Pain!

Homily, Pain!
First Sunday after Pentecost: Trinity Sunday C, 2025
St. Peter’s Episcopal Church
Plant City, FL

The Rev. Derek M Larson, TSSF

Today’s Lectionary Readings:

In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Last year my family went to see one of our favorite bands in concert: Imagine Dragons. The concert was incredible with lights and fireworks and background visuals all around a group of passionate and energetic musicians playing their hearts out on stage. Thousands of us sang and danced with the band as they played one hit after another. 

One of those hits is a song called Believer. It kicks off with a drum solo and everyone immediately recognizes it. Then Dan Reynolds, the frontman, starts to sing and the song builds and builds and builds until it gets to the chorus when everyone in the arena shouts at the top of their lungs, “PAIN! You make a believer! PAIN! You break me down and build me up. Believer. Pain! My life, my love, my drive, it came from PAIN!” 

It’s an odd thing to sing about, isn’t it, when most of our lives are spent avoiding that very thing, pain. It’s an odd thing to sing about when the pain in our lives is such a heavy burden that makes us at times question whether we can keep going. Pain. Is pain really something to shout out in praise at a rock concert?

(See a video of Imagine Dragons playing the song live at the bottom of this page)

In our passage from Romans today, St. Paul apparently thinks so. For he says, “We boast in our sufferings.” The NIV translates it, “We glory in our sufferings.” The ESV translates it, “We rejoice in our sufferings.” The NASB translates it, “We celebrate in our tribulations.” Paul’s statement is about as bold as shouting it at the top of your lungs at a rock concert. Pain! But it certainly feels counterintuitive, doesn’t it? 

Of course, we’ve heard mantras like this before. “No pain, no gain” some people like to say. Or “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” as the pop singer Kelly Clarkson sings in the hit song, though Nietzsche, the philosopher, said it first. And so the idea that pain can often help us grow stronger as people, is one we’re familiar with, even if the message is a difficult one. But that’s not exactly what Paul is saying in this passage. 

He is saying that pain can offer the gift of endurance which in turns leads us to character which in turns leads us to hope (it is growth), but it is not the pain that actually does the work. Pain is not a good unto itself. And if we’re not careful, we could take this passage and these philosophies and turn it into a kind of masochism which seeks out pain and tells us that pain comes from the will of God. That whatever pain you are suffering, God gave it to you to make you stronger. But that’s not very helpful, nor is it true. God never desires for you to be in pain; God never makes you suffer. 

No, what Paul says in this passage is that because of the saving work of Jesus Christ, and because God the Father loves us so deeply, and because we are filled with the Holy Spirit—the very presence of God—even in pain we are standing on holy ground. 

Paul says in this passage we boast in our hope to share God’s glory—when everything is great and we are caught up in the highest heaven, AND also we boast in our suffering, when everything is painful and we’re walking through the dark valley, because either way we are standing on holy ground. Or as Paul puts it, we are standing in grace. Because the Holy Spirit is with us. 

Paul then develops this idea a little more in chapter 8:28, “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to his purpose.” He does not say all things are good. He does not say all things are God’s purpose. He says that all things work together for good because of the Holy Spirit. That God can take your pain—even your pain—and use it as a vessel of God’s love and bring about healing in it. It’s not that God wants us to suffer, but that God doesn’t abandon us when we suffer. Verse 35 of Romans 8 then continues “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will affliction or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword?… No, in all these things we are more than victorious through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Pain is not the will of God. But not even pain can separate us from God. And in fact, even pain can be used by God for the shaping of our lives and the healing of this world. In Christ, loved by God, filled with Holy Spirit, everywhere we stand is holy ground. 

If you are in pain today—physical pain, emotional pain, spiritual pain—you are standing on holy ground. Not because that pain is good. Not because that pain was sent by God. Not because that pain is something you somehow deserve. But because God sees your pain. God sees your suffering. And God is with you in it. The task is to be with God in it. To open yourself to the presence of the Holy Spirit in the midst of your pain. To give your pain over to God and allow God to use it for as long as you have it. You don’t stop praying that it will go away. You don’t stop pursuing healing and recovery. But as long as the pain is there, you gently give it to God and know that God is present with you in it. Paul boasts in pain, because even pain can hold the presence of the God who loves us and who brings us healing.

And if you are not in pain today, you too are standing on holy ground. Not because everything is going great, but because of the Holy Spirit that lives in you. And someday when you do suffer pain, that will not change. 

I love Imagine Dragons, and that song, believer, is so catchy. I sing it at the top of my lungs. But it is not pain that transforms us; it is the Holy Spirit that dwells within us, even in the pain. So whether your are in comfort, or whether you are in pain, rejoice in your circumstances, for God loves you, Christ is with you, the Holy Spirit dwells in you, and you are standing on holy ground. Amen. 

Questions for Personal Reflection

  1. How do I typically respond to pain and suffering in my life, and how does that align with St. Paul’s message about boasting in our sufferings?
  2. In what ways can I open myself to the presence of the Holy Spirit during difficult times, allowing my pain to become a vessel for healing and transformation?
  3. Reflect on a past experience of pain—how did it shape my character or lead me to a deeper hope? Can I identify the presence of God during that time?
  4. How can I better support others who are experiencing pain, ensuring they feel seen and accompanied in their suffering?
  5. What does it mean for me to stand on holy ground, both in times of comfort and in times of struggle? How can I cultivate gratitude and awareness of God’s presence in all circumstances?