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Romans 8:19-27
19 For the creation waits with
eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; 20 for the creation was
subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who
subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its
bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of
God.
22 We know that the whole creation
has been groaning in labor pains until now; 23 and not only the creation, but
we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we
wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.
24 For in hope we were saved. Now
hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? 25 But if we
hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in
our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit
intercedes with sighs too deep for words. 27 And God, who searches the heart,
knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the
saints according to the will of God.
Back
in April, it was not my day to give words of tribute to our pastor, teacher,
and friend, Dr. Turner, on the occasion of his retirement from teaching at Duke
Divinity School. But as I begin, I want
to offer thanks that are relevant to this sermon today. I could make a very long list, but I will limit
to three words of thanks.
There
are many things that I have to thank William C. Turner for. I have met pastors of Black Baptist
congregations before whose first reaction to me was to be suspicious of what
kind of angle this white man is playing.
I don’t blame them. They have
good reason to be suspicious. And I
wouldn’t be surprised if at least part of Rev. Turner’s reaction to me when I
showed up at Mt. Level was to wonder just what I might be up to. But whatever his range of thoughts may have
been, his public and official reaction to me was never anything but care and
welcome.
Some of you may think I still have a ways to go on this
next matter, but I have to thank him for teaching me how to preach. I was at best a mediocre preacher in my
experience up to the time I came to Mt. Level.
I found in our conversations that Dr. Turner and I had similar ideas about
what a sermon should accomplish and how it should be structured. But I had never had such a week-by-week
training school of how to make the most of the divine opportunity of standing
behind this sacred desk. While I still
have much to learn, my colleagues at Shaw tell me I have become a decent
preacher over the years. You all have
had to endure my training, periodically sitting while I inflict my schooling in
this craft. And you all have been very
good to help me understand when I am doing better, or maybe not so much better.
But by no means least of all, I have Dr. Turner to thank
for helping me to grow into a robust and rich understanding of the work of the
Holy Spirit. I explain to my students in
theology class that I come from a kind of Baptists whose doctrine of the
Trinity is weak, almost replacing the Holy Spirit with the Bible. Dr. Turner’s writings on the tradition of the
holiness churches and their relationship to the invisible institution of the
black church before white people would allow free public worship by enslaved
Christians—these have awakened me to a lively and powerful understanding of the
Spirit’s work in the church. His
insights and guidance helped me not to ignore the way other theologians pointed
me toward the Spirit’s work.
So today on the festival of Pentecost, the high holy day
of the Spirit and the church, I cannot but stand before you to offer praise to
God the Spirit who comes to us, pursues us, convicts us, calls us, fills us,
and drives us onward toward God’s purpose for us. We gather today to worship God who is Spirit,
and we must worship in spirit and in truth.
We cannot come trampling the courts of our God who sees deeper into our
hearts than we can see ourselves. We
cannot gather with pretense of self-righteousness before the convicting Spirit
of God. We cannot fast, cannot pray
loud, wordy prayers, cannot try to impress others with our vocal expertise,
cannot wear fashionable displays, cannot boast of our righteousness, and expect
to please God who is Spirit. We worship
in truth. We come and offer our
righteousness as filthy rags before the Holy Spirit of God. We humble ourselves to pray with pleading for
the Spirit to fill us and guide us. We
gather in this sanctuary made sacred not by our feet, but by the Spirit who
sets us on our feet every gifted day that we awaken into the world God has
made.
“Come, Spirit!
Come!” is our worship cry. “Send
the power!” is our plea to the God of heaven and earth. Like the disappointed and confused, yet
hopeful followers of Jesus in the first century, we bring ourselves together
into one place, and behind closed doors we await the Spirit promised to us by
Jesus. We long to be nothing less than
the very body of Christ, Christ’s presence on this piece of ground, a glimpse
of the glory of God enlivened by the unction of the Spirit. The church, the household of faith, gathers
in the Spirit’s power to be the church, to be God’s people, the beloved
community living as God created us to be, in fellowship with one another
through our shared life in the Spirit.
