Friday, June 14, 2013
a theology of sighing
On Thursday, as a staff team, we gathered for our weekly prayer. I was intrigued by the opening verse of the Psalm for the day:
Give ear to my words, O LORD; give heed to my sighing. Psalm 5:1
Perhaps because I’ve become aware, suddenly, in the last week, that one of the children in Team Taylor sighs exactly like one of their parents. It’s uncanny. Perhaps, because I’ve found myself sighing quite a few times in the last week. Perhaps because, at the start of winter, in the last week of a semester, I’ve heard a number of the team, well, sigh.
So, we paused at “sighing.”
And we asked each other – what are you currently sighing over? Together we heard a wide range of life events. There was some good sighing. And some sad sighing. And some worried sighing. With a candle lit to remind us of God’s presence, it was a rich time. As part of the time, one of our team offered a reflection from their ministry practice.
“Sometimes when I sit with people and hear their story, the only response seems to be sighing. To sit in the silence and sigh. It’s the most appropriate, Christ-like, pastoral response.”
A theology of sighing. People sigh. In Psalm 5, God is asked to hear those sighs. In Mark 7, Jesus looks to heaven and sighs deeply. Only in the gospel of Mark is it mentioned that Jesