Amy and Life in the Spirit
Life in the Spirit
We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves…groan inwardly while we wait (Romans 8: 22-23)
Have you ever been present at a birth?
Maybe you raise animals, or you grew up on a farm and saw animals being born. Maybe you’ve been present at a labor and delivery, supporting a friend or family member – maybe you have even been a woman in labor and given birth yourself.
Whatever your experience, you have likely noticed that birth is messy, loud, painful, full of groaning, among other things. Birth proceeds on its own time table, is full of potential life-threatening detours, of fraught decisions made quickly with unforeseen consequences. Of puzzlement and fear and worry if something unexpected happens. Birth is a process that can stir the fear of God; fear of God in the Biblical sense which means awe of God, respect for the power of God and of the fragility of life and death.
We heard in our reading on Pentecost about the birth of the church. That also was messy. The rush of violent winds, tongues of fire, loud, confusing sounds of people speaking different languages, Peter preaching…a cacophony. Chaos. Confusion.
We see cities across our country erupting in collective grief, anger, trauma at persistent racial injustice and the senseless deaths of black people at the hands of white people. We see fire and hear sirens, rush of violent winds, messiness, chaos, fear.
We pray that this indeed is part of the birth of a new creation, a country made of communities of peace, justice, love of God and love of neighbor. But we don’t know if we can trust our hope. And so, we are afraid. The danger of something going wrong and death getting the upper hand is real.
…hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. (Romans 8: 24-25)
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