Some people love to complain. Perhaps we really are a "nation of whiners," as a politician recently said. We have plenty to complain and whine about. There is no time, and no need to go into details now. Politicians give promises of how they, if elected, will satisfy our fears and gripes. Of course they cannot do it, because no politician in the history of the world has had a 100% happy nation. As long as we are in this fallen world, it is impossible.

Not only people, but nature itself is groaning and complaining. St. Paul wrote, "For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now." Creation itself is groaning under the burden of human sin. The earth rumbles and grumbles in an earthquake. The wind moans and groans and screeches in a typhoon. The waves crash in a tsunami. The polar ice cracks and splashes into the warming sea. Wild fires crackle and explode with heat and fear. The sweltering summer heat simmers. Pollution chokes the air we breathe. St. Paul does not call this "global warming," rather it is a "global warning." It is a warning or announcement that the end of all the futility and decay will end. Jesus spoke about this in Matthew 24:7-8, "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains."

Both Jesus and St. Paul call the groaning of nature "birth pains." Something new is about to be born. Freedom is to be born. Salvation is to be born. This is the hope we Christians have. Creation will be set free from its bondage to decay. We who are reborn of the Holy Spirit will receive "adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies."We have this hope, and so we wait for it both eagerly and with confident patience.

According to Galatians 5:22, one of the fruit of the Spirit is patience. (Gal. 5:22 "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." While we are suffering and groaning in this fallen world, it is hard to have patience. Christian patience is based on hope. This hope is based on our faith and trust in Jesus Christ who will keep his promises. But sometimes our faith is weak. When we see the troubles of the world and hear the groaning of the world, we begin to wonder about things. Nature is groaning, people are groaning and whining, the economy is in a mess, there are wars and rumors of new wars, there are family problems, and each one of us has problems that make us groan. We have our worries, we have our aches and pains. And they don't seem to go away soon. Maybe the old King James translation of Galatians 5:22 is good, "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." "Patience" is like "longsuffering" sometimes.

When we complain about our own longsuffering, we have to remember the sufferings of Jesus. The Bible tells us he did not complain when he took upon himself the sufferings of the world. He did not shout and curse his accusers or executioners. Because he loved us, he took upon himself all the sin and suffering of this world. Then in his death he forgave the sin of the world and in his resurrection he gave hope to the world. This hope of resurrection and salvation gives us hope in the midst of our sufferings. We have hope and patience.

In the Lord's Prayer, we pray for the salvation of the world. "Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done." However, in our prayers when we are weak and doubting, the Holy Spirit gives us strength. I love the last words of today's text, "Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God." Sometimes we do not know what to pray for. But God knows what we need. Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 6:8, "Your Father knows what you need before you ask him." That gives power to our prayers. Even if we are among Christian friends, sometimes we are afraid to pray in public because we feel our words are not elegant. Beautiful words do indeed uplift the other people who hear our prayers, but the Holy Spirit is speaking to God for us, he "intercedes for us" and so we do not have to worry about God not understanding our prayers.

But sometimes we do not know how to pray because our suffering is too great. If a person is in great physical or mental stress, it is almost impossible to think straight. Sometimes I get a bad headache. At such a time I have only two thoughts: "Where is the Excedrin?" and "God, help me." Sometimes our prayers are groans: "Ugh, amen.<" In an emergency, we do not have time to make an eloquent prayer. "O God!" "Help us, Lord!" When a Christians says these words, it is not using God's name in vain, rather it is the best way to use God's name, calling upon him in the day of trouble. Maybe we should say, "O, my God! Amen." Adding that "amen" adds confidence and faith and hope and Christian witness to the prayer.

There are a lot of things to legitimately complain and whine about. But at the same time, since we have hope in Jesus Christ, we have a lot of things to pray about and work for.

May the Holy Spirit fill you with faith and hope and peace and contentment!

Amen.

Michael Nearhood, Pastor
Okinawa Lutheran Church

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