Circuitous Hope
Romans 5:1-5
What goes around, comes around. Many of us learned that truism on the school playground or from a parent or Sunday School teacher as a youngster. It is based on the assumption that whatever you put out into the cosmos, that is what you will receive back. Some try to make this into a simplistic rule for life. If I want to be rich, I have to invest wisely out in the world. If I want to be happy, I have to surround myself with people who make me happy. If I want love I have to pretend to be someone I’m not so that my shadow side doesn’t scare you away. We become all wound up in a circuitous cycle of doing something so that our own needs will be met. We almost glimpsed the truth of how this works! It is so close that we can taste it. But a better feast awaits.
Disney captured this circular theme several years ago with the movie, “The Lion King”. Elton John’s theme song, “The Circle of Life” celebrated the circuitous interconnection that all of life has.
Yes, there is a circuitous nature to how the universe works – as well as to how God’s Spirit works. Galaxies, solar systems, moons and even atomic particles circle some central point that holds them in place and keeps them from disintegrating into nothingness.
The problem comes when we make “self” that central point that holds our lives and our world together. Did you realize that you have a choice in where you place your orbit?
When the center of my existence is my own ego satisfaction, the gravitational pull of my needs draws the circle of my existence into smaller and smaller orbits.
Our scripture lesson encourages us to begin in a different place. Paul suggests we begin by centered our lives on the faithfulness of Jesus. We begin here because we see the faithfulness of Jesus before God as a worthy guide in how we live as faithful people.
There is a subtle shift that happens in our text today. Up to this point, Paul is admonishing the Romans on what it means to live by faith. He does this in the style of a teacher over and against a group of students. Something changes when we arrive in chapter 5. Patricia McDonald notes that our scripture is a bridge section of the book of Romans. Paul shifts to the use of the pronoun “we” in this section. And from this point forward in the letter, Paul writes with the assurance that he and the Romans form one community. So, abandoning this “me and you” dichotomy, Paul writes, “since we are justified by faith, we have peace…” Paul is suggesting that they enter orbit together with a new center.
Now, here is where the orbiting metaphor dissolves, because Paul then suggests a circuitous cause and effect sort of chain – if you start with “a” this will lead to “b” which will lead to “c” which will lead to “d” which will lead you back to “a”. “We rejoice in our hope,” Paul says because hope sustains us in our suffering. Suffering produces endurance. Endurance produces character. And character renews our hope. And the circle begins again.
Now, are there other circuitous paths we can choose? Certainly! For example, there is the downward spiral of choosing security as one’s center which can produce defensiveness which produces isolation which produces enmity. Or we could choose hoarding which produces stinginess leading to fear of the future which causes angst.
Perhaps Paul is cluing us into an important truth that where we begin our circuitous adventures will make a huge difference on where the circle of our lives takes us.
Now, notice that choosing to begin with hope doesn’t mean that this is an easy or less perilous path. What it does mean is that we have a firmer foundation upon which we weather the storms of suffering or endurance when they come… and they will come.
It also gives us a different perspective on how we approach these difficult times in life. How often I have heard of people’s lives destroyed by pain or suffering or loss. They had not started with hope and so suffering overwhelmed them. Even when you begin from a place of hope our experiences of illness, death, divorce, betrayal or despair can blow with hurricane force through our lives. But when hope is a foundational part of who you are and how you live in the world, at least you have a solid place to hold onto as you face the wind.
Starting with hope changes the quality of our ability to endure. “Enduring” in our scripture passage does not suggest quietly “waiting it out.” Biblical endurance implies “wading right in.” This can be the grimy part of the circle – where life can be messy and unpleasant and not under our control. Our circuitous hope does not spin us to the sidelines to watch life happen from a distance. Rather it swirls us into the mix steeling our resolve. For it is only in the messiness of living out our faith that we build character.
Character that is built upon endurance comes from a place of strength and is able to foster the renewal of hope. Christian hope is no fragile thing. It is not simply wistful wishing or uninformed blind obedience. Christian hope is the result of the vital indwelling of yet another gift from God – Holy Spirit.
When it comes to hope, it is absolutely true that what goes around, comes around. When you build your faith and your life on the solid foundation of hope – a hope born through the presence of Holy Spirit – then no matter where the circles of your life take you, you know you will return to a hope that sustains.
Sources:
www.homileticsonline.com Ring This Bell, June 2007; Fingerprint of the Soul, June 1995.
Patricia M. McDonald, SHCJ, “Romans 5:1-11 as a rhetorical bridge.” Journal for the Study of the New Testament 40 [1990], pg. 81-96.
http://adisneyworld.disney.go.com/media/wdwi/images2003/languagespecific/fr_CA/parks/epcot/attractions/circleoflife/circle_of_life.jpg “Lion King” image
