Morning Devotion for the Season after Pentecost
July 4, 2022
Invitatory
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.
Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness: Come let us adore him.
Reading: Romans 8:26-30
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 sighs too deep for words. And he who searches the hearts of men knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the first-born among many brethren. And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.
Meditation – Peter Vanderveen
Every summer I experience the same thing; a quiet sense of dismay as people eagerly depart for extended time at the shore. I readily admit that I don’t understand most of the habits that are associated with being at the beach. Sand and sun and boardwalks and arcades feel alien to me; I can observe what others do, but I don’t know how to participate, at least not unselfconsciously.
It’s not for lack of trying. I’m aware that some love the ocean for its immensity, accentuated by the never-ceasing rhythm of tides and the sound of waves rolling in. It can recontextualize us. The ocean reminds us of the size of our lives and our business – they’re both smaller than we imagine. And, thus, it provides an escape from the chatter and noise of our usual schedule. For some, this is a balm “too deep for words.”
I’m more inclined, like Immanuel Kant, to being overwhelmed “with ever new and increasing admiration and awe” when, in the silence of night, I can see the “starry heavens above me.” The vastness of space, and the mind-boggling extension of time that is visually displayed in the stars and galaxies all about us, fascinates me – that I can be a witness to this incomparable theater of brilliance that twinkles and power that has no need to roar. So much is suspended without a sound. This leads me, too, to a silence “too deep for words.”
Kant associated this feeling with the divine. We often feel the same ourselves. Intimations of God. And sometimes, these intimations seem as close as we can get to true prayer, when there’s nothing we can say and no words come to mind but we somehow sense that we are moving toward God, discovering again a proximity we had forgotten. There’s something refreshing in this, being freed from the constraints of listing petitions and concerns that, in speaking them, make us all the more weary.
But Paul’s point wasn’t that our prayers can take this form. What he said – and we should put this in the vernacular – is that God prays for us. God himself prays for us on our behalf. The Spirit intercedes where we are not able. Think about this. (Strangely, this doesn’t play any part in our piety or our practices.) At depths where words fail, God is continually praying, which means that there’s not a moment in our lives when we are alone or without an advocate. Oceans and stars reflect this truth. As the Psalmist noted: “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, it is so high that I cannot attain to it.”
The next time you are mesmerized by the looking out off the shore or looking up into the sky imagine then what it means that God is praying for you.
The Lord's Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy Name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those
who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.
