with sighs too deep for words

from my sermon on July 24 from Romans 8:26-27

Let's do a quick opinion poll. By a show of hands, how many here consider yourselves to experts at praying?......not a single one. Okay, how many here would like to become better at praying? ....almost everyone Well, you have come to the right place. That's exactly what God wants for you, with sighs too deep for words.

The passage says that we don't know how to pray as we ought, but that the Spirit helps us in our praying, interceding for us, with sighs too deep for words. The Holy Spirit, that may be a hard concept for us to grasp, but the Holy Spirit is the presence of God in every present moment. That Spirit is here to help us learn how to pray better.

Some of us are fortunate because that Spirit was working in the family where we grew up. Praying was modeled for us. You may have been prayed for ever since you were in utero. You may have grown up with prayers at suppertime. They may have been very serious prayers. They may have been, "Rub a dub dub, thanks for the grub, Yeah, God!" They may have been sung like the Johnny Appleseed song or the Doxology to the tune of "Fernando's Hideaway." You may have learned bedtime prayers....God bless mommy and daddy and the pets and brother and sister... You may have learned rote prayers like "Our Father, who art in heaven..." Then came the day when you were trusted to find your own voice and pray for yourself. Does this script ring true for some of you?

You may have been taken to worship where you learned to pray in community. Today, you find yourself in worship. It is the right place to learn how to pray with sighs too deep for words.

I long thought that this phrase, "with sighs too deep for words," meant that the sighs were ours. They were things that we couldn't put into words, couldn't express, yet the Spirit heard them better than we could say them, and carried them to the ear of God. But a theologial I admire, Walter Wink, gave me a whole new understanding. He said that it is the Spirit of God who is sighing. We are the ones called to hear and put into words and actions what God is saying. I know that this may a new concept to most of you so take some time to let this roll around your soul. It means we move beyond presenting our grocery list of prayers to God to listening for God's grace list of prayers for us that we then give voice to. The more we learn how to pray, the less it becomes about our speaking, and the more it becomes about our listening to the Spirit's sighs.

I will give you an example. Several years ago when I first became acquainted with this concept of prayer, you are not going to believe this next part, but some nations were forcing children to become soldiers. I will never forget the picture of this young boy in Africa, maybe 12 years old, squatting down, with an assault rifle in his hands, and get this, a teddy bear backpack on his back. Can you hear the Spirit sighing? I heard the Spirit sighing, "This is not right. This is not what I intend for my children. Stop doing this!"

I know that that is a very serious example. The sighs are not always so sobering and sad. I have another more positive example for you. We read the Bible to soak ourselves in the Spirit's sighing. From the very beginning of Creation, the Spirit was there, hovering over the face of the waters, bringing order out of chaos. God's Spirit filled humankind's lungs and we became living beings. God through the Spirit has declared creation good and humankind as very good. Three weeks ago, on Sunday morning, I got up to take a hike in Angel Fire, New Mexico. I left our little condo, walked down the mountain at 8500 feet, across the road, and started up the Bear trail on the other mountain. It is very early as I am still on Texas time, just at first light. Along the trail in the meadow, I spot 2 elk. I get to the top of the trail and go on the connecting trail called Coyote trail. Just where it meets the Elk trail, I heard and saw movement off to my left. Coming down off the mountain crossing some 50 yards in front of me was a black bear. Then I looked more closely and saw a small cub following close behind. I stood still...absolutely still...not a sound. You don't get between a mama bear and its cub. I listened and heard the Spirit sighing. The Spirit said, "All creation is for you to enjoy. Celebrate its goodness, your goodness. Take care of it. Don't use it up. Don't abuse it. Don't use it as your toilet, spoiling the earth, sky, or water." The mama and cub wandered on up another hill.

Another example, since you know I am just back from summer vacation. If you are in Taos, New Mexico, you must eat at Michael's Kitchen. Order the Southwestern omelette with 3 eggs and all of those spices. Get the hash browns. I know that they are not on your diet, but you walk them off later. When the waitress asks what kind of hot sauce do you want: red, green,...or Christmas...get it? red and green mixed, just smile. I heard the Spirit sighing, "It is good to rest....to still be in love with your wife...to enjoy tasty food."

We read the Bible to get perspective, to get in the flow of the Spirit's sighing. We read of all those prophets who said, "the Spirit of the Lord came upon me..." They heard the Spirit sighing over and over again that God's favor was upon "the widow, the orphan, the sojourner in the land." The Spirit sighs for the most vulnerable. The rich and the powerful will take care of themselves. God has a preferential favor for the poor. Mary Lou Batlan and I are just back from Stephen Ministry training. This ministry is so that lay persons may be equipped to listen to other persons in pain. Not to try to fix them or diagnose them, but simply to love them by listening to them. We hear the Spirit's sighs too deep for words as we hear people's pain.

Let's practice listening for the Spirit's sighing now. I am going to mention a topic. I want you to pause and be still. That's why we have come to worship: to unhook from our schedules, our screens, our ear buds, our noise....so that we can listen for the Spirit's sighs.

The budget crisis in the United States........

The massacre of innocent children in Norway.......It grieves me that this disturbed individual saw himself as a Christian trying to strike a blow against Islam. When I pray about this, I hear the Spirit sighing, "I am tired of people killing other people in my name."

Can you hear the Spirit sighing? I hope you can, so that you will not become overwhelmed. It is like what I do when I go out walking and praying in the mornings. I pick up trash. I pick up at least one piece of trash that I didn't generate, but I don't try to pick up all of the trash. I pick up only what my 2 hands can carry. Listening for the Spirit's sighs helps us keep perspective. We can do some things, but we don't have to do all things. We can do our part and then rest secure in God's providence.

Walter Wink says that social action without prayer is "do-goodism" that can lead to exhaustion, frustration. It can be soulless. And prayer without action lacks integrity.

Listening for the Spirit's intereceding with sighs too deep for words helps us to see God's possibilities and to respond with hope. Walter Wink says the future belongs to the intercessors who learn how to pray listening for the sighs too deep for words.