For the Facing of This Hour
Romans 8:26—39
September 16, 2001
(Sunday after the terrorist attack upon the World Trade Center Towers and the Pentagon)
P. Randall Wright, D.Min.
Fernwood Baptist Church
I once heard about a weekly newspaper called “The Kingfisher.” It came out each Friday in the little town of Kingfisher, Oklahoma. An old Kiawah Indian woman named Molly Shepherd wrote a weekly column. She told about some of the customs and news and activities of her people. She wrote in a simple, broken English sort of style.
On the Friday following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Molly Shepherd wrote a brief article. Here’s what she wrote.
Molly has no article today… Molly has no words today… Molly has nothing to say today… All week Molly walks around in the house and says, “Ooooooh…
Ooooooh… !”1
Since Tuesday morning, September 11, most of my prayers have been like that. Oooooh…ooooooh…
When I had to stand before you and pray something intelligible, I guess I was able to do so. But in the private moments my prayers have been more like what Paul says about the Holy Spirit’s intercessions for us. …we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words…
(Romans 8:26).
Have you found yourself doing a lot of sighing this week? Or maybe the sounds that come when you wish you could pray are more like moans. These, too, are prayers. And they’re good enough for God. After all, if the Holy Spirit uses sighs too deep for words to intercede for us, then certainly God hears our sighs and moans as well.
I’ve said it before…that sometimes we preachers preach because we have something to say. Other times we preach because we have to say something. Today, I suppose I have to say something, but I find I’m like the physician right there beside that huge pile of rubble in lower Manhattan. Some news person was trying to get this weary doctor to describe his feelings. He said, “Words fail.” Sometimes they do.
But thank God we can sigh and moan and purse our lips and shake our heads and repeat what the good doctor said. Words fail. Prayers don’t, however. Prayer is language of the heart. Prayer is need finding a voice. Prayer is feelings felt and sorrow sighed and disbelief expressed.
In another place in Romans, Paul uses a word for prayer that fits for these days we’ve experienced and the days ahead. Paul was on his way to Jerusalem to take an offering to the poor. There were unbelievers there, and Paul felt threatened by them. He was asking the Christians in Rome to pray for him. (Romans 15:30)
What is most unusual in Paul’s appeal is the word he uses for prayer. There are many words used for prayer, but this one is significant. You’ll recognize it even if I say it in Greek, which I will. Hey…I studied it for three years; I might as well throw some out every now and then. Here it is. Agonitzo. (repeat) Agonize. Paul puts a little prefix in front. Soon. The prefix means “with.” Soonagonitzo. Agonize with me. (Note: these are “phonetic transliterations” for the sake of pronouncing the Greek).2
That’s what the literal Greek means. Agonize with me. In the NRSV, it’s translated “join me in earnest prayer.” Agonize with me is stronger. Maybe better. At least more linguistically accurate.
The agon was an arena. Like the arena where the gladiators fought to the death. The agon was the amphitheater where there was conflict, struggle, wrestling, fear, pain, and anxiety. So Paul was saying, “Christians, please, soonagonitzo. Agonize with me. Enter my arena of anxiety and fear. Wrestle with me in this conflict and struggle. Agonize with me.
Our prayers these days may just be sighs or moans or the “ooooooh’s” of Molly Shepherd. Certainly our prayers these days are born out of the agony we all feel. Who says prayer has to be made of words? Most are, but they don’t have to be.
However, if you need a prayer made with words, I have a suggestion. It came to me by way of the hymnal. Harry Emerson Fosdick wrote the hymn. We just sang it a few moments ago. The prayer is simply,
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage, for the facing of this hour.
You and I know that the wisdom some pray for is the wisdom to find the perpetrators of these horrendous acts of terrorism so we can summarily kill them. And do it quickly, and do it regardless of innocents who may die. But others pray for the wisdom to know that evil begets evil and is only finally overcome by good.
We know that the courage some pray for is the courage to stand up to this evil and overcome it with force. Others pray for the courage to not only find justice, but to be merciful.
See how agonizing prayer can be? Maybe that’s why Paul urges us to recognize that we don’t know how to pray as we ought. Maybe the prayer from the hymn will be enough for now. It is for me.
God, grant us wisdom, grant us courage, for the facing of this hour.
Or maybe Molly Shepherd prays it best. Ooooooh. Ooooooh. Ooooooh.
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment