It is all about context

When we don’t have the correct context it is very difficult to understand what is going on. A pastor of my acquaintance, newly installed at a church, was reported to be “having lunch with a blonde” by a, no doubt well-meaning, parishioner who had never met the pastor’s daughter, the daughter had been away school. Not knowing the context meant that this person drew a correct but erroneous conclusion about the new pastor’s lunch habits.

This Sunday’s sermons address, to a certain extent, what it means when we don’t have the correct context to assess what is going on with our own lives. When Paul suggests that our problems are “slight momentary affliction[s]” we understandably bristle but when he further explains the context into which our afflictions, difficulties, troubles, pick your own word, we understand what he meant.

Paul reminds us that whatever we are going through “is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure.” Now this does not mean that what we are going through is irrelevant or meaningless. Anyone who is suffering is suffering, that’s all there is to it, however, knowing that my suffering has meaning and is not just a random outcome of a random universe makes it endurable in a way that nothing else will.

Knox Presbyterian Slight? Momentary?

St. Mark’s Presbyterian Slight? Momentary?

I hope that today’s sermon, or sermons, provides hope for you no matter what your context.

Blessings,