Kindred in Christ,

 

Up until now in our series All Creation Sings, we’ve celebrated how worship connects us with all creatures and the earth itself—a chorus of praise, gratitude, and wonder. This Sunday, we turn to a different song: the song of groaning. It is the song of longing, of protest, of insistence that what is broken be made whole. Creation groans. Humanity groans. And the Spirit groans with us, moving through our pain toward new life and justice.

 

This focus is especially timely, as our nation prepares for its second wave of No Kings Mass protests this weekend—a vivid reminder that standing up for justice, even when the world seems indifferent, is part of the work God calls us to.

 

Paul tells us in Romans 8 that all creation waits with bated breath, straining toward freedom, groaning with labor pains for the day of God’s restoration. John Wesley also reflected on this reality in his sermon The General Deliverance, teaching that God’s grace is not limited to human hearts but flows through all living creatures, renewing and restoring the earth itself. For Wesley, groaning is sacred labor—a song of hope rising out of pain.

 

In our Gospel, Luke 18, Jesus lifts up the widow who refuses to be silent in the face of injustice. Her persistence—her groaning for justice—softens even the hardest hearts. She reminds us that groaning is never passive; it is action, it is hope, it is insistence. The Spirit groans with creation and with us, guiding our prayers, our protests, and our persistence toward new life and justice.

 

Join us this Sunday to hear the songs of creation, to enter into the groaning of the Spirit, and to discover how our own persistence—our own groaning for justice and new life—is part of the cosmic labor of God. Even in sighs and cries, God is at work, weaving life, hope, and renewal into the world.

 

Alongside you,
Pastor Paul