Psalm 119: 97-120
Jeremiah 8: 18– 9:6
Romans 5: 1-11
John 8: 12-20
Give ear to our prayers, O Lord, and direct the way of your servants in safety under your protection, that, amid all the changes of our earthly pilgrimage, we may be guarded by your mighty aid; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
In the passage from Romans today, Paul writes, “We boast in our sufferings.” Right, Paul. I love to boast in my sufferings. Yet, truly how often do we boast when we make it through something very difficult. I survived! I achieved! We are proud and boast of our sufferings. Our times of survival allow us to hope and pray and carry on the next time our lives get rough. None of us survives on our own. All the rough spots in our lives are witnessed and supported by others, by our communities, by God. God is always with us through the changes on our earthly pilgrimages. Jesus is asked by the Pharisee in the Gospel passage in John, “Where is your Father?” If we know God, we know that God is with us. Jesus proclaims this good news in his teachings and in his actions. We can only boast in our sufferings because God has carried us through.
The Reverend Elizabeth Yale