Several years ago I joined a team to provide Katrina relief in New Orleans. We were charged with gutting out Ms. Helena’s home, which suffered an 8 ft. storm surge and a three week drowning of 4 ft. of stagnant water. We pulled out dry wall and base boards, we moved pictures and books to the curb, and cleaned mold from essential structural beams. Near the end of our week I had the chance to visit with Ms. Helena on her front porch. As we sat together enjoying some water, I asked her how she was feeling. She broke an awkward silence with, “Thank God for the flood.” “Excuse me?” I said. “Do you see that oak tree in my yard? If it hadn’t been for the flood, the wind would have thrown the tree into my house, destroying it beyond repair. So, I thank God for the flood.” It was a humbling conversation. How was it that in the midst of suffering she was able to thank God for anything? We had just thrown away almost everything she owned, and yet, she was hopeful.
How is it that Paul moves so quickly from suffering to hope? Paul writes, “We boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” It sounds like an empty promise of sorts, and it is if we don’t read Paul carefully. Paul does not say that suffering produces hope, and therein lies the temptation of moving too quickly from suffering to hope. It’s almost human nature to provide immediate hope in the midst of suffering. When life is lost we say, “They are in a better place.” In the midst of divorce we say, “Don’t worry, things will get better.” When someone has lost their job we say, “Don’t worry, you’ll find something.” We mean well when we say these things. We say them out of compassion and love and the need to do something to bring peace, but unfortunately these words aren’t necessarily helpful. It’s like that great scene in Steel Magnolias when Annelle tells M’lynne that she should rejoice that Shelby is with God in heaven, and M’lynne replies, “Well forgive me for not being happy. Call me selfish, but I’d rather have her here.” In many ways, hope is not something we do, it is a destination in which we find ourselves.
Suffering is devastating because being in the midst of suffering seemingly erases possibility. It is difficult to see past your own face when you are suffering because it seems like suffering will never end, that there won’t be a tomorrow. This is why being in a place of hope is so important. Hope is the embodiment of possibility. Hope does not disappoint us, as Paul says, because “Hope” is possibility. Suffering is looking at a blank page and seeing nothing. Hope is looking at the same blank page and seeing endless possibility. In order to see how Paul moves from suffering to hope, let’s work backwards, beginning with hope.
Character produces hope. Many years ago I was title character in Slidell Little Theater’s production of Lil’ Abner. It was the first time I was the lead in a musical so I was very nervous, so I practiced and practiced and practiced. There is a particular scene in the musical where Lil’ Abner talks to the president of the United States. In our production, we pre taped the voice of the President so that Abner could be alone on stage, talking to the balcony. The voice over the speakers said something like, “Abner, I want to congratulate you on the work that you’ve done.” One weekend, I went on stage for the scene. The spotlight was on me as I stared into the balcony. The voice came over the speakers and said, “Abner, I want to . . .” The tape malfunctioned, and at first, it was frightening. There was a moment of silence which seemed to last forever. Because I had practiced the scene so much, I knew that the President was supposed to congratulate me on finding the kicakapoo joy juice. So I said, “While you think of what you’re going to say, I’m going to go find the bottle of kickapoo joy juice.” Then I ran off stage and we started the next scene. One of the cardinal rules of acting is to never break character, and the only way to do this is to practice, to know your character so well that no matter what happens on stage, I will always act as my character would act. In other words, knowing my character means that the possibilities are endless, no matter what happens. Character produces hope. Our Christian character is shaped in much the same way. Through practicing the disciplines of the church, prayer, fasting, communion, study, we are shaped and formed, theologically speaking, we are spiritually perfected, that no matter what life hands us, we can respond in holy and righteous ways. Character produces hope.
Endurance produces character. Endurance is picking up the script and studying lines and blocking, and practicing with other actors. In the church, endurance is the adoption of spiritual disciplines. It is making the commitment to pray. It is taking time to study scripture. It is spending your weekends volunteering at Hope House and Kids Hope—do you notice the titles of those ministries—HOPE house and Kids HOPE. Endurance—living into the disciplines of the church, forms our Christian character, which produces the endless possibilities of hope. When you find yourself in the darkness of suffering, seeing the light of hope seems impossible, namely because suffering doesn’t produce hope. Suffering leads to endurance. In other words, when you are suffering and you see a blank page of nothingness, Paul is calling us to fill the blank page with prayer. When there are no words on the page we are to fill them with the words of scripture. When the agenda is blank, fill it with service to others. Suffering produces endurance, the blank page is filled with the prayer, service, study and community. Endurance produces character, the disciplines form us in the power of the Spirit. Character produces hope, giving us the ability to see the blank page as possibility. Hope does not disappoint us because we are finally in a place to see the love of God which has been poured into our hearts, the love of God which provides us Resurrection, the truth that all things are possible through Christ our Lord.
Suffering is not necessarily when bad things happen. Jurgen Moltmann put it this way:
“We begin to suffer from the conditions of our world if we begin to love the world. And we begin to love the world if we are able to discover hope for it. And we discover hope for this world if we hear the promise of a future which stands against frustration, transiency, and death. To be sure, we can find certainty only in complete uncertainty.”
In other words, we suffer because we love. We look at the brokenness of the world and our heart breaks over that which breaks God’s heart. This is why Christ suffered on the cross. Jesus looked over Jerusalem and wept. He suffered on the cross, taking on the sins of the world so that the world might be saved. He suffered and endured the cross, showing us the Christian character of love, so that we might experience the hope of resurrection. Suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us.
We have been justified and we will be saved. Paul would be a good Methodist. He talks about salvation as a process, we will be saved. We have been justified through Christ on the cross. God has shown us the way through Christ in the power of the Spirit, and the Spirit walks with us onto salvation, which is living into the Resurrection. It’s like going to New Orleans and gutting out Ms. Helena’s home, getting rid of the muck and mold, so that her home can be filled with new things. Looking at an empty house may produce suffering, the inability to see possibility, or an empty house may represent a new and beautiful future. It’s like sitting on the porch and saying, “Thank God for the flood because the flood water held the oak tree back.” Getting to that place means getting your hands dirty and removing the muck and mire, but when the house is finally clean, new life begins to grow. Suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the power of the Spirit.
If you are looking at your life and you see a blank page of nothingness, fill the page is prayer, community, and service, and eventually, by the power of the Spirit, the blank page will become a symbol of hope because you will be able to see the possibility given to us in Christ’s Resurrection, the moment when Christ took the suffering and nothingness of death and transformed it into life, showing us that all things are possible through Christ our Lord. Praise be to God. Amen.