“The Spirit Intercedes for Us” by Colleen O’Sullivan
Brothers and sisters: The Spirit comes to the aid
of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit
himself intercedes with inexpressible groanings. And the one who searches
hearts knows what is the intention of the Spirit because he intercedes for the
holy ones according to God's will. (Romans 8:26-27)
Though I trusted in your mercy. Let my heart
rejoice in your salvation; let me sing of the LORD, "He has been good to
me." (Psalm 13:6)
Piety
Lord, may the sighs too
deep for words in our hearts lead us to union with you.
Study
The day after I graduated from college, I boarded an Amtrak train to
Fayetteville, North Carolina. As part of my seminary training (although I hadn’t
yet taken a single class at Duke Divinity School), I would spend the summer in
a rural community about five miles north of Fayetteville, working as a student
pastor in a local United Methodist church. As the train traveled south, I remember thinking
how strange it was knowing that I would never really return home again. Once I
finished seminary, I would get an appointment in a local church, and that church’s
parsonage and community would become my home.
About halfway through the summer, the pastor decided to take a long
weekend away to play golf. Before he left, he gave me some hurried instructions.
Among other things, he said with a laugh, “If anyone dies, remember to say the
23rd Psalm and then bury them.” You guessed it! He hadn’t been gone
two hours when I got a call that an older man, who had been in a nursing home,
had been transported to the hospital. He was in the ICU, not expected to
survive. Those were the days way before cell phones, so I was on my own!
I went to the hospital and met the family in the ICU waiting room. They
weren’t total strangers to me, because I had been visiting in the nursing home
and had met a few of them. I sat with them for a bit and realized that I could
not recall a single word of Psalm 23 and had no Bible with me. What to do? What
to do? Finally, I thought, “I may be so scared of messing up that I can’t
remember even the Lord’s Prayer, but I still remember how to pray in my own
words, so get to it.” I prayed that the Holy Spirit would give me the right
words to say. Paul was so right in saying that even when we don’t know how to
pray as we ought, the Spirit helps us and intercedes for us. I tried to capture
the feelings of the family members present and hold them before the Lord.
I learned two things that day. The important thing is not what Psalms or
prayers you can remember on the spot. It’s to be truly present in the moment –
before God and the people for whom you are caring. I also learned the truth of
what Paul wrote to the Romans – the Holy Spirit does indeed help us to pray with
inexpressible groanings. The Spirit intercedes on behalf of God’s children when
we call.
Action
In our prayer lives, sometimes words don’t come easily. Reread Paul’s
words to the Church at Rome. See if you agree that this is your experience as
well, that at a level deeper than words, the Spirit understands our needs and
desires and carries these to Jesus and the Father.
The psalmist today sings of trust, mercy, and the goodness of the Lord. I
trust that the Holy Spirit carries my deepest yearnings to heaven, even when I
find them difficult to articulate. God is merciful in the face of our human
weaknesses and I am more grateful than words could say for the goodness of our
God.
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