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.
–Paul’s letter to the Romans 8:26
My newborn grandson in my arms,
Asleep in guileless peace –
Heaven brought to earth afresh
In sighs too deep for words.
I pause to sigh along a trail
Deep in a mountain cleft:
As water tumbles over stone,
Clouds shadowing the walls.
We mark the passing of a saint
With tears and stories told;
Hearts rent, words spent,
Our sighs are all that’s left.
I gaze upon a work of art,
I listen to a song:
Enraptured into speechless awe,
I answer with a sigh.
In silence we are gathered round
To prayerfully attend
To what’s within and what’s without
With sighs too deep for words.
Jim is the Senior Associate Dean in the Office of Religious Life at the University of Southern California USA. Read his blog Musings for ‘weekly musings on the personal and social practice of Progressive Christian Spirituality.’
