Sermon based on Roman 5:1-5

Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we  have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God.  And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,  and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

After my first year of seminary- I spent two months up in Burlington Vermont doing a hospital chaplaincy internship as part of my training for the priesthood.  During my chaplaincy, I discovered this great book entitled, The Four Things that Matter Most.  The four things that matter most was written by a palliative care doctor- by the name of Dr. Ira Byock- palliative care doctor are doctors who cares for people who are terminally ill --they help  them to die  as comfortably and with as much dignity as possible- think hospice doctor.  

What Dr. Byock discovered in his years of practice was that even with the most dire of all prognosis- even in the grimmest cases- many of his patients found their lives transformed and enriched when they focused on the four things that matter most- Those four things –were being able to say I love you , I forgive you, please forgive me and thank you to their families and people around.   

St. Paul in his letter to the Romans this morning, like Dr. Byock, understands that there is good to be experienced, that there are gems to be uncovered in the midst of  terrible pain and suffering, in the midst of tribulation.  Someone I read this week said that suffering doesn’t have to be meaningless- I think that is a little bit of what Paul is trying to remind the Romans-who may have been experiencing terrible persecutions. Suffering doesn't have to meaningless. Suffering isn’t devoid of the presence of God. In fact, I think what Paul  was saying is that in suffering there is a place to know God in very different and very profound ways than when everything is moving along all hunky- dory.

Listen again to what Paul says - we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope and hope does not disappoint us because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. 

Last week, the Episcopal Bishop of Massachusetts, Tom Shaw had emergency surgery to remove a cancerous brain tumor.  Now, I don’t know Bishop Shaw, but I do know he is a monk and I am guessing a very faithful person, God didn’t cause that malignant brain tumor to grow inside of Bishop Shaw’s skull- God doesn’t cause suffering- God doesn’t give someone cancer to teach that person something.  He may allow it, he may use it for good- but I don’t even think it is part of his “plan” for us.

I know  also  know that - somewhere in the vast land  there are some preachers are preaching this morning that the terrible storms in Oklahoma that killed so many folks- that that was a scourge sent by God to rid the land of some terrible sin-- to cleanse Moore Oklahoma for some unfaithfulness. Let me just say that is not the God I know-- that is not the Jesus I have heard about in the Gospel and come to know.  When Jesus was asked by his contemporaries about the tower of Siloam falling down and killing eighteen people- Jesus emphatically said were the people that died any different than the rest of us, were they any more sinful than the rest of us-no they were not.

In Paul’s time people would have found it absolutely ridiculous to boast- to rejoice in one’s suffering one’s tribulation, to boast when one was sick.  The understanding was that when someone got sick, that when a tower fell down on top of someone,  that when a swarm of locusts covered the  land and ate all the crops that was a sign of divine displeasure- that was a sign that God angry, that God had cursed someone or some community for sin, for unfaithfulness.  And you better get your act together and turn back to God.

But Paul what  says to the Roman- hold on- wait one minute-that’s not the case-  God is not angry- but through Jesus Christ we have peace with God and access to grace, access to God’s unmerited, unconditional favor-- through Jesus Christ what is in fact revealed is that that we no longer see  God as  some great cosmic avenger riding in on the clouds smiting all sins- keeping tallies of all  wrongs- causing plague and famine and pestilence – causing cancer and Aids and causing two hundred mile an hour winds to rip open a school like someone opening a can of sardines. 

Jesus reveals a God who pours love into the hearts of those suffer, Jesus reveals a God who choose grace rather than retribution.     Jesus reveals a God who walks with us through the fires of hell, rather than a God who causes the fires of hell to come upon us.   Jesus reveals a God who wipes away the tears that stain our eyes. Jesus reveals a God who say get and walk you sins have been forgiven. 

Suffering as someone said this week is not meaningless- in suffering and even in the small tribulations of our daily lives-- we can learn a thing or two about life, In it we might learn a thing or two about being the preciousness of our families and our relationships --in it we can learn a thing or two about the love of God, in it we may learn to live more fully and love more deeply and rely on the ever present love of God.    

We also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope and hope does not disappoint us because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.  Amen