Proper 11: Epistle, Romans 8:17-27                                  

Romans 8:17-27

As I read through the epistle for the week I had one of those thoughts, “Have I never read this before?” Now, of course I have. Many times. Romans 8 for the believer in Jesus is like a S'more at the campground or the lifting of a trophy after a hard-fought championship. It's just the kind of place one wants to hang around. But upon this reading, which centers on the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit in our prayers, I noticed one word coming up again and again. Five times. The word? Creation. Five times it's used from verse 18 through verse 23.

Here it is used to point to everything God has made. Not just people, but all creation. And the gist of the passage speaks of the patient waiting, endurance really, of God’s creation as it looks for “the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (v. 21b). There is something that the Holy Spirit is bringing about through the prayers of God’s people. It’s a renewal that God has been working toward since our parents ate the fruit that sent us into “futility,” as Paul writes. But even that futility has hope attached and all creation waits to see the unveiling of the plans of the One who fashioned it out of nothing. It’s an unveiling which includes the death and resurrection of God’s Son and the reception of that good news by those who hunger, not for forbidden fruit, but for forgiveness from their Father.

All creation waits. Me included. Amen!