We live very near Girty's Run, which winds through Shaler and Millvale. crossed by innumerable bridges. It is a small stream, staying well within its banks (some of concrete), and well below the surface of the ground we walk on and the roads we drive on. At least most of the time. The flood in 2004 involved (among other things) Girty's Run overflowing and annexing Evergreen Street, on the block behind our house. Even a heavy rain causes Girty's Run to rise. And then you can't help but hear it.

When it is at its usual water level, the water trickles and gurgles, and you really don't hear it unless you try to. After the hard rain, when it is high, it is loud. And it sounds different--not quiet, but rushing, hurried, urgent, almost impatient. Nature makes sounds, and it is interesting that the sounds can be characterized, almost as if they have emotions attached to them.

The Scriptures address this too. "If my land has cried out . . . and its furrows have wept together" (Job 31:38) seems to convey that the land and its furrows are making sounds that actually express sadness, maybe even despair. Jesus, in the midst of the Triumphal Entry, when the religious leaders ask him to make the people stop when "the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice" (Luke 19:37) says "I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out" (Luke 39:40)--conveying that nature shares in that same praise and joyful noise. And the Scriptures even go a step further, speaking of the Creator of All Things making sounds: "now I will cry out like a woman in labor, I will gasp and pant" (Isaiah 42:14). Even God enters into the sounds--and cries, gasps, and pants in pain and anticipation as something new emerges, using the childbirth metaphor.

"Groaning" happens. Cries of pain, struggle, the range of emotions, are made by we people, by nature, and by our Creator. The yearning for new life, for new beginnings, for something to enter into the status quo in ways that renew--this is not just our own human desire in the midst of this bizarre circumstance we find ourselves in. It is a universal cry, throughout history, by people, nature, and God. All of our world, and the one who has "the whole world in his hands", would seem to be in solidarity on this!

OLD TESTAMENT Isaiah 42:14-16

14 For a long time I have held my peace,
I have kept still and restrained myself;
now I will cry out like a woman in labor, I will gasp and pant.
15 I will lay waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbage;
I will turn the rivers into islands, and dry up the pools.
16 I will lead the blind by a road they do not know,
by paths they have not known I will guide them.
I will turn the darkness before them into light,
the rough places into level ground.
These are the things I will do, and I will not forsake them.

OLD TESTAMENT Exodus 2:23-25

23 After a long time the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned under their slavery, and cried out. Out of the slavery their cry for help rose up to God. 24 God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 25 God looked upon the Israelites, and God took notice of them.

OLD TESTAMENT Job 31:38-40

38 ‘If my land has cried out against me,
   and its furrows have wept together;
39 if I have eaten its yield without payment,
   and caused the death of its owners;
40 let thorns grow instead of wheat,
   and foul weeds instead of barley.’

GOSPEL Luke 19:39-40

39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, order your disciples to stop.’ 40He answered, ‘I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.’

EPISTLE Romans 8:19-24a

19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; 20 for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; 23 and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in hope we were saved.