Sermon for Pentacost

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.

Today we are given three different pictures of the Holy Spirit. It blows through the house like a violent wind and dances on heads like tongues of fire, empowering people to speak in other languages so that all might hear what God has done in Jesus Christ (Acts).  It stands beside us as the Advocate who speaks from God in order to guide us into the truth (John). 

And when all those words are inadequate, when all that speaking cannot express what is deepest within us, the Spirit intercedes on our behalf with wordless, inexpressible groans (Romans).  It was true in the time of Paul and the Gospel writers, and it remains true today: the Spirit is as close as wind and words and no words.  The Spirit in this passage hovers over two equally true realities.  On the one hand, our adoption papers have already been served; we have a place in the family of God.  Together with the whole of creation, already we are caught up in God as heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.  Already we have tasted the fruits of the Spirit, the life-giving, life-altering reality of living within God's embrace. 

What does this look like to you? Where in your life have you seen the changes that living in the sure knowledge of the eternal love and of Christ brings? This is not a rhetorical question. It is one that I would really like you to think about, and maybe to share if you feel comfortable. I'll go first.

In 2010 I was diagnosed with bowel cancer. It was a scary time – I was only 28, I had a 3 year old daughter and obviously I was terrified! It made me confront my own mortality in the most real way for the first time. I had always said, both to myself and to others, that in my personal prayer life I did not pray for God to influence external events but internal realities. So, to use a rather trivial example, I would not ask God to help me pass my exams but to give me the mindset to study and the focus to retain. Suddenly, I was confronted with a situation that was not at all trivial. There were two weeks between finding out I had a tumour and the surgery that would both remove it and tell us how serious this was going to be. Those were the scariest two weeks of our lives.

And I prayed. I prayed a lot. But to my surprise, when confronted with the possible end of my life, with leaving my daughter and husband and family, I didn't pray for God to take the tumour away, or to minimise it's effects on me. In my world, God doesn't work like that. I prayer for strength, for courage, for serenity, for wisdom... for myself, my family and the wonderful team of doctors who were responsible for my wellbeing.

And God answered my prayers.

We made it through that terrible time, we were incredibly lucky that the skilled surgeon was able to remove the tumour before it spread, and I am now living cancer free, hopefully for the rest of my life! But it was with the God's grace shown in and through me in the Holy Spirit that made our cancer journey, and I say our because as I'm sure you know it is never just one person affected by such an illness, what it was. Through all the pain and fear it became a life giving, life affirming experience, not just for me but for the people around me. If I hadn't had God to carry me through, if I hadn't felt the Spirit at work in and around me, this would have been a much harder time that it turned out to be. I thank God daily still, not just for my healing but for the way the Spirit filled me and the people around me to ensure I was surrounded by divine love shown through human hands.

Would I do it again? Well, yes... and no. I can put a positive spin on it as much as I like, but although the surgery itself went well, the recovery was long and sometimes brutal. It took well over a year before I really felt back to normal. There were times when I did feel deserted. There were times when I couldn't find the words to talk to God – me, for whom words are such an integral part of my being! And there still are. Times when something so unbelievably hard happens, when we can't find the words to call on God. Times when creation itself must be groaning in immeasurable pain at what is happening to her, when the words to call God just aren't there.

And it is then, in those very times when we feel most alone, that the Spirit is at hand. When we are mired in the darkest of despair, when humanity seems to be failing ourselves and the world around us – that is when the Spirit intercedes on our behalf.

Because standing in the middle of this passage is hope. Hope that this dark time will end, that no matter how wrong it seems there is some right that will come of it, hope that we are all God's children, in our despair as well as in our joy. And when we can't find this hope, when all really is lost, when we are forced to contemplate a life or even a death that is so different from what we had planned, the Spirit hopes on our behalf, the church endures with us, the whole creation groans in solidarity.  We are not alone.

Knowing that God is present in the midst of our greatest need is good news that enables us to endure.  What does that look like where you are?  For me it came in the reassurance that should something happen to me, my children are surrounded by people who will love them and support them. That the God I love will never separate me from them for as long as they need me – if not in body then in spirit. Thinking of the floods, I can see so many ways the Spirit has flowed through others in order to help others endure. Sometimes it is with food, money, shelter, hope... sometimes with a presence who will just listen and be. Sometimes the Spirit is at work through me in a way that I don't even recognise at the time, in a way that I may never know – we touch people's lives every day through actions or words that are small and meaningless to us but Christ like to others.

When we have our morning tea together today, when we bond through fellowship and Spirit, why don't we try and share a way the Spirit has helped us through our labours. Let's own it. Let's share it. And in the words of Paul, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit”.

Amen.