[This message was delivered on 8/30/26 at Community of the Savior in Rochester, NY, based on Romans 12:9-21 and Matthew 16:21-28. It can be viewed on the Facebook page of Community of the Savior.]
Do you remember that first day back in school after summer vacation when the teacher would ask, how was your summer? I am just finishing a summer like none other in my long life. It really started last spring when my wife found out that she had cancer, stage one of a curable cancer. A few days later, our first-born daughter found out that she had a rare and aggressive cancer. As a long-term pastor, I dealt with cancer pretty regularly, but not in my own immediate family. This was new territory. And hence, my summer has been filled with new experiences. My wife going through surgery and radiation. Our daughter moving to New York City for the summer to be under the care of Memorial Sloan Kettering. The Wilmot Cancer Center of the University of Rochester is an outstanding cancer and has taken good care of my wife, but they knew they were not prepared to take care of the leiomyosarcoma that was at work in my daughter. She has received five infusions of chemotherapy and next week will have scans to determine how well the clinical trial she is in is working.
I am ready for fall. My wife is doing well and has rung the bell at Pluta Cancer Center. My daughter is getting good reports, but still has a ways to go before she rings that bell at Memorial Sloan Kettering. And our younger daughter, home for a vacation from her work in Madagascar, is staying longer because she is on alert, being a woman in our family’s gene pool. Your prayers, along with the prayers of so many, have been sustaining us. I am ready for fall, but this summer isn’t over yet and I don’t regret my experiences this summer. It has been a summer of rejoicing in hope, being patient in trouble, and persevering in prayer.
When I look at the lectionary passage today from Romans 12, I see about 30 charges for how to live our faith, 30 little nuggets, like diamonds on a bracelet. They are all good, some more demanding than others. One group of three jumps out at me, found in verse 12 giving us a 12/12 vision: Rejoice in hope; be patient in trouble; persevere in prayer.
I looked in a handful of favorite Bible translations at this verse. The word affliction in the middle charge may be translated distress or trouble or tribulation. I am using trouble to catch these shades of meaning. To use some of my words: We are rejoicing in our hope, we are learning to be patient in troubling circumstances, and we are keeping on praying.
This has been my experience this summer. I am lifted by our hope in the Lord. I am learning to be patient in circumstances I would not choose. I am appreciating the sustaining potential of prayer. About that middle phrase, whether translated affliction, distress, or trouble, or tribulation, these are external circumstances. We may feel them at a deeply internal level, but they are from without. They are not who we are, they are what come to us in life. Jesus said in John 16:33: “In the world you have trouble (tribulation), but take courage: I have conquered the world!’”
Our joy is not dependent on happy circumstances. We are not sunshine disciples. But often we want it be all sunshine. I can identify with Peter when he is troubled by Jesus talking about coming suffering and death. When Jesus says “that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed,” aren’t we all with Peter in wanting to say, “No, Lord. This can’t happen to you. You are our hope. We trust you and we know who you are. That means no bad stuff; only good stuff. No suffering; only glory. No defeats; only victories. Isn’t that the way it should be, Jesus?”
Peter has a political agenda, one shared by many Jews of that time. Enough of the Roman Empire, ever bullying us with threats of raw military power. We want to be a free and prosperous nation with safe and secure borders. We are tired of outsiders, those immigrants and refugees who scare us and mean to do us harm.
No, Peter. Jesus has another agenda, one which will include suffering and death, but that will not be the end of the story. Peter, get on the right team, not the politically powerful team. Get on the team of righteousness. Get on the team that rejoices in hope, is patient in trouble, and perseveres in prayer.
I need stories of people who live this way. I think of what the Dan Schaertel Memorial Gift (Dan was a member of Community of the Savior, who died almost a year ago in an automobile accident) is doing for people in Ruru, Rwanda, showing the love of God in practical ways. In their trouble, Dan’s family responded in love and kindness.
Another is the story of Peter and Linda Biehl and their daughter Amy. Amy was born in 1967 in Newport Beach, CA, a place of wealth and privilege. She graduated a Fulbright Scholar from Stanford and went to South Africa to learn the plight of Black women as South Africa was transitioning from a racist apartheid society into something better. In late August, 1993, she was driving with three Black women from a rally when the car she was driving was stopped by four young Black men. Amy was white, with blond hair. The young men were intent on doing harm to any white person they could find, having lived under brutal racist conditions. Amy was killed that night. The four men were apprehended and found guilty and sentenced to time in prison. Amy’s parents, Peter and Linda, were devastated, but in their grief wanted to do something redemptive to honor their slain daughter. They started the Amy Biehl Foundation to aid Black women in the townships of South Africa. And that meant a trip to South Africa to meet young women that knew Amy. And that meant visiting a prison and meeting the four young men. They shook their hands and they spoke words of forgiveness. Those men were released after five years, recognizing the circumstances, and two went to work for the Amy Biehl Foundation. Their lives were redeemed by love.
The Biehls make me think of some of the words of Romans 12 about how we are to live.
Let love be genuine; hate what is evil,love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Rejoice in hope; be patient in trouble; persevere in prayer. Do not be arrogant, but associate with the lowly.So far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
As an act of stewardship, I follow the news. I want to know what is happening in this world created and loved by God and visited by Jesus. There was a lot in the news this week. A huge destructive flood in Nepal. Meta, the company that owns Facebook and Instagram, agreed to pay a settlement of $18 billion though it said it did nothing wrong. The FDA approved a new drug which shows great promise for treating pancreatic cancer. Wars drag on in Ukraine, Gaza, Iran, Sudan, and places we don’t even know. But one story dominated: the death of Dolly Parton. Dolly was an original, authentic and genuine to the core. I knew that, but I didn’t know how generous she was. She gave away millions of dollars, often out of the spotlight. After a flood in her native eastern Tennessee, she gave a $1,000 a month to families that lost their homes until they found new homes. She endowed a wing of a hospital in Nashville for the care of children with cancer. She started Imagination Library, sending a book a month free to needy children in Tennessee, and it has outgrown Tennessee and now reaches all over this country and beyond. Over 330 million books have been sent to children free of charge. Dolly took her faith in Jesus seriously, looking for the light of God in all people, without judgment. In a world with too many billionaires seeking more billions, Dolly spread the wealth entrusted to her. Beyond her music, her legacy of kindness and love will continue. But so will her music. My favorite song of the 3,000+ she wrote is not one of the big hits, not “9 to 5,” or “I Will Always Love You,” or “Jolene.” It is one she wrote early in her career as she was coming out of troubling circumstances, called “The Light of a Clear, Blue Morning.” These words cause me to rejoice in hope, be patient in trouble, and persevere in prayer:
It’s been a long dark night
And I’ve been a-waiting for the morning
It’s been a long hard fight
But I see a brand new day dawning
I’ve been looking for the sunshine
You know I ain’t seen it in so long
But everything’s gonna work out just fine
And everything’s gonna be all right
That’s been all wrong
‘Cause I can see the light of a clear blue morning
I can see the light of a brand new day
I can see the light of a clear blue morning
Oh, and everything’s gonna be all right
It’s gonna be okay
Rejoicing in hope; being patient in trouble; persevering in prayer. That is who we are.
Everything’s gonna be all right.
Sailing toward Wisdom 