God of hope, God of now.

Romans 5:1-5

Holy Trinity Sunday

In Walter Taylor’s book, “The Secular Age,” he describes secularism as a loss of transcendence.

You see, people don’t expect God to be a part of their lives or world. It happens even to us believers. 

That’s why the assignment I offered last week proved so difficult. We’ve become caught up in looking to the concrete, the things we can touch and feel and see that surround us, as well as the culture we live in to bring meaning to our lives. We’re out of touch with prophetic imagination, we struggle with letting our faith bring definition to our days. We see with earthbound eyes rather than seeing through God’s lenses.

But our material accomplishments end up leaving us in the lurch. We’re left wondering if what we see is TRULY what we get; and lost and confused when what we see leaves us searching for more, for the next big thing to come along. Remember the excitement when you saw the first bag phone, then came the cell phone, and finally today the smartphone. It’s become commonplace, a necessary tool for many of us. And yet having one doesn’t leave us feeling any more connected than when we had to wear down our finger dialing the rotary phone. Dare I say we might even feel less connected, more isolated?

And because the material world doesn’t satisfy us, we wonder what significance our daily occupations, relationships, and even lives have. Walter Taylor asserts that many of us succumb to the haunting suspicion that “what previously satisfied us, gave us a sense of solidity, seems not really to match up, not to deserve what we put into it.

Or in other words, with the loss of transcendence, the ability to let God define our lives, we lose meaning and, worse yet, we lose hope.

So then where do we go? What do we do?...

Paul reminds us today that we are justified by faith; that we receive peace and grace and glory through Christ. Which sounds neat and tidy, pleasant to our ears, but then Paul continues: “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.”

And Paul, struck blind on the road, knows this hope so very well. This is the very Paul led by God while blind to Ananias who had the power of God to restore Paul’s sight. This is the very Paul who when thrown into prison alone and in chains used the opportunity to open the hearts of his guards. This is the very Paul who when relegated to a distant island wrote letters that led so many to repent, turning toward God, many for the very first time.

So not only is our hope and our meaning rooted in the promises of our God in heaven, but our hope is also found in the trials and struggles of our life here on earth. But how can this be?

It’s because God greatest revelation to us came in the form of the struggles and suffering of a man hung on a tree. And if we lift up the suffering and pain of Jesus to be holy, then how can we possibly look at our own struggles and difficulties and pain as anything else but holy as well?

Now be careful here. I’m not saying that God ever wants us to struggle and suffer in our lives. God did not cause the F-5 tornado in Oklahoma any more than God caused Jesus to die. God does not take joy in our suffering. God does, however, promise to be with us in our suffering, and also promises to use our suffering whenever possible for the greater good.

And then the even bigger promise comes then in Romans 6:5, “For if we are united with Christ in a death like his (or suffering, or pain), then surely we are united with him in a resurrection like his.” Our suffering is redeemed in the cross of Christ.

So as God didn’t abandon Jesus Christ is his darkest hour, and God does not abandon us either. No tear shed goes unnoticed by God. No cry for mercy is unheard by God. No frustration or hurt or loss is unimportant to God. No tragedy – personal, communal, national, or global – is ignored by God, which means that God is present in our suffering and dignifies it by God’s presence.

And because the Father made his true self known in the very concrete form of Jesus here on earth including his suffering, then we today can also look for God in the concrete, the everyday, the ordinary: in our relationships, in our jobs, our hobbies, our volunteer efforts. These are the places to see God at work. And God blesses this, promising to use anything done for the good of a neighbor to extend God’s love and concern to all God’s beloved creation.

So many have wondered this week where God is in Oklahoma? The truth is that you don’t have to look very hard. Because God is working through the rescue workers, God is comforting those who grieve, God is encouraging those who are helping rebuild lives, God is leading those who are designing and planning to alleviate such disasters in the future.

And God is present with us in our struggles, God rejoices in our triumphs, encourages us to care for one another and receive other’s care as well, using us and even our daily routines to care for the people and the world that God cares for so much.

So, I challenge you again. Where do you see God at work in our lives and in the lives around you? Don’t make it difficult. Don’t look for some deep theological concept. Just look around and see God. See God in what the people around you do. And don’t be shy, see God in what YOU do. Only then can we truly know the presence of God not just in a building, but everywhere.

Keep your eyes open. Don’t just look at the at those things you can touch and feel, look for God working through those things you can touch and feel, creation, people, even yourself. Only then can we truly experience God in our lives, in the here and now wherever we might be. Keep your eyes open.

Amen.