Songs and Groans” 

Romans 8:18-39 

A couple had two young boys who were excessively mischievous. They were always getting into trouble and their parents knew that if any mischief occurred in their town, their sons would get the blame.  

The boys' mother heard that a clergyman in town had been successful in disciplining children, so she asked if he would speak with her boys. The clergyman agreed, and asked to see them individually. So, the mother sent her youngest first, in the morning, with the older boy to see the clergyman in the afternoon.  

The clergyman, a huge man with a booming voice, sat the younger boy down and asked him sternly, "Where is God?"  

They boy's mouth dropped open, but he made no response. He just sat there with his mouth hanging open. The clergyman repeated the question. "Where is God?" Again, the boy made no attempt to answer. So the clergyman raised his voice some more and shook his finger in the boy's face and bellowed, "Where is God!?"  

The boy screamed and bolted from the room. He ran directly home and dove into his closet, slamming the door behind him. When his older brother found him in the closet, he asked, "What happened?"  

The younger brother, gasping for breath, replied, "We are in big trouble this time! God is missing and they think we did it!"

This is a story which I found humorous, but in it, lurks a deeply significant question, a question that is too often heard in our world of need. “Where is God?” 

Where is God, our world asks, in the face of hunger and homelessness? 

Where is God, our world asks, in Darfur, & Baghdad, and Kabul? Where is God in Blacksburg, Virginia? 

Where is God in the dark places of our lives, in those areas where we see no solution, in those wounds that remain stubbornly open? Where is God? 

What a profound question this is. It is a question that is not satisfied with easy, pat answers. Quick quotations of memorized scripture verses are not enough to fill the void left by the brokenness of Sin. Have not each of us, beginning faith seeker and seasoned Christian alike, at some point or another, felt, instead of God's presence, God's absence? 

How do we, as people of faith, answer the question, where is God? 

Earth Sunday celebration points to one answer that is readily apparent. We can find God in God's creation. I am reminded of God's presence each time I pull out of our driveway in the wonderful view of the Wellsville Mountains that we are blessed to enjoy. It is an experience that I have heard many of you express: that in nature, in the beauty of this valley, you feel close to God.  

Scripture echoes this inner spiritual experience. Ps. 65 seems to answer our question “Where is God?” directly.

“You answer us with awesome and righteous deeds,

God our Savior,

the hope of all the ends of the earth

and of the farthest seas,

who formed the mountains by your power,

having armed yourself with strength,

who stilled the roaring of the seas,

the roaring of their waves,

and the turmoil of the nations.

The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders;

where morning dawns, where evening fades,

you call forth songs of joy.”

Scripture reminds us again and again that the whole creation sings of God's presence.  

We heard the word Betsy read, “God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. (Gen 1:31 NRSV).” Scripture invites us to recognize and celebrate that God has composed an intricate symphony of creation, a beautiful diversity of melody and harmonies that come together to form a magnificent opus of praise and glory. Heavens and the earth, creatures and humankind, woven together in a delicate harmony. All you have to do is look, or walk out into nature, and you hear the song. This is that feeling of God's presence.  

Song of creation is God's gift to us, and the creation calls us to sing along. Where is God? Here is God. 

But alas, we have complicated God's harmonious composition of creation. From Adam and Eve on, we, through our sin, have struck discordant notes. We have sung out of tune. We have transformed the delicate harmonies of life into notes of fear, self-centeredness, and abuse. With the environment, our charge to “Till and to keep” has become our license to consume and abuse. The creation has suffered as a result. Scripture also reflects this reality:

“The earth dries up and withers,

      the world languishes and withers;

      the heavens languish together with the earth.

The earth lies polluted

      under its inhabitants;

      for they have transgressed laws,

      violated the statutes,

      broken the everlasting covenant.” (Is 24:4-5 NRSV)

Ezekiel also confronts us with this prophetic word.

“As for you, my flock, thus says the Lord GOD: I shall judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and goats: Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, but you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture? When you drink of clear water, must you foul the rest with your feet? And must my sheep eat what you have trodden with your feet, and drink what you have fouled with your feet?

  Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD to them: I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. Because you pushed with flank and shoulder, and butted at all the weak animals with your horns until you scattered them far and wide, I will save my flock, and they shall no longer be ravaged; and I will judge between sheep and sheep (Ezek 34:17-22 NRSV).”

Can you hear today in these ancient words? 

In Paul's words that we heard from his letter to the Romans, the creation “groans” along with us. As we suffer, waiting for God's presence, so too does the creation groan for God's renewal.  

In theological terms, this is our, i.e. humankinds, doing. In our sin, we threaten the song. Instead of proclaiming God's presence, our environmental situation today and the resultant chaos and suffering raises the question of God's absence. 

Instead of singing, we groan. In our over consumption and abuse of the environment, we de-create what God created. We exercise domination out of fear. The creation, instead of being nurtured, is placed in bondage and is subject to our abuse. It exists not to give glory to the creator but to serve us.  

I will not dwell upon the science of global warming, or upon the facts of our environmental crisis, for there are others that are much more qualified than I to speak of this realm.  

But I will say that (to use the words of the young mischievous boy) if God seems to be missing, it is, in large measure, precisely because we did it. 

But this is not the end of the story. Our faith once again gives us an option.  

We can groan, that is, continue to participate in the human tendency toward self-fulfillment and self-preservation at the cost of the creation. Or we can sing along with our creator. We can sing the tune of grace, harmony and inclusion. 

We can sing notes of preserving our environment. We can sing notes of simpler lives that focus on seeking God rather than seeking the most toys. We can sing notes of compassion and love for neighbor instead of accumulating what we can for ourselves. I have felt this relationship with the creation much more acutely here. I am resolved to evaluate how I live. We can help each other with that.  

In a world that is dark, where people can feel so alone that they feel the only option is to strike out with violence, we need to sing. The truth that creation and Scripture shows us is that we are all connected: the created order, the animals, humanity, and God. We need to recover that harmony.  

I have a sickness that I can't seem to shake. It doesn't affect me all of the time, only some of the time. Sometimes, to my family's dismay, I come down with it at home. Sometimes I come down with it in the shower. Sometimes in the car. I am trying to hide the symptoms from Pam in the office during the week, otherwise she might think I'm nuts. 

This sickness with which I am stricken is “I can't help singing - itis” or alternatively called (depending upon your musical taste) “Maria Callas, or Tony Bennett, or Bono syndrome” Perhaps you have a unique strain of this disease.  

Because I have this disease, when I hear a piece of music or when a song or tune pops into my head, I just have to sing. A song or a beautiful piece of music touches some melody that resides deep inside me. That melody bubbles its way up to the surface of my soul and it just has to be released out into the open. I can't help it. Sometimes it is a joyful note. Sometimes it is a mournful tune. Sometimes it is a song of hope, and sometimes it is a tune of lament. But sing I must.  

Unfortunately, the sounds that emerge from my throat are always less than perfect, a mere shadow of the voice or melody I am trying to emulate. In fact, part and parcel of this syndrome is the belief, the sheer confidence, that you can hit notes that you really can't. When I succumb to this sickness at home, or in the car with the kids present, you should hear the groans and the pained expressions! But I can't help it. When the melody arises, I just have to sing. I find God there as I do. 

Friends, when we are confronted with the question, Where is God? When we are faced with incidents of tragedy, or with a world that is wounded and alone, with no song to sing - when human selfishness and foolishness threatens to mute the song of praise and glory sung by the creation, we may not have all the answers. We may not have all the right words to say. But one thing we can do, and that is sing. We can sing with our lives - our words and deeds - that God is here, and that God is with those who are suffering. We can sing the invitation not to kill or abuse or consume the world, but to live in harmony with it, as God intended.  

We sing because God has first serenaded us. We sing because God has given us a song of love and compassion for each other and for the entire creation in Jesus Christ.  

Our voices may strain. We may groan. Our lyrics may be off at times. We may have to search for the right melody on occasion. But if we seek to sing the song of the creator, we can affirm with the apostle Paul that “nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable--absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.” 

How did we open today service? All creatures of our God and King, lift up your voice and let us sing. Alleluia, alleluia. Alleluia. 

May we share with the world, God's presence, and our alleluias. Amen.  
 

April 22, 2007

Rev. Paul Heins

First Presbyterian Church

Logan, Utah