In a recent appointed Second Reading we read these words:
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans too deep for words. And he who searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. [Romans 8:26-27]
Early in my ministry, I served a church just outside Atlanta, Georgia where a number of “former Baptists” were members of our congregation. One of those “former Baptists” decided that we Lutherans needed to learn how to pray out loud without any advance notice or any prayer books to help us. So one Sunday she led our Sunday School opening. Just before she dismissed everyone for their classes, she said, “Harold – would you lead us in a closing prayer.” As we all looked toward Harold, we could see the blood draining from his face...and I thought he might pass out. But he gathered his wits and said, “Let’s all pray the Lord’s Prayer.”
Baptists are much better at praying spontaneous prayers in public than we Lutherans are. Maybe it’s because we are so used to hearing pastors pray skillfully crafted prayers from a prayer book that leads us to think that our words need to be smooth and eloquent. But in Romans 8, St. Paul tells us that when we pray, groans are good enough.
Sometimes we think that pain and suffering shouldn’t happen to good people…like us.. Or if we do have pain, then we should be able to take a pill that will make it go away. But it doesn’t work that way, does it? This year especially we are seeing three kinds of pain all at the same time: 1) Physical pain from Covid-19. 2) Economic pain. 3) The pain of racial conflicts.
I read once that a big difference between the army hospitals pictured in the old TV show M.A.S.H. and real army hospitals is that in the TV hospital we never hear the groans or screams of wounded patients. Pain causes us to groan and even scream. But groans and screams in the hospital where Hawkeye and the others were always goofing around would have turned M.A.S.H. from a comedy into a tragedy. And yet we have all had times in our own lives when we have groaned and even screamed because of the pains that have come into our lives.
But St. Paul assures us here that when all we can do is groan, that is the very time when the Holy Spirit takes our inarticulate groans and turns them into prayers that God can hear. I’m sure we have all had times when we didn’t know what words to say in our prayers. That is why St. Paul says: We do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groaning too deep for words. Those are the times when our prayers become like the prayers Paul has in mind here when he speaks of “groans too deep for words”. Our limited human minds often don’t know what we should ask for in our prayers. When the doctor tells you that a loved one has terminal cancer, what do you pray for? Do you pray for them to have a longer life…even if that means more suffering? Or do you pray for God to give them a speedy death…but how can you pray for that? Yes, we often …do not know what to pray for as we ought. Those are the times when all we can do is let loose with groans too deep for words.
But – and here is the Good News! – it is precisely at those times of our deepest needs, those times when all we can do is groan, when the Holy Spirit comes to our aid and gives us what we most desperately need at just that time. The Holy Spirit takes our unintelligible groans and turns them into prayers that reach directly to the heart of God Himself:
He who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
That is why Jesus teaches us that when we pray we include the most basic prayer of all: “Your will be done, on earth as in heaven”.
So, when you pray – out loud or silently – don’t worry about making your words sound smooth and eloquent. God does not accept or reject our prayers on the basis of how eloquent our words are or how smoothly we speak the words of our prayers. For God, our groans are good enough because the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans too deep for words. Amen.
Rev. Paul D. Doellinger
Week of July 26, 2020