Living in the Spirit
July 18, 2014

 Scripture Reading: Romans 8:12-25 

We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; 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. For in hope we were saved. Now 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 8:22-25

Hope* has two definitions: the current one, to cherish a desire with expectation and an archaic one, to place confidence or trust — usually used with in. The second is most likely the one Paul is using in our scripture today. It is the confidence and trust we have in Jesus Christ that sustains us. The first, though has meaning for Christians, too, as we usher in the Kingdom of God and wait with great expectation for its fruition.

The phrase “Ugly Americans”**, which I had not thought of in years, popped into my head as I watched on the news some US citizens turning back in anger the buses of refugee children being transported to the US citizens town for safe keeping. It is perhaps not a correct descriptor. Millions of US citizens are frustrated as they cannot find work or work hard and do not get ahead. They think these new people will compete for their sources of wellbeing. Actually our country’s economy is doing quite well for a few. The stock market is breaking records, unemployment is down to where it was at the beginning of the recession, but wages are stagnant and the masses are feeling the pinch. Our economy in general may be doing well but it is upside down.

While it is easy to lash out at the “other” whoever they may be, we might want to take a moment to look at the gifts they bring us. I once heard a wise man say that the difference in being poor and living in poverty is hope. These refugee children or their parents or somebody surely have hope or they would not be putting children in harm’s way to get them to the USA. Although we are not much of a shining light for ourselves, we apparently are to some.

Our country has always grown and thrived when we welcome the stranger. Most of us have ancestors who were those strangers once. God knew what God was doing when guiding the writing of our Holy Scriptures peppering welcome the stranger as a command from the first book and throughout the rest of the Bible. Rather than lash out at the “other” let us open our arms to them and invest our energies is making our nation work the way it should through constructive actions like voting wisely and letting our representatives know what we thing is important.

Prayer: Lord, make us good neighbors and good citizens as we live in this world and serve in your Kingdom. Amen.

*http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/unabridged/hope
**From Wikipedia: The term was used as the title of a 1948 photograph of an American tourist in Havana by the Cuban photographer Constantino Arias (see infobox above),ikipedia but seems to have entered popular culture as the title of a 1958 book by authors William Lederer and Eugene Burdick. In 1963, the book was made into a movie directed by George Englund and starring Marlon Brando.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved