Romans 8:14-21
14All who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. 15For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, "Abba! Father!" 16it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.
18I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. 19For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; 20for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21that 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.
The Day of Pentecost
During the first half of the year that began at Advent, we waited for Jesus' arrival and rejoiced at his birth. The Epiphany season was about Jesus as light of the world and redeemer of all, not only Israel. We followed Jesus' earthly ministry as he called, taught, and ate with followers who became friends. After Jesus' death and the surprise of his resurrection, for fifty days – a week of weeks, seven times seven – we kept on keeping' on celebrating Easter.
The fiftieth day of Easter, the Day of Pentecost is the third great Trinitarian Festival. Pentecost celebrates the gift of the Holy Spirit in a concentrated, broad, and spectacular manner and initiates a six-month long stretch of the church's year of grace that especially emphasizes our ministries modeled on those of Jesus and the original twelve.
Almost everyone considers Luke's Acts 2 account of the arrival of the Spirit the pentecostal paradigm. Visible audible signs of fire and wind result in a true common-wealth that's been imitated but never duplicated. (Scholars believe Luke and his cohorts did a fair amount of idealizing and fantasizing when they composed the Acts of the First Apostles.) However, all scriptures for this day help establish the style and direction of our next six months.
Reading from Romans
Romans is the seventh and last of the apostle Paul's undisputed epistles. "Undisputed" means they carry strong evidence of his authorship. Today's famous passage from Romans is about God claiming us as children of heaven along with interdependence of human creatures (that's us!) and what we sometimes refer to as the natural creation. What happens with us affects all creation; what happens in the rest of creation affects humanity.
God's Kids – Everyone's Sibs
Paul tells us the Spirit of God makes us God's children. He says we no longer have the spirit of slavery, which in that culture would have meant actual bondservants or chattel slaves. However, humans everywhere all the time often find themselves "enslaved" or almost helplessly connected to sins, objects, and behaviors that violate the commandments. Besides, just about everyone has hard to break habits that technically aren't sinful yet in the long run have negative outcomes.
Today we're only considering this passage from Romans, but Jesus redefined family so that all humanity now and across the centuries are brothers and sisters to one another. What is more, this scripture makes ample room for us to affirm all creation our relatives, after the manner of Saints Francis and Claire of Assisi and many others. How about you? How about me?
By grace the HS creates each of us in God's image at our first birth and again at our second birth in baptism; water and word make us siblings to Jesus and to each other. Although the HS is active throughout scripture, the world becomes especially kindred by the gift of the Spirit at Pentecost.
The Holy Spirit resonates with our spirit that we are God's adopted offspring; because of this we inherit everything Christ inherits. You may remember God calling Jesus Beloved Son at his baptism? God does the same for us at baptism. Throughout the centuries, adoption has been a complicated concept; you've heard of one sibling accusing another, "You're adopted!" I love thinking of adoption as parental choice—chosen, claimed, embraced.
Can we always make room for one more at the table? Not only the Lord's Table, but afterwards because Jesus' Holy Communion is the model for our ongoing lives together. Like a family that adopts or fosters, is there always room for one more around our table? Why would we exclude anyone from the nourishment of meals or from the nourishment of community? Having said that, I realize there are complicated situations.
Creation Waits, Hopes, and Expects
As Acts 1:6-8 describes it, Jesus' disciples ask him if at this time he will restore the [Davidic] kingdom to Israel. Jesus tells them their question is wrong and counsels them to wait! Because they will receive the Spirit, and because of the HS they will be Jesus' witnesses to the ends of the earth. In other words, Jesus' followers will be the ones to restore God's reign on earth and it won't be shiny opulent bling. The reign of heaven on earth will be abundant life. The world will flourish with love, mercy, justice, and shalom sufficiency for everyone, not only Israel.
Whenever I read wait, hope, or expect in any scripture text, I always find it helpful to remember the same word in Spanish espero (esperare, etc.) means hope, expect, and wait.
In Romans Paul insists all creation waits for redemption because true children of God, humans who authentically mirror and embody their Divine Image, care for the earth in ways that reflect their Divine Nature. All creation carries within itself breath of the Divine and breathes the Spirit of Life. We are kin with all creation! We belong together!
Christianity proclaims God's definitive self-revelation in Jesus of Nazareth, in a body formed from the "stuff" of the earth. Now the Holy Spirit fills and indwells our bodies and we become God's presence on earth.
Do you as an individual or as part of a faith community have any special plans for the Season of the Spirit, Time of the Church during the next six months?
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