Guest commentary by Lori Archer Raible
( John 1:1 & Romans 8:18-28)
Shut Down
Expose
Flatten
Peak
Risk
Isolate
Intubate
O Holy God, words matter. You have commanded the warm rays of morning sun and whispered a moonbeam across the night sky. We have been told the sufferings of these times are not worth comparing to the glory You are about to reveal. And yet, creation waits with eager longing.
Tests
Food
Shelter
Antibodies
Jobs
Access
Touch
Relief
Thousands
Millions
Creation waits to be liberated from its bondage to decay in order to obtain freedom of the children of God. We have been weary. We have grown inwardly while we wait for redemption. We have been groaning for what might be born.
Zoom
Masks
Clorox
Vaccines
Loans
Hope
Hope?
Yes, the Hope of our salvation. Hope that is not seen.
When it comes down to it God, words matter. If we are really honest, we don’t know how to pray as we ought. Not even a gathered bunch of baptized, church people. Not even the saints of your churches. Especially not us.
Fatigue
Grief
Plague
Death
Oh, for Your Spirit to intercede as a sigh too deep for words.
Search our Hearts, O God. Intercede according to Your will alone. Search our thick traditions, biased assumptions, tainted agendas, and tired patterns that we might be called Children of God. In the midst of suffering, in the midst of our groaning, even in the midst of death, we know, we hope, and we pray all things work together for good. Together we work for redemption, for a new thing being born. Words matter.
In the beginning, was the one Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Amen.
Lori Archer Raible is co-pastor of Selwyn Avenue Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
