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Before we go to our scripture text, first an apology that yesterday\u2019s devotion didn\u2019t go out!\xa0 We clicked the wrong button when we put it up: but it\u2019s up now, and you\u2019ll find it posted below in today\u2019s email or however you get this.\xa0

And, another, more serious note too.\xa0

With sadness, I\u2019d like to let you know that Pastor Michael\u2019s dad passed away yesterday afternoon, April 13.\xa0 A note from the church will go out about that later today.\xa0 His dad\u2019s death was expected, but we grieve with him and his family, and I invite you to lift them up in prayer today.\xa0 That\u2019s another reason to give a listen to yesterday\u2019s devotion too: Pastor Michael wrote it, and reflected a bit on the journey he and his family have been on these past months.

And it\u2019s in light of that and so much other suffering we face that our text for today comes to us, from Romans 8:

We know that the whole creation has been groaning\xa0as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.\xa0Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit,\xa0groan\xa0inwardly as we wait eagerly\xa0for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.\xa0For in this hope we were saved.

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There is a long yearning that we feel in our bones these days.\xa0 As we\u2019re confronted by so much death, now of Pastor Michael\u2019s father too.\xa0 As we\u2019re shut in again at home in fear of a virus and in frustration about it\u2019s restrictions, including the cancellation of in-person classes in schools.\xa0 And, as we\u2019re weary from too many long, hug-less days of avoiding our neighbours, friends, and loved ones.

\u201cThe whole creation groans.\u201d\xa0 Ain\u2019t that just the truth.\xa0 And we ourselves groan too.\xa0 It\u2019s been a long road.\xa0 It still is.\xa0

But in our groanings is a longing.\xa0 A longing for a better day.\xa0 A longing for Christ to come again.\xa0 For these bodies that betray us in sickness and pain and death to finally be redeemed to the fullness of new creation.\xa0 For the separation between us and our loved ones to end.\xa0 It\u2019s the hope we were saved in: a hope for life beyond death.\xa0 For forgiveness beyond failings.\xa0 A hope for God Himself to be with us and to be our God in a way that looks like the best of a family reunion.\xa0 Being enveloped in the joy of a loving embrace after too many years of separation in a place where all is finally well.

We long for these things.\xa0 We groan for them, together with the whole creation.\xa0 It\u2019s about all our weary selves can muster these days.\xa0 But, even our groans are still an expression of hope.\xa0 A longing for Christ to return.\xa0 So today, just that simple prayer again: Come, Lord Jesus, Come.

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