Pentecost 4                                    Rom. 5:1-8                                          6/12/05

                                                 “Journey To Hope”

I envy people who find traveling pleasurable and exciting.  Such people think nothing of throwing a few things in a bag, getting in the car and going.  I even know people, hard as it is to believe, who travel to places far and wide by motorcycle.  Horrors, these travels  may not even plan out their journey.

I, on the other hand, experience a need to plan everything to the nth degree.  I schedule my time, have a check-off list of things to take, print out numerous maps, get the car checked, leave phone numbers with trusted people and on and on.  Then even if I think I’ve covered every contingency, I worry that something unexpected may occur.  What if one of the roads I plan to take is under construction and I have to follow a detour?  What if I get a flat tire?  What I’m late getting to my destination and worry or inconvenience the person I am going to visit.  And horror of horrors, what if I get lost?  And all of this is just so I can go see Trish Ptasick in Erie .

That final bit of humor aside, that really is how I feel when faced with a trip even to relatively familiar territory.  I get all tensed up and expect the worst, instead of just doing what I can and taking it one stage at a time.

I get some of those same feelings and anxieties when I read those middle verses of our second lesson: “but we can boast of our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance...”, and on along till you get to hope.  Every travel anxiety in me cries out, “But I don’t want to suffer and if I do, I just know I’ll get lost before I ever get to hope.”

I had a real revelation in studying the lessons for today’s sermon.  I’ve always thought of all those qualities listed – endurance, character, hope – as things you had to have before you even begin your journey.  And if I don’t, I’m a hopeless failure.  A different way of looking at it though is to see them as stages of the journey through suffering to hope.

Suffering is going to come no matter what.  We can plan for it and try to prevent it, but sooner or later suffering impels us to start a journey.  We can take vaccines, follow the right diet, exercise and get all the recommended tests and check-ups, but still become ill.  We can keep our cars in tip-top shape, take a safe-driver course and follow all the road rules, but accidents still happen.  We can work ourselves to exhaustion doing the best job anyone could possibly expect and still not please a boss with impossible expectations, or be stabbed in the back by an ambitious and unethical co-worker.  And rest assured, if none of that happens, something else will, because suffering is just part of life.

Sooo, the first thing to do on this journey is accept the suffering. We don’t have to like suffering, but if we are to avoid getting stuck, we need to accept that it happens to all people.  We may feel that ours is worse than what other people go through, but as a counselor friend has told me, we can’t know what others suffer.

If you don’t want to get stuck in the town of Suffering accept that you are there and keep moving as best up can.  Don’t deny it.  Don’t down-play it.  Don’t fight it.  Don’t run away from it.  Don’t try to jump over it or rush through it.  Just accept that your time has come and begin moving forward.  

When you find yourself in the town of Suffering , stay within the speed limit.  You will likely meet Pain, Anger, Sadness and maybe Fear while traveling through the town of Suffering , but don’t panic; you can survive the encounter.  They have lessons to teach and those lessons can make you a better person. 

 Look for road signs that will give you directions and accept help from people who offer it.  You will almost surely find others who are on the same journey you are on.  You can support each other.  Some may have been down the road many times before and may be able to share wisdom with you that will help.  Check your map (Scripture) frequently.  In time you will reach the town limits and on a less jarring road again.

You may discover that you traveled right through the county of Endurance without knowing it, even.  As you look back, you find that you not only survived, but you feel stronger and more competent for having endured.  There are many interesting and helpful sights in Endurance.  Take some time to look around and experience them.

Enduring suffering is no fun and there have been times when I have ranted against being a survivor of more than one trip through the town. I’ve gotten to know Pain, Anger and Sadness on a first name basis, and sometimes their sister, “Fear” kicks up such a fuss I just want to run away, but little by little I’m learning that what I gain from Endurance is worth the bruises and bumps from knocking up against the others.

I have relatives in Character.  I know some wonderful saints, including in this congregation who have developed love, courage, kindness, patience, and a host of other qualities in moving from Suffering to Endurance to Character.  I don’t count myself among them yet, but I look to the day when I can establish a residence there and grow as they have.  God sends us such saints to help us see the value that can be gained in Suffering.

Somewhere along the way to or through Character, we find out that we have been in the state of hope the whole time of our journey.  We may not have realized it, but deep inside us was at least a small kernel of hope that gave us the strength to make it through Suffering and Endurance.  There is Lesser Hope and Greater Hope.  Lesser Hope gets us through and keeps us from getting sidetracked in Despair.  Lesser Hope helps us realize that our final destination is Greater Hope and being there is worth the trip.  Greater Hope is always pulling us forward, serving as a beacon in all our travels, drawing us on toward its landmark, Ultimate Joy.

There at Ultimate Joy we can finally see that even when surrounded by Pain, Sorrow and Anger or lost in Despair, we were never alone.  For the holy One has traveled this road before.  He knows all that we have gone through because He went through it and worse.  Then, we come to see that because Jesus, God’s Son, endured the worst suffering, that of the cross, for us, we are assured that we will never journey alone and that Hope is not just the end of our journey, but also our constant companion along the way.  

When we come to see this we become aware that we are standing knee deep in beautiful, refreshing, joy-filled grace beyond our wildest imaginings or greatest dreams.  Drink that grace in.  Luxuriate in it.  Store it up for the next trip through Suffering.  You may even find that it is sufficient to help you return to the town of Suffering to lead someone else through to Endurance, Character and Hope.  Blessed journey.  Amen.