8:26 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.
The phone woke me at 6:30 this morning. “Pastor,” she said. “My nephew passed from Covid. He was only 48. His wife and his four children couldn’t even visit him before he died.”
This is the first of these phone calls I have received. I expect there will be more before it’s over. There really are no words. There never really are, when a loved one dies. But this time all I could do on my end of the phone was shake my head, and say “Oh Virgie, I am so sorry.” And she replied by saying, “Tell people, Pastor. Tell them that this Covid is no joke. I know a lot of people think it isn’t real, but it is!”
Thank God the Spirit helps us in our weakness. There really aren’t any words - not for the grieving, not to speak out loud in prayer, not even to speak silently in my heart. In place of words there are only tears and sighs. There is only, “I am so sorry.”
I keep hearing numbers, insane numbers, numbers I can’t even imagine. . . 4,250,000 cases of Covid in the US - 453,000 just in California. 146,000 deaths from Covid. 400 new cases just in Fresno County yesterday.
And I keep seeing posts on Facebook asking if anyone really knows someone who has Covid, or who died from Covid.
“Tell people, Pastor,” she said. “Tell them that Covid is real.”
I can’t grieve for 146,000 people and their families. It is simply too much - the numbers are too big. But I can grieve for Mike and his family. I can weep and sigh and shake my head. I can still hear her voice on the phone, words coming between the sobs. “My nephew passed of Covid this morning.”
Merciful and Loving God, sometimes there just aren’t any words to pray. Sometimes there are only sighs and tears. May you hear these as our most heartfelt prayers, for they come straight from our hearts to you. Amen
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