If you go into any gym and search out the section where people are lifting weights, you’ll hear a lot of grunting and groaning.
Weightlifters often groan as they strain to push weights off their chests, or lift them over their heads, or pull them off the floor. A straining car engine also groans. If you strap a heavy trailer to a car or ute and point it uphill, you’ll hear the engine groan. Gears push against gears, the engine revs, and the vehicle groans as it strains to move forward. Groaning is also the sound of creation. As Paul tells us in his letter to the Romans, “We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labour pains until now.” This is a pretty vivid image. Perhaps it isn’t such a fantastic metaphor for women who have actually experienced labour pains, but it reminds us of the difficult work of creation. That sort of work can be hard and it can be groan-inducing. Groaning happens in a gap – the gap between what we’re trying to do and what we hope to do. Groaning reminds us that time spent in the gap between what is, and what could be, is a place of hard work. This week’s readings from Matthew and Romans are about living in this gap. We hear about the gap between creation, as God intends and wills it, and where we are now. Paul describes how to, somehow, live in optimism and hope in a world that so often doesn’t fulfil what God has promised to us. He calls this “life in the Spirit”. Paul’s whole ministry, in a way, was driven to close this gap. He felt that he had seen the fulfilment of creation in Jesus and he knew that it was within reach. He also knew that the communities he had preached to, still lived with injustice, war, poverty and suffering. So, he knew both the glory that is to come and the sufferings of the present time. Paul also suffered personally, but he exhorted the Christians living in Rome to live in the Spirit, because he saw the glory that’s just beyond the gap. A life in the Spirit is a life characterised by the confidence that, through Christ, we’ve been freed from all the things that can increase our suffering. It’s a life lived free of hatred and violence - and instead filled with joy and reconciliation. It’s a way to live in the gap between what is, and what shall be - in joyful exertion, not in desperation. The gospel parable also speaks to life in the gap. The Kingdom of Heaven – a reign that Jesus preached, was here and now – and it is described as glorious. Jesus compares it to a grain field. A field of grain can be the source of not just one loaf of bread, but an abundance of bread. This is an image of an abundance of what was, and for many still is, the basic food, the basic source of life. Yet, in the midst of this vision of an abundant life, there are weeds. The weeds gum up the works. They can’t be removed easily. The parable today is about having to wait in the gap – in a world of both abundance and weeds. It’s there to comfort those who live in the gap, with the assurance that at the end, the weeds will not ruin the harvest. I guess that most of us find it extremely difficult to live in a gap. It’s difficult to see the glory beyond the horizon and still live in a place that’s not yet fully glorified. The first Christians must have also felt this very strongly. Those who actually knew Jesus, had known in their minds and felt in their souls, the goodness and love of God in creation would have struggled in that time between his departure and the second coming they waited expectantly for. Paul, too, had seen the glory of the risen Christ, and so his conviction, faith and excitement must have filled the minds and souls of the people in the churches that he planted. Yet, just outside the door of each house church, every time the communion meal ended, and people returned to their lives, they were confronted by the realities of a world that did not meet that vision. The parables Jesus told about the end of time, the words Paul gave to his communities were written to help those communities understand and overcome the gap between what is and what ought to be. They had an expectation that the time would be very short, but, with each passing day, week, month and year, their time in the gap became a little bit more stressful. The parables are also words written for today, because Christians are still living in the gap. Many know the feeling of God’s love and have experienced it in their lives. Many have seen it in grand acts of compassion and small daily acts of kindness. Christians rejoice when justice triumphs and celebrate when sickness turns to health. These are signs of the Kingdom of God come near. Yet, people everywhere also wake daily to news of war and rumours of war, of violence in homes and communities, of soul-crushing poverty in every country, of injustice, and all the many ways the dignity inherent in every person is neglected. How do we reconcile the loss of lives during the Black Lives Matter riots and the COVID-19 pandemic? Many will question whether the Kingdom seems any nearer, after hearing news reports of these items. However, as Paul reminded the Christians in Rome and Christians are reminded today, we don’t hope based on what we see. Christian hope is based on the confidence and assurance that the risen Christ is present in the world, bringing all things to what they are meant to be and closing the gap. God’s focus is on closing the gap between what is and what ought to be. This is the work of God from the beginning of creation. To be Christian, is to join in this work. For all of us are children of God - part of that creation which is coming into being.The way to join in this work is to live a life in the Spirit. This isn’t a life that tries to ignore the gap, but one that can stride confidently into the gap – angered at injustice, grieving at suffering, striving and straining and groaning. Groaning is the soundtrack of creation. It’s the sound of the gap closing, of the Spirit overcoming resistance. Life in the Spirit strains and groans to close the gap. It’s a good, honest groaning, the soundtrack of what will be coming into being.Life in the Spirit is a life that closes the gap between the weight on the chest and the weight lifted high and triumphantly overhead. Life in the Spirit closes the gap between the engine straining against the gears and finally reaching full speed, running like a well-oiled machine. Christians are made to be gap closers. Christians are to see the distance between what should be and what is, and strain, and heave, and work, and lift to close that gap. It may be necessary to groan, but the groans sing the soundtrack of creation. I pray that we may stay true in the struggle, groaning if need be and laughing at our groaning when we can. The gap is closing, so let us hear the soundtrack of creation as we raise our voices in work and strain and joy. Are you willing to groan for God? It’s not a question you hear every day, either in church or out in the street, but it epitomises the struggles that we must commit to in our Christian walk.I encourage you to re-read the passages above and strengthen your hearts for the courage to bear the weight, striving towards life God has prepared for us on the other side of the gap – the Kingdom of God. Pastor Rick
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