Sermons
"Sighs too deep for words..."
Last September as the Twin Towers fell
-the staff gathered here-
and tried to do
what everyone else tried to do that day.
We tried to figure out
how to make sense
of the madness and the sadness
that was being broadcast into our lives.
I remember reading
the psalms one after the other
-hoping and longing
that the words and phrases
might enable me
to make some sort of meaning
out of what was happening.
But the words seemed
flat and two-dimensional.
I wondered then
how do I pray?-
Yet I had no idea how.
Then Ashley remembered a verse
-a biblical verse from the book of Romans-
a verse a seminary professor
had pointed out to her at some earlier point in her life.
That verse
is this morning's first line
of the second reading.
It goes like this:
The Spirit helps us in our weakness;
For we do not know how to pray as we ought,
But that very Spirit
Intercedes with sighs too deep for words.
(REPEAT AGAIN)
It was the perfect verse
-for never had it been more true
that we were
unable to voice the words-or form the sentences
-of the prayers that we desperately needed to say.
Yet our inability to pray
-our inability to give voice
to the fears, the hopes and the tears-
did not mean that our yearnings went silent.
For the spirit-
will pray for us-
when we are unable-
unwilling to do so for ourselves.
September 11-is certainly not the only time
I have struggled with my prayer life.
Even though I'm supposed to be
something of a professional-prayer
prayer-does not always
come readily or easily to me.
So hearing these words-gave me hope.
They gave me hope
and they reminded me of the truth
that I forget at least once each day.
WE ARE NOT ALONE.
GOD IS WITH US.
AS A RESULT EVERYTHING IS NOT UP TO US.
Certainly this is not carte blanche
to check out
and give up on our spiritual lives
-what it is-
is a sure and certain reminder
that we do not have to do it all by ourselves.
And in those many times in our lives
when we feel overwhelmed-
--our sighs can and will be our prayers.
In March when I was first diagnosed
-I remember I spent the next six weeks
sighing over and over again.
Expelling air out of my chest-
-evacuating that which was inside of me.
Releasing-and purging myself
(at least metaphorically)
of the cells that had lost sight of their original purpose.
I found myself
sighing over and over again
-and I would shake my head and think to myself-
"Yeah right as if I can blow the cancer cells away."
But now-remembering
these simple words from the book of Romans
I can see that it was in those heavy sighs
-that the spirit was
-praying for, with and through me,
literally interceding in prayer
with sighs too deep for words.
On this wildly hot summer morning-
--I offer you these thoughts from the apostle Paul-
--when you are overwhelmed
-feeling alone and completely unable to pray-
simply inhale and then exhale deeply-
and the Spirit of our living God
will pray with you as you breathe
in and out
back and forth
over and over again.
For the Spirit helps us in our weakness-when we do not know how to pray
the spirit
will intercede with sighs too deep for words.
(Breathe in deeply. Breathe out deeply)
Amen.
© 2002 B. A. Perry. All rights reserved.