Rom. 8;22-27

Pentecost Rom. 8:22-27 1) Obviously we start with a cosmic maternal image. Groaning and birth pangs notice are words used with a sense of together, a chorus of sound. . Most of us think of apocalyptic material as end times material, but Paul here sees it in the Birth of a new age. 2) Are we to read the redemption of our bodies as a new birth? Is it a present reality on the way or does it mean until the end times or our deaths? 3) On hope, we move beyond optimism into much deeper territory. When is hope illusory? Springsteen: “is a dream a lie that don’t come true/or is it something worse?” 4) A bold sermon, an enacted one, could result from v. 26. How do we communicate with sighs too deep for words? Spend some time thinking about, praying over what it means that the very sprit of god intercedes for us. 5) What sense do you make of v. 27 in terms of the spriit’s intercession? Should we consider those prayers to be answered as they accord with the will of God? John 3:1-17 This does not jump out at me with Trintiarian notions, until I stop and consider it. By the way, consider the Fiddes book on Participating in God, or Cunningham’s These three Are One, or Gunton’s the Triune Creator. 2) The issue of new birth and creation certainly captures Trinitarian concerns, as does the lifting up of the Son toward the end. 3) The famous end of the passage captures the character of the Trinitarian God well. Consider Torrance on the work of the trinity always being unified.