Creation groans...



Yesterday was 9/11 - a day when all the media outlets replay the tragedy of the brutal attack on the United States. 

For the first time in years, I didn't watch any of it. Instead, I reflected on the yearning of all creation for God to bring things to right soon.  I also wrote this:

My heart is heavy for those who suffer today - suffer from the loss of friends and family to human-caused tragedies such as the attacks of 9/11 and natural disasters like those in Morocco.

You know what? Sometimes there are simply no words.

In Romans 8, the Apostle Paul writes of the reality of us and actually ALL creation in distress with a longing for redemption. As NT Wright's translation renders it:

22 Let me explain. We know that the entire creation is groaning together, and going through labour pains together, up until the present time. 23 Not only so: we too, we who have the first fruits of the spirit’s life within us, are groaning within ourselves, as we eagerly await our adoption, the redemption of our body. 24 We were saved, you see, in hope. But hope isn’t hope if you can see it! Who hopes for what they can see? 25 But if we hope for what we don’t see, we wait for it eagerly – but also patiently.
Romans 8:22-25 from The New Testament for Everyone

Human tragedies, natural disasters, and personal tragedies will one day end. One day all the evil will be rendered powerless and untrue.

You might be in a place of suffering and if so, my heart is heavy for you. There may be no words to truly comfort, but, I know God's love is endless and near. Embracing His grace, mercy and love will carry us through somehow.

May we be a people of prayer and faithfully await the day Jesus makes all things new.

In Christ's mercy,
Pastor Ben

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