This is the festival we celebrate today, and it is good
and right to seek to know how the Spirit works and leads us on a day like
today. The apostles found themselves
surprised to know the way that the Holy Spirit would work among them. Empowered by the Spirit’s movement, they
served God in ways that they had not imagined.
The Jews gathered in Jerusalem for the festival also encountered the
surprising work of the Spirit, hearing the preaching in their own languages
from dozens of lands and locales in the known world. Pentecost reminds us that no matter how much
we thought we knew about God, God will still surprise us in the work of the
Spirit.
The texts for today include the story of the first
Pentecost Sunday in the history of the church.
We have already acknowledged that story from Acts and will have it in
mind throughout our worship. However, I
am focusing on the epistle for today. It
speaks to the kind of experience that the earliest church gathered in Jerusalem
had faced as they waited for the coming of the Spirit with power. Even though the first Pentecost of the church
had happened during the first half of the third decade from the birth of
Christ, what we might call the “30s,” Paul is writing more than two decades
later about a similar pattern of experience in relation to the Spirit. Yes, the Spirit had come at Pentecost with
power. Yet the Christians in Rome found
themselves also waiting to see what the Spirit might be about to do.
This entire eighth chapter of Romans is a study of the
work of the Spirit in the life of the church.
We cannot let ourselves try to create our own way of living, to be
guided by our own desires apart from God’s transforming Spirit. On our own, we will try to earn our place
with God. We will think God owes us
something. We will try to game the
system and get over on God and one another.
But the Spirit lifts us out of this self-centered, selfish way. The Spirit sets us free from sin and death. We who are united to Christ and one another
share in the Spirit. The Spirit who
enlivened the executed Jesus now gives life to our mortal bodies and to the
corporate body of which we are limbs and organs. As a people, we learn to listen for the
Spirit’s voice. The voice of the Spirit
has not been isolated in any one of us, but each of us has the Spirit working
to guide and shape our lives together as God’s people. No one has a corner on the Spirit’s
leadership.
Thus,
we all listen for the Spirit’s voice in one another. We listen to the still, small voice of God
calling for us from our inmost hearts.
We pray. We study. We praise.
We listen. And often, we must
wait. Paul tells the Romans that in
their time, during the fifth decade after Jesus’ birth, creation waits with
eager longing. Creation…that’s a big
word, a big idea. It’s kind of like a
popular word from our era, the “universe.”
Creation means everything that exists that is not God, but which comes
from God. It is stars and planets, atoms
and subatomic particles. Creation is
plants and animals, rocks and rivers.
Creation is food and drink, atmosphere and soil. Creation is humanity in community,
neighborhood and countryside.
So
if our era of living is anything like the era of Paul the Apostle’s living,
then we might conclude that also in our time, creation is waiting. The land on which our sanctuary rests is
waiting; the trees that line our parking areas, the grass in the cemetery, and
the stones carved with our ancestors’ names are waiting. The timbers that were
carted down from Granville County wait with eager longing. The congregations worshiping across the
street and down the road, the neighbors busy in their yards or homes, those
sleeping in on a Sunday morning are all waiting. The residents of Mill Grove who continue
generations of family in this part of town as well as the immigrants from
Mexico who found this neighborhood attractive and affordable wait with eager
longing. The workers at the Circle K, at
the Bojangles, at the Waffle House, and at the Advance Auto Parts are
waiting. The worn out gravel roads, the
boarded windows, the wrecked cars all in rows long to be set free from
decay. The poles that support power
lines or t.v. and internet cables, the yellow stripes that divide lanes where
we drive, even the deep pit where gravel is quarried wait for the
revealing. The new families who found a
place to raise their kids off Hebron Road wait.
The hardworking folk who walk down our streets to reach the bus stop so
they can go to work are eager. The dogs
and squirrels and cats and foxes and birds who live all around us—all creation
is waiting with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God.
Are
there any children of God in Mill Grove?
How will they be made evident?
What would make anyone believe that there are children of God here? God made this world, this vast creation, with
the purpose of building love and justice for all people, for all of God’s
creatures. In all our efforts and
failures, we have not managed to live up to what God wants for us and our
neighbors in this world. Mt. Level Missionary
Baptist Church recounts our admirable history of serving God through more than
a century and a half, and yet we read Paul’s words to the Romans and understand
that creation is groaning in labor pains.
There
are labor pains in our neighborhood as flood waters rise through the sewer
system into our sanctuary. We wait for
clean up of a mess and for proper repairs of a drainage system unready to
handle the rains of the recent storm.
There
are labor pains as teachers in our state, in West Virginia, Arizona, Oklahoma,
Colorado, and across the land, stand up together to tell the legislature and
state school board that enough is enough.
Students need textbooks. Schools
need buildings repaired. Teachers need
to be able to afford a place to live and food for their tables. How long will politicians prefer to pay more
for housing prisoners than for teaching children?
There
are labor pains in Santa Fe, Texas, near the home of your own daughter Lydia
Broadway who found herself driving by ambulance after ambulance on Friday
morning a children with gunshot wounds were being driven to the hospital down
the street from her home. All creation
groans, waiting for the revealing. Where
are the children of God? Where are the
people who live as Jesus led them to live?
Where are those who love God and neighbor? Where are they who bind up the wounded they
find on the side of the road? Where will
they be revealed.
Paul
says that even we groan. We wait as a
woman in labor. The urgency can be
overwhelming. The possibility of what
may come lies beyond a struggle that we fear we may not be ready to face. We long for our adoption into the family of
God. We know that Jesus has come to us,
that we have followed him, that he has saved us, yet we find ourselves longing
for the fulfillment of all that it means.
We feel in our bodies the need for the fullness of God, of the Spirit’s
presence and power, of the transformation from one degree of glory to another.
All
creation waits, longs, groans, for the Spirit to set us free. Free to be what God made us to be. Free to live as God calls us to live. Free to share our lives with abandon, with
relentless affection, with humble service toward one another. Come, Spirit!
Rule in our hearts today!
For
many of us, the calling of Vision 150 has become a sign of the Spirit’s
presence. [Vision 150 is a plan to
enlarge our church’s ministry in our community, including replacing a no longer
structurally sound building with a new facility that will support more
community ministries.] We have grown
into the vision, perhaps initially skeptical or doubtful, waiting for the
Spirit to take hold of us. We have seen
signs of the Spirit moving in new ministries and in concern for the use of the
land beneath us. We have talked about
the need to know our neighbors. We have
recognized that this corner of our town has needs that we may, perhaps, be
strategically situated to be able to help meet.
And
still we wait. We wait to see an
adequate down-payment toward building a facility. We wait for the future breaking of ground and
the passing of a treasured but weary landmark as it is replaced with functional
spaces for ministry. We wait with all
creation to see what will be revealed.
On
the other hand, if we claim to be the followers of Jesus, if we have given our
lives to our Lord, if we have the Spirit living in us, then part of what this
letter to the Romans is saying to us is that we are the ones creation is
waiting for. We are the children of God,
or at least we are called to be them.
God has touched us, laid a hand on us, filled us with the Spirit, and we
are the ones to be revealed as the children of God.
All
around us, creation is waiting to see if we will step into our calling. Will we be friends with the people who live
on Denfield, Monk, Ryan, Bobs, Todd, Teel, Weeping Willow, Rainmaker, West, Sun
Dried, Felicia, Summer Storm, Justice, Shay, Graymont, Melanie, Geranium,
Miller, Cozart, Swanns Mill, Genlee, Magnolia Pointe, Fanning, Lillington, and
more and more and more? Will we learn
from them what kind of community they long to be part of? Will we make partnerships with neighbors to
see Mill Grove flourish as more than just the houses near a fast food
smorgasbord? Will we reach beyond to Old
Farm, Argonne Hills, Danube, and Dearborn, where many of our Mt. Level family
live? Will we be among the voices
advocating for a just and equitable plan for improving or rebuilding Oxford
Manor? Creation all around us is waiting
to see what will be revealed in us.
And
creation waits because it is not clear what is coming. Too many churches have closed themselves to
their communities. They live far away,
drive to their building, dress in their fancy clothes, get entertained, make
networking connections, and leave, hoping never to have to talk to anyone who
might be walking near their church building.
Many churches have revealed themselves to be the latest version of a
social club or an entertainment center, but not to be the children of God who
are following Jesus toward God’s purpose of beloved community. Too many churches are satisfied to share a
couple of hours of the week together, but want to be left alone to make their
own friends and plan their own activities without concern for the people who
live across the street or down the block from where they gather to worship God
in the Spirit.
What
will be revealed on this piece of land?
Will it be the revealing of the children of God, the ones who love the
people they meet on the street, who are willing to make new friends for the
sake of the one who they have promised to follow? Will it be the children of this world who are
mostly concerned with keeping up with the Washingtons or the Johnsons and
watching their favorite shows and hiding inside their houses to avoid
associating with the people they don’t even care to know? What will be revealed? All creation is waiting, eagerly
anticipating, groaning for redemption and liberation.
We
don’t see it yet, but we hope. We hope,
and we wait with patience. And in our
waiting, we already start to live the way that shows what kind of world we
want. As the teachers of nonviolence
have taught us, the path to the goal must take on the character of the
goal. If we want to live in a loving
world, then the path to get to it is to start loving right here as we walk
toward it. If we want to live in a world
with justice, then we need to hunger and thirst for justice as we seek to bring
it into being. If we want to live in a
peaceful world, a world of shalom, then we have to become peaceable people
making peace with one another as we walk toward our goal. The means must be as pure as the end. The road to beloved community is to start
building a community of love. The path
to a friendly neighborhood is to start making friends with our neighbors. We live in the hope of what we are being
called to be, but do not yet see.
The
Spirit drives us to be the church that Jesus called us into. The Spirit gives us strength to make new
relationships. The Spirit gives us power
to change the character of our neighborhood.
The Spirit calls us to make our home to be the foretaste of the Kingdom
of God, the Reign of God in this world.
In our weakness, the Spirit helps us.
Even when we don’t know what to do first, the Spirit is way ahead of us,
praying in us and with us for the fullness of God’s purpose to be revealed in
us.
All
creation waits, and the Spirit is drawing us forward. The Spirit is ready to make us into the very
people God wants us to be. The Spirit
works within and around us to make things happen that we are not sure can
happen. The Spirit is transforming us to
be the revelation of the children of God in Durham, on Hebron Road, on this
soil and among these trees, on the streets and in the homes. Will we heed the Spirit? Will we walk in the Spirit? Will we let the Spirit reveal to us and to
our neighbors that we can be what God has called us to be?
What
a day that first Pentecost of the church was!
Peter went far beyond his own learning to proclaim a new word. He recognized that the prophets had expected
a day when a great transformation would begin.
Whatever the barriers and limits that people had put on themselves,
blaming it all on God’s will and God’s plan, the word coming from Peter and the
apostles on that day said that God would be shaking things up. The young and old would all be blessed to see
what God can do. The men and the women
would all proclaim the world of God with power.
On that day, Jerusalem changed dramatically, and the change had
implications for dozens of cities and regions and language groups for miles in
all directions. It was not a day for
narrow vision or limited possibilities.
The Spirit was doing the kind of work that would free creation from its
bondage to decay. The labor pains were
ending with the reward of transformation.
The Spirit was bearing fruit that would expand and continue for
millennia into the future.
Can
we join that movement here in our neighborhood?
Will we join the gospel band? Spirit,
guide us!
Lord
grant us the capacity to listen to your Spirit, to wait for the guidance we
need, and to step out in public to reveal that as for Mt. Level and our house,
we will serve the Lord. We will be the
children of God revealed as the loving koinonia, the communion of sharing our
lives and our goods and our gifts with one another for the good of all
creation. Lord, send your Spirit to fill
us. Spirit, change us. Spirit drive us forward. Come, Spirit!
Amen, and amen!
***********
Benediction:
Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of the faithful and
enkindle in them the fire of Your love.
Send forth Your Spirit; renew the face of the earth.
O God,
Who
instructed the hearts of the faithful by the light of the Holy Spirit,
grant
us in the same Spirit to be truly wise,
and
ever to rejoice in Your consolation.
Through Christ, our Lord. Amen.
