Getting to Hope

Sermon by Rev. Steven McClelland on Romans 5: 1 – 4.  Focus on how suffering leads to hope. Check out Simona Frenkel and Mara Adler’s solo following sermon.

When I read Romans 5: 1 – 5 I think of the road trips I’ve been on in my lifetime. The words Paul uses like suffering producing endurance, endurance producing character and character producing hope fly by in rapid succession like those signs along the highways proclaiming that my long awaited destination is just 10 more miles, then 5 then 2 then 100 yards until I finally arrive.

These words have a tendency to fly by me like so much scenery zooming by me on what seems like an endless interstate. I try to slow down, to absorb his words, but I can’t because the end is all that matters to me – getting to hope. My brain asks like it did on so many of my childhood road trips: Are we there yet?

And the mention of it’s name draws me in like the thought of a cool refreshing swimming pool used to draw me in as our family crossed the great expanse of the west in our V.W. bus. I want to share a message that gives people hope. Yet as powerful as it is to preach about God’s presence and enduring love, about looking forward in the midst of suffering, many of you will hear this message differently depending on where we are on our journey to hope.

You see some haven’t reached that final destination just yet. Some have only just arrived at a town called suffering. And for them the notion of hope is still a far distance away, so far that they are not even able to ask the question: Are we there yet? For them suffering is just that suffering. Not only doesn’t it offer hope. It only seems to be producing anger, sadness and pain. And though the apostle has given us a road map for this trip to hope, it’s not a trip on a straight highway where we can travel at a consistent speed of 65 miles per hour.

Instead it feels more like a harrowing drive on a road with steep drop offs, a road with narrow bridge crossings and warning signs. On this winding road Paul’s words of suffering, endurance and character are like signs that simply tell us that we have a long way to go before we ever see a sign for hope.

But in this passage Paul is telling us that he has been on the journey many of us are on. He’s telling us that he knows about the curves, and uphill climbs, and he knows about the little towns along the way, because he’s stopped in each of them. Some he has stayed in for short periods of time, in others longer than he anticipated.

But in any case he’s telling us about the journey. He’s saying I know people who have moved from one town to the next, and even some that have moved back and forth a few times, but I also know of a town called hope. I know some of you have been in a town called suffering for too long. I know others who are wondering if they will ever leave a place called Endurance and I’ve meet others who are just plain characters, but I know that everyone is looking for hope. And I’m here to tell you that you will get there.

For Paul and the early church these words “… for we shall take pride in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope and hope does disappoint us”, became their guiding principle. And they can be our guiding principle today as we face uncertain and often scary times.

Back in the spring of 1986 my father was in Cambridge at the time of the Boston Marathon, which is not only the oldest, but probably the most grueling of all tests of human endurance and stamina. He shared this account of the race, at my ordination service, and for me its still the best illustration of how the church can help those who are traveling on the road that leads us through suffering, toward endurance, that can build our character and ultimately will lead us to a place called hope.

About the neatest thing I did this spring, although I thought beforehand it would be somewhere between boring and mildly interesting, was to watch the famed Boston Marathon. I had no idea of what I was getting into. I went to Kenmore Square, near where the Red Sox’s play, which is at the 25 – mile mark, by which point it is very intense. It was a blissfully cool day for the runners and Bill Rogers won in record time -third in a row.

The real drama started after the (world class) runners had passed, and it was the most dramatic thing I have ever seen. The street was lined with spectators, thousands of them, all screaming, “Come on, just one more mile. You can do it. Come on.” After 25 miles people don’t care any more about how good they look while their running. They don’t care if their once chic, $60.00 Adidas running shoes are mud-spattered and worn.

After the first 100 or so world-class runners, there are 8,000 men and women who do it on sheer guts and willpower alone. And one ingredient gets them there, and every marathoner will tell you: The people of Boston love the race. They are yelling encouragement the whole way, handing out little Dixie cups of water or orange juice, hosing runners down, advising how far to go, how far they’ve come. But where the crowd really comes in is after the first 20 miles. At 25 miles, where I was, many people are in serious pain… their faces are studies in pain and concentration and many times I was moved to tears – at least four times.

When a struggling runner would come into view and in agony with a mile to go, unable to run any more, he would stop, often crying, and then it would begin: The crowd yelling “Come on… one more mile… you can do it… don’t give up.” And you hear the yelling building into a roar, a really loud roar, with all voices and all eyes on that one suffering soul. And every time, EVERY TIME, the runner would be swept up in this incredible, intangible energy – and often with an absolutely agonizing look into the heavens or a love-hate look at the crowd that was literally forcing him to continue past his limits. And then the runner would begin again and the cheers that met his first running steps are not to be believed because each of the people yelling believed it was he or she who did it… AND IT WAS.”

The church functions as a community of support – cheering life’s runners on. Some of the participants run well. But others are hurting so badly they can barely move. Some run with beautiful form; others are crippled and run awkwardly, but they run. And the Church encourages them. The Church of Jesus Christ, the Church of the Holy Spirit, cheers the runners on with the gifts they have, holding them accountable for running to the best of their ability.

And that’s what WE, the church are to be about. We are to be about getting every runner from suffering to hope. And if we do this then we too can boast with Paul that hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was also given to us. Amen