The Spirit also helpeth us

LeeAnne Campos, our fabulous director, with me in tux

Last week was a very busy week for me. In addition to the usual press of duties, I preached at a memorial service and had extra rehearsals for the Sacred and Sublime concert of the Bremerton Chorale, capped by our Saturday night performance.

The concert music was all beautiful music with a spiritual message, but I was especially captivated by the Bach motet we sang, "The Spirit also helpeth us" (In German, that's "Der Geist unsrer Schwachheit auf", but luckily we sang in English).

The text comes from Romans 8:26-27, "Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God."

I've read these words many times, but there's something about singing them in this beautiful piece of music that imprints them on the mind. The music repeats the words over and over as the two choirs weave the music back and forth.

I understand this passage to mean that even though our prayers are weak and insufficient, the Holy Spirit interprets our prayers and adds to them so that they gain perfection of prayer as they reach God's ears. The Spirit of God sighs through our being and breathes a prayer through us.

What this means is that our prayers are much deeper and more profound than we realize. As we place ourselves in prayer, God hears our prayers even as they are being formed in our minds, and God adds to them even before they leave our lips. God not only hears our prayers, but God also prays for us.

The actual words we sang were:

The Spirit also helpeth us,
for we know not what we ought pray for,
and pray for rightly.
But lo, the Spirit prays for us and pleadeth
with mystic groaning and sighing.
But he who doth search the hearts well doth know
what the Spirit's mind is,
for he doth plead for saints in Christ,
as God our Father wills it.

O Thou holy fire, Paraclete,
fill us with joy and comfort sweet.
Grant thou we may serve thee solely,
in hours of grief trust thee wholly.
O Lord, impart to us thy strength
that we subdue our flesh at length,
rout foes so vile, so infernal,
and pass through death to life eternal. Alleluia!

I'm grateful I got to sing this beautiful piece of music. The photo above is of LeeAnne Campos, our director, with me in tux. LeeAnne is the most amazing and talented singer, teacher, and conductor. She has greatly inspired me. I guess you might say she is the spirit that "also helpeth" me.