sometimes biological children come into this world unwanted. We all know about the plight of the children of single parents in our society and that so many of their children are unplanned and unwanted. Even children of two parents sometimes are unwanted. They come along at the wrong time. They weren't planned. They were "accidents," a "surprise" when mom and dad thought they were too old, an "oops" when proper precautions weren't taken. The father then goes on to assure his son that this can't be said about his son. His adopted status ought to be a source of pride and comfort. Because he was adopted, he is extra special. He became a part of his family purely because of the choice of his new parents. He was specifically and deliberately "chosen." There was no "oops," no bad timing, nothing accidental about this. This act of adoption was deliberately willed, an act of pure love, mimicking God's love for the world in Jesus Christ. With such adoption comes all the rights, privileges, and honors that belong to the biological children of the parents. Because God has adopted us, we are fully his beloved sons and daughters. Jesus is our big brother. We get to enjoy the life he lived. We get to have all the rights and privileges that he enjoyed. Martin Luther says it well in his explanation to the Introduction to the Lord's Prayer in his Small Catechism. Our Father in heaven.Our Father in heaven. What does this mean?What does this mean? Here God encourages us to believe that he is truly our Father and we are his children. We therefore are to pray to him with complete confidence just as children speak to their loving father.Here God encourages us to believe that he is truly our Father and we are his children. We therefore are to pray to him with complete confidence just as children speak to their loving father. We get to talk to God in prayer about anything, just like we would talk to our abba, our papa. Our papa treats us just like we were one of his children. That means we can count on our papa to give us whatever we need to keep on believing that God is our papa and we are his kids. Because we are his children, we get to live just like our big brother, Jesus. We, too, get to live a cross-shaped, cruciform, life. We get to be a friend of sinners and outcasts. We get to offer justice and mercy to our neighbors and this world of ours. That won't be easy. There will be suffering and pain. But, remember what Paul says. Such suffering and pain are not random or purposeless. They are the pangs of birth, the labor pains of a new life. Isn't this typical? You get up and come to church -- and on your vacation, too -- on a pleasant summer day and what is the theme? Sin. "What did the preacher talk on today, Calvin?" asked Mrs. Cooledge. "Sin," said this taciturn president. "Well what did he say about sin," she persisted. "Said he was against it." Of course, that was another time when preachers still knew the word. Have you noticed? Today, progressive preachers think more positively. Yesterday's "I'm not OK, you're not OK," has changed to "I'm OK and you're OK." Think positively, says Dr. Peale. Dr. Shuller will teach you the "Be-Happy-Attitudes." Sin is something old fashioned that we have put behind us. If it's mentioned at all from mainline, liberal pulpits, sin is always social, corporate, systemic. Sin is what we're doing in Nicaragua, or the arms race, or the CIA. That's sin; these evil people in Washington or Moscow. Sin is not us, not you or me as individuals. You and I are doing the best we can. Lack of self-esteem is our real problem, says Dr. Shuller. We think too little of ourselves. The curious thing is that all this self-affirmation and self-esteem is being preached at a time when psychology is gathering a great deal of data which suggests that Paul was right: The good that we would do, we can't. We can, in our minds, want to do right, but when it comes to actually doing what we want; we can't. "A war is going on in me!" says Paul. Since psychology helped us to explain away our sin, let's ask psychology to help us rediscover its reality. Disciples of Jesus are called to experience and to share God's grace, even in circumstances that seem to scream out a reality of hopelessness. Author and church leader Lee Strobel, in his book God's Outrageous Claims, recounts an incident from his days as a reporter for the Chicago Tribune, where he helped bring to light the sometimes-deadly consequences of riding in a Ford Pinto. From time to time this compact car would burst into flames when struck from behind. One of the landmark accidents took place in northern Indiana. A Chevy van ploughed into the back of a Pinto and killed three teenage girls. Two of them burned to death within moments. The driver, an eighteen-year-old girl named Judy, was thrown clear of the accident but was burned over 95 percent of her body. Somehow she was still alive when the paramedics arrived. The doctors at the hospital where Judy was taken quickly realized that they were powerless to save her. They elected to send her by ambulance to a burn center 75 miles away so at least she might receive some comfort. A nurse agreed to ride along with her. The trip unfolded as a nightmare. Because of damage to her nerve endings Judy didn't feel much physical pain. But as the reality of her situation began to sink in, Judy was overwhelmed with anxiety and sheer emotional anguish. She grasped that these were her last hours. She was separated from family and friends. She sobbed to the nurse beside her, "I'm not ever going to have children, am I?" What words of hope could possibly comfort this teenage girl? Nothing seemed to penetrate Judy's personal agony -- until she mentioned the name of Jesus. Discovering then that both she and Judy were Christians, the nurse came alongside her and provided the one medication that quieted her fears. From memory she recited these verses from Isaiah 43: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; When you walk through fire you shall not be burned, And the flame shall not consume you, For I am the Lord your God, The Holy One of Israel, your Savior. Strobel writes that it was in the hearing of those words that Judy slowly took on a calmness and courage that lifted her through the last difficult hours of her life. Once again she grasped that she belonged to God, and that no fire is able to destroy what really matters. If we belong to God, then God's gift to us is a living hope. Through the Spirit we grasp whose we are. No frailties in the present can keep us from the Lord, and no fears about the future can prevent God from blessing us. Most importantly, we discover that whatever power we have to never, never, never give up is ours only because God will never, never, never give up on us. CSS Publishing Company, Sermons for Sundays after Pentecost, by Glenn McDonald Have you ever done anything really foolish? I mean, something so stupid that years later you still cringe when you think about it. Dr. James Dobson tells of a friend of his during their days in medical school. One day this man was walking across campus laden with books and briefcase. He passed by a fast food stand, and ordered something to eat and a milkshake to wash it down. He balanced it all on top of his briefcase and began looking for an empty table at which to sit. While looking, the milkshake got the better of him, and he bent down without looking in order to take a sip from the straw. The straw missed his mouth and ended up in his nose. Embarrassed, but not at a loss, he thought that, if he straightened up, the straw would stay in the shake. But when he lifted his head, the straw came out of the shake and remained in his nose, dripping the milkshake down the front of his suit. In a moment, all his confidence evaporated. (1) Have you ever done anything that made you fell like an absolute Dork, as the kids say? Welcome to the human race. Make yourself at home. You are among family. And I have some Good News for you. That's why you came this morning, isn't it--to hear some Good News? Well, I have some really Good News for you. It comes to us from Romans, from the writings of St. Paul. He tells us that "those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God." Did you get that? If you are led by the Spirit of God, you are a son or daughter of God. We may feel like a dork, a nerd, a twerp, a doo-fus, at times. But, if Christ lives within us, the scripture assures us that we are children of the Most High God. Now, what does it mean to be children of God? First of all, it means that we can walk with confidence. That makes sense, doesn't it? If we are children of the King, we don't have to fear anybody or any situation. When Carl Erskine, a former pitcher with the LA Dodgers, first came to the big leagues, he was asked a question by owner Branch Rickey. Rickey asked, "Do you go to church?" Carl said that he did. Rickey responded, "I ask that question of every young man that I sign. The reason that I ask it is that I've found if a person will discipline his life to sit in a place of worship and get his spiritual values in place, that person will develop a quiet confidence that he cannot get anywhere else." St. Paul writes, "For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship." (v. 15) When Ernest Hemingway was struggling to make it as an author, he had a stroke of bad luck. He lost a suitcase containing all his manuscripts--manuscripts he had been working on for months and which he had been planning to publish in a book. He couldn't conceive of redoing his work. He shared his predicament with his friend, poet Ezra Pound. Pound called it a stroke of good fortune! Pound assured Hemingway that when he rewrote the stories, he would forget the weak parts. The new version would be better than the old. He encouraged Hemingway to start over with a sense of optimism and confidence. Hemingway did rewrite the stories and eventually became one of the major figures in American literature. (2) All Hemingway needed was to hear someone say that he could do it. That is all we need sometimes in our lives. Our problems loom so large. But they are not insurmountable. All we need is the confidence to tackle them. All great people have faced times when their confidence waned. And we have a great inheritance. That's the second thing that it means to be children of God. Paul writes, "The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs--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." (16-17, NIV) A 6th grade teacher posed the following problem to one of her classes: "A wealthy man dies and leaves ten million dollars. One-fifth is to go to his wife, one-fifth is to go to his son, one-sixth to his butler, and the rest to charity. Now, what," she asked her class, "does each get?" After a very long silence in the classroom, Little Johnny raised his hand. With complete sincerity in his voice, Little Johnny answered, "A lawyer!" Good answer. Where there is a will, there is a lawsuit waiting to happen. Inheritance can be a complicated matter in this world. Families have become split fighting over a wealthy estate. I hope each of you has a will, by the way. You can save your family lots of needless grief by simply planning ahead and taking care of necessary business. Inheritance in this world can be complicated. But in the kingdom of God, inheritance is simple--those who possess the Spirit of God get it all--all God has to give. It's like a man named Tom Stonehill who was speeding through a small town one night, looking for a public restroom. Finally, he came across a funeral home. Tom used the facilities, and then paid his respects to the deceased. The funeral director, spotting Tom, insisted that he sign the guest register. Tom thought it was a lot of trouble to go through just to use the bathroom, but he did it anyway. A few weeks later, Tom got a call from a lawyer in this small town. It turns out that Tom had visited the funeral home on the night that the town's richest citizen was being laid to rest. The rich man had no family or friends. In his will, this man had stipulated that whomever came to his funeral would inherit his fortune. Tom's was the only name in the guest register that night, so he received the full inheritance. (5) You and I are in that same fortunate situation. All we did was receive Christ into our life. Now everything that God has is ours. We are children of God, Paul tells us. We can have confidence. And we can look forward to a great inheritance. Just as importantly, we have a great opportunity. An opportunity to make a difference in the world. An opportunity to stand in that long line of saints who served Christ with dignity and determination even under tremendous hardship. Paul writes, "Now if we are children, then we are heirs--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." What does it mean "to share in his sufferings . . . "? It means that as followers of Christ we have the opportunity to walk in Christ's footsteps in service to the world. This may or may not mean "suffering" as we generally mean suffering. Let's face it, most of us will never be crucified for following Christ. We may lose friends, we may get thrown out of the country club, we may have to take a stand that we would rather not take, we may have to put a few more dollars in the offering plate each week--but suffer? I guess it depends how you define the word. We are children of God, Paul tells us. We can have confidence. And we can look forward to a great inheritance. Just as importantly, we have a great opportunity. An opportunity to make a difference in the world. An opportunity to stand in that long line of saints who served Christ with dignity and determination even under tremendous hardship. Paul writes, "Now if we are children, then we are heirs--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." What does it mean "to share in his sufferings . . . "? It means that as followers of Christ we have the opportunity to walk in Christ's footsteps in service to the world. This may or may not mean "suffering" as we generally mean suffering. Let's face it, most of us will never be crucified for following Christ. We may lose friends, we may get thrown out of the country club, we may have to take a stand that we would rather not take, we may have to put a few more dollars in the offering plate each week--but suffer? I guess it depends how you define the word. In the country of Thailand is a statue of the Buddha that is ten feet tall and made of solid gold. Estimates of its worth range around $200 million. But for many centuries, no one knew this statue's worth. When the Burmese invaded Thailand many centuries ago, it is believed that the Thai villagers covered the Buddha statue with layers of mud so that the Burmese wouldn't steal it. It wasn't until 1957, when workers tried to move the statue to a new location, that the mud began to fall away and reveal the true nature of the statue. For centuries, no one had known its true value. (8) Within the clay of your life and mine is a better person, a more complete person, that the world still has not seen, not in its perfect fulfillment. We are more than we appear--and one day we will be like Jesus. Even if sometimes we have straws dangling from our noses, we never lose sight that we are sons and daughters of God.