Scripture Reading: Romans 8:18-27
I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

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.

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. 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.

Meditation
The truth of Romans 8 strikes home today: "we do not know how to pray as we ought." What we so desperately need to hear is gospel truth from Romans 8 that "The Spirit helps us in our weakness."

In this moment, we all realize all small we are, how incapable of comprehending the scope of Evil. How very much we need God's Spirit to be our teacher-to teach us how to pray.

In conversations across this campus, we are asking questions, born of confusion, anger, fear . . we realize our vulnerability and helplessness .. .we deeply long for God's Spirit to teach us. . .

We are asking, "How can we pray honestly, in ways that express our doubts and fears, as well as our faith, hope, and love?"

The Bible is a remarkable book precisely because it is so honest. Roughly half of the Psalms-the Bible's prayerbook-are not happy prayers. They are prayers of lament and protest and doubt. The Bible's faith is one in which deep and honest questions are welcome, where glib answers must be set aside …And within the cradle of our common faith in Jesus Christ, may this community be a place where those honest questions are welcomed and not set aside.

Yesterday in conversation someone asked, "How I can go to a theology class in the middle of this?" Yet, oddly, it may well be that today is the day when it is more important than ever to go to a theology class. Today, we desperately need the truth of scripture and the wisdom of faithful Christians who for centuries have struggled with evil, often to the point of death.

• We need biblical scholars to teach us how the Bible's prayers express lament, doubt, fear alongside of faith, joy, and hope; and to help us sort out helpful from fanatic interpretations of the last times.
• We need theologians to teach us about how, as Neal Plantinga preached to us last Good Friday, Christ absorbed evil without passing it on.
• We need to be reminded again of the ancient Christian conviction that evil is a perversion of good-not a second and equal power to God's good creation.

We are also asking, "How do we pray as a community of people from many tribes and languages and countries?"

How can we learn to pray not just for Christians, not just for Americans-but for all 4 billion image-bearers of God on this small planet? How can we nurture tender hearts that reach out to the nameless victims of violence in other places? How could we ignore tragedies as awful as this—or worse—in Rwanda? In the Balkans? In Central America? And how might we not ignore them in the future?

We can be so very grateful that we live and learn in this campus of people from over 40 countries, so that we can learn to pray not primarily as Americans, but as citizens of the kingdom of God-who live in America, Canada, Japan, Egypt, China, Nigeria, Israel, Syria, . . .countries from every corner of our globe.

We can be so grateful that we live in a place with sociologists, historians, economists, theologians, scientists, artists, and writers with global awarness who can help us over the next days to understand different dimensions of this crisis-to help us pray more knowingly, to give us tender hearts, and discerning minds.

We need so much discernment to keep together our gratitude to live and learn in a free country (with a free press to give us accurate information and cellphones to communicate in unprecedented way) with a freedom from simplistic nationalism . . . . .We so need a sober awareness that we all participate political structures which perpetuate evil. . . a topic that demands more wisdom than any one of us has. . . .

We are also asking, how can we pray in ways that acknowledge that while evil is powerful, it is not final?

It is easy in the cocoon of a Christian college not to face evil, to downplay its significance, to think that it doesn't effect us . . . . One of the devil's greatest successes is making us think that evil is insignificant.

We deal with evil all the time here—and so often quite glibly. We study economic injustice. We study Shakesperean plays about human pride and violence. We study the history of wars. We watch films about those wars—and then go out for a cup of coffee. We listen to music that celebrates violence. . . . Yet how often do we honestly face up to the ferocity and intensity of evil?—especially all of us in generations that can't even remember Vietnam? . . . For all of us, the true terror of evil has again been unmasked. We live in a cosmos where principalities and powers are on the loose. How much do we need a savior!

And yet we must not swing from indifference to evil to ultimate fear.

By the Spirit's power, we confess in the face of evil that God is greater still. For centuries, Christians have faced evil of staggering proportions—Roman persecutors, The Plague, earthquakes, genocide, slavery, civil war. A hymn like "O God Our Help in Ages Past" … (Perhaps it is already our year's theme song?) . . . has already survived almost three centuries of wars. . .. . . sung by people—including slaves—who have been born away by time, people now known only to God who had the grace and strength to proclaim that "sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us…."

None of us has the strength in ourselves to say and mean those words.

But praise God that the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ works in our hearts, teaches us how to pray, grows in us a faith and hope as strong as steel—and even when we have nothing to say,
the Spirit still prays in and through us with "sighs too deep for words."

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

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