Sermon preached at Squamish United Church, June 10th, 2001:

"WE GLORY IN TRIBULATIONS" - A MESSAGE FOR TOUGH TIMES

Lectionary:  Psalm 8
                  Proverbs 8 1-4; 22-31
                  Romans 5 1-5
                  John 16 12-15

So I turned to the Epistle- Paul’s letter to the Romans.  And the words that leapt from the page were “We glory in our tribulations” (Rom.5 3).  At first inspection, this text didn’t seem much more promising.  Most of us have met people who glory in their tribulations, or “boast in sufferings”, as the New Revised Standard translation puts it..  And such people are not a great deal of fun to know.   Is the book of Job your idea of light summer reading?  Samuel Johnson once said “Depend upon it, that if a man talks of his misfortunes, there is something in them that is not disagreeable to him”.  Now the apostle Paul was certainly not averse to listing his tribulations, whether from false brethren, or from a transportation system that made Air Canada look a model of efficiency and good service (2 Cor. 12 26).  But, Paul did not list the perils that he faced in order to inspire pity, or to feed some morbid corner of his psyche.  Rather, he wanted us to know that the worst insults of a hostile world can teach us patience, broaden our experience, and bring us the hope of eternal peace if they are faced with faith in the wisdom of a loving God.

Our personal beliefs can stir strong emotions.  I still remember a situation that arose some forty years ago, when a cathedral town the size of Squamish was torn apart because a minister dared to move six empty pews to the back of an elegant neo-gothic church.  Many people face their greatest tribulations from controversies grounded in differing religious beliefs.  Think of those who have tried to bring peace to Northern Ireland, to Israel, or to the Balkans.  The Pope’s recent pilgrimage has retraced Paul’s journeyings, reminding us that the Apostle wanted to establish a firm base in Rome, so that he could carry the gospel message further onward into western Europe.  But in Rome as in Greece, rumour had it (Rom. 16 17) that the energies of the fledgling church were being diverted and dissipated by controversy about the need for Gentile converts to obey the laws of Jewish ritual.  And as Paul sat in Corinth writing or dictating the letter that Deaconess Phoebe would carry to Rome on her next business trip, we can sense that his blood was boiling.

Paul had made the long and weary journey back to Jerusalem economy class in order to settle the matter once and for all.  Luke suggests in Acts that the Church had a sort of caucus meeting.   And after a long and acrimonious debate, they emerged from their meeting all smiles, claiming a unanimous compromise (Acts 15 28).  It is hardly surprising the decision was unanimous, since in Luke’s view the voters were all filled with the Holy Spirit.  The decision was simple- Gentiles must follow certain dietary restrictions, and live sexually moral lives, but they need not be circumcised.  And by way of a sweetener, Paul agreed to have a whip around among some of the wealthy Gentile churches to find money to send to the poor widows and orphans in Jerusalem.   But the spirit of conciliation evaporated as fast in the Jerusalem caucus as in the beleaguered Canadian Alliance.  The dispute just would not go away. Some of James’ friends didn’t really accept the decision of the Church leadership - they sent emissaries to Greece, perpetually arguing with Peter and others who supported Paul’s position.

The nub of the matter was that Paul saw the issue in much more radical terms than Luke- they were not writing some committee report that would allow the emergence of one more Jewish sect- they were preaching a radical new religion, with a crucified and risen Christ and a Spirit active in the world.  Paul was quite sure he had the truth of the matter.  His epistles make no mention of the unanimous decision by the Church Board.  He may well have thought them weak, vulnerable, doddering old men.   He alone had the divine mandate.   So he writes “The gospel you heard me preach is no human invention.  I did not take it over from any one... I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ” (Gal. 1 11-12).

Paul wrote two letters  setting out his stand.  The first was to the Galatians.  It’s a pretty angry document, short on patience, experience and eternal peace.  There’s no polite opening paragraph. His pen nearly burns a hole in the paper as he writes “Are you people in Galatia stark raving mad?” (Gal. 3 1).   His letter to the Romans is still vigorous and rugged, but Paul is less of an angry man.  The Spirit has taught him to glory in his tribulations, and to learn at least some patience with argumentative church brethren.   He is calm enough to set out clearly and logically his experience of a creating God, a risen Saviour and a life-expanding Spirit, as he speaks of grace, faith, salvation, and the reconciling of old and new testament traditions.

Grace, faith, and salvation- words and ideas that we throw around a lot in church, but which are hard to define.  St. Augustine gave grace a mystic interpretation - he spoke of gratia sanctificans- of God infusing a capacity for good into our souls, whether we want it or not.  But in his epistles Paul is probably thinking more along the lines of the psalmist- the amazing grace of a wonderful world of possibilities which God gives to us, hoping that we will respond positively and of our own free will.

Paul also writes a great deal about faith, saying we are “justified” by it (Rom. 4 3).  The key to salvation was in the new doctrine of Jesus as the risen Messiah and Lord, and in acceptance of the gift of His Holy Spirit, rather than in a scrupulous adherence to the laws of Moses.  Paul spoke of “being justified”, a special form of the past tense (the Greek “Aorist”).  He meant that the business of justification had been completed.  Been there!  Done that!  Salvation had been accomplished, and the Christian life had begun.  The love of God had already been “poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit” (Rom 5 5).  New converts to the early church would have been baptized on the Sunday following Pentecost, White Sunday, or Whit Sunday as we know it in England.  And as in our current confirmation service. the sacrament would have concluded with the laying on of hands, a symbol that the empowering gift of the Holy Spirit or pneuma was being conferred.

Some evangelical churches set great store on a sudden influx of the Holy Spirit. Those who have not been “born again” in the way that Jesus suggested to Nicodemus, are sadly deficient in their Christian faith and experience.  Others, like myself, are wary of the search for a sudden, mystic transformation of lifestyle.  We see the action of the Holy Spirit as a lifelong process.  Northrop Frye argues that the word pneuma could mean either “wind” or “spirit” to a New Testament Greek.  So, the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus (John 3 8) could be understood metaphorically: “The wind blows where it likes- that’s what everyone is like who is born of the wind.”    But whether a metaphor or metaphysics, there is littler question that the Spirit progressively transformed and empowered the early disciples. Spirit-filled Christians were enabled to glory even in tribulation, to be patient with awkward fellow-humans, to grow in experience, and to cultivate a serene interior peace in a hostile world.

In Paul’s day, people contrasted the animal part of a person’s nature with their spiritual being.  The Romans spoke of anima and spiritus, the Greeks of psyche and pneuma, and the Hebrews of nephesh and ruach.  Paul himself distinguished very clearly between a person’s  pneuma, or spiritual attributes, and the animal instincts that were often such a problem in the early church.  We still find echoes of this in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, with self-actualization, the satisfaction of our highest instincts, at the top of the pyramid.  But Paul also saw a profound correspondence between the individual’s pneuma, and the Spirit of Christ which had been poured into the faithful Christian’s heart, inciting and directing it to good works (Rom. 5 5).

In our reading from John’s gospel, Jesus prepared the disciples for his crucifixion with the promise that they would receive the Holy Spirit.  But the concept was just as puzzling for the Disciples as it is for us.  Jesus has problems in explaining it, even to them: “I still have many things to say to you, but they would be too much for you now” (John 16 12).  Evangelical Christians are right when they suggest the Spirit is something that we must experience rather than describe in scientific terms.  “When the Spirit of Truth comes, he will lead you to the complete truth (John 16 13).

I felt more at home today in the Book of Proverbs than in either John’s Gospel or the Epistle to the Romans.  Here, we read of Wisdom, who “stands beside the gates of the city, at the approaches to the gates she cries aloud” (Prov. 8 3).  Like the Holy Spirit, Wisdom is a free gift- a creation of God and an expression of God that has existed since the beginning of time.  “The Lord giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.  He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly (Prov. 2 6-7).  For many centuries, continuing into the gnostic gospels, the Jews thought of wisdom as a substance, even a person with creative powers.   These attributes foreshadow our perceptions of the Trinity, and have led some scholars to speak of Wisdom as Sophia, the female face of God.

Reading again from Proverbs,   “in Wisdom, there is a spirit, intelligent and holy, subtle, free-moving and lucid; spotless and clear; working no harm and loving what is good; eager and unhindered; beneficent and kindly; steadfast and unerring; all-powerful and all-surveying.  For Wisdom moves more easily than motion itself; She pervades and permeates all things.  Like a fine mist she rises from Power, permeating all intelligent, pure and delicate spirits.  She is the brightness that streams from everlasting light, the flawless mirror of Active Power, and the image of Goodness.  She is more radiant than the sun and surpasses every constellation.  Compared to the light of day, she is found to excel; for day gives way to night, but against her no evil can prevail.  She spans the world in power from end to end, and orders all things benignly (Prov. 7 22-30).

The mediaeval Jewish poet Ibn Gabirol (1021-1058) wrote “In seeking Wisdom, the first step is silence, the second listening, the third remembering, the fourth practicing, the fifth- teaching others”.   Leo Rosten tells us in the “Treasury of Jewish Quotations” that for his people, “wisdom is not simply the fruit of intelligence, scholarship or knowledge; wisdom is held to involve basic attributes of character and conduct towards one’s fellows.  The highest khakhmah, or wisdom, lies in being learned and righteous and spreading loving kindness”.

This is the God-given gift that can bring us the peace we are seeking in the face of tribulation and an all-too stressful world.  Let us be eager to seek this Wisdom, a life-giving and heart-warming Spirit that will transform our beings, enabling us to glory even in our tribulations, to be patient with all of the awkward people that we meet, and to share peace in a disturbed and angry world.  And let us ask ourselves, “What is Wisdom calling us to do this week to make God’s beautiful world a better and a happier place.

AMEN.