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Sunday
November 2, 2003

Rev. Gordon M. Forbes
"Sighs Too Deep For Words"

Romans 8:18-27 and Mark 2:1-12

As I prepared for this sermon one of our families dearest friends suffered a massive stroke. She is the wife of one of the most important mentors in my life. As he would fully acknowledge, she provided inspiration and love to him, which he passed on to others. It grieved my heart knowing that she was hovering between life and death.

After some time of tears I found myself coming to prayer. But what was I to pray? I had no idea. Certainly I hoped she would not die. Still, I certainly did not want to see her in an irreversible vegetative state. What would my prayer be for her?

I held her in my mind and heart for a period of time, offering no words but just picturing her as I last saw her this summer. An image and phrase formed in my mind, The image of a flower appeared and the word "She was a beautiful Rose"accompanied it.

"Now really" I said, "what an overused and trite symbol for such a wonderful person." As I see it we exploit roses for their symbolic value. I think we should give roses a rest .I agreed she was a flower but I resisted the image for sometime, hoping for a more unique and different floral image. Still the Rose image kept asserting itself.

So I went to the Internet and looked up Roses. To my amazement the descriptions of various kinds of Roses fit this woman to a T. So I wrote her husband a letter in which I included some semi-poetic thoughts.

Ten days ago her husband, my mentor, called. Evidently the words I wrote were just what he needed. It totally surprised me. On reflection I realize the words were an intercession. They were not asking for healing. They were not focussed on outcomes. Instead they affirmed her value in our eyes and in the eyes of God. They seemed to be saying, "No matter what happens, she is my beloved child and your beloved friend."

These experiences have occurred quite frequently to me and to others. An act, a word, a response has an effect on someone out of proportion to the effect expected or the importance I attach to them or the purpose I assign to the prayer. It leaves me awe-struck. 

I tell you this because, on hindsight I realize these are experiences of intercessory prayer. They seem to come through us and not from us. And they seem to come from intuition and not simply from rationality.

Let me spend some time briefly reflecting on this:

Our Scripture reads:

Likewise 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. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

The first thing to say about intercessory prayer is that God prays through us. We do not convince a reluctant God to do something or be something God does not desire. In intercessory prayer, God prays through us. The image of the flower in my prayer did not come from me but through me. I am not, naturally, a flower admirer. I am certainly not a gardener, an apostle of nature. I like Brookside Gardens but I could live without it. So I am surprised that a nature image, a garden and flower metaphor appeared in what I wrote.

Then I read in Pauls' letter today we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very spirit intercedes with sighs to deep for words.  The words force me to believe that an order of reality comes from beyond my own natural inclinations and skill. It feels as if the spirit can and does intercede through us.

The second thing to say about intercessory prayer is that intercession lies at the heart of the Christian Faith. When Jim or Linda or Dale read the list of people to pray for at the beginning of each service it is more than keeping parishioners happy, or more than good public relations, or more than just human compassion being expressed.

The same is true about Communion. The table at the heart of Communion is an inclusive table because God's love shown in Jesus is an inclusive love. It is an act of intercession, an outpouring of God's love through us to the whole world.

The heart of the Gospel is being enacted. Why, because at the heart of the Universe beats a heart of unconditional Divine Love. Why? Because the One whom we hold at the center of our faith, Jesus Christ, came to give his life for our well being. He is the one who reminded us that there is no greater love than to lay down our life for a friend. In doing it himself he placed intercession at the heart of the faith.

Let me conclude this meditation on Intercession with these thoughts:

Shalem Institute For spiritual Formation has an intercessory formula that has proved helpful to me. The Institute suggests that the intercessor meditate on four questions.

First, What seems to be God's desire for this person or situation? What does God's unconditional love seem to be like here?

Second, What does it seem God's desires of us if God's desire is to become reality in this situation?

Thirdly, Can we detect any changes we have to make in our life if this desire is to be achieved?

And finally, What action can we take to assist God's desire in this situation.

Certainly the New Testament lesson this morning bears out the importance of these steps in intercession. Four men bring their paralyzed friend to Jesus. They believed that God's desire was for this man's return to health and total well being. That is the first step: to believe that God wills our total well being, a well being that transcend our concepts of life and death.

So the four men bring their friend to Jesus. They rig up a stretcher, travel a few dusty miles to the house where Jesus stays and seek entrance. Human compassion moves them. I suspect more than human compassion lies in their hearts. They get a strong leading that if God desires this man's well being then God also desires their involvement in getting him to the source of healing.

It is one thing to take that first step in but it is another thing to persist. The men encounter a roadblock. The crowd is so large they can't get in the door. So another thing is required of them- creative persistence.

Perhaps they never expected they would have to be so persistent. Perhaps they thought getting to Jesus would be a piece of cake. They discovered that something more than compassion was required of them. They needed to bring some creative persistence to the process. They remove the grass turf from the roof of the house and lower the man to Jesus. Something changes or, more accurately, is added to their compassion and they do something about it.

Four intercessory questions: What does God desire in the situation? What does God desire of me? Is there something I must change in myself to fulfill this desire? And what action is required of me. I have found these questions disturbingly helpful and I hope you will too. Let us pray.


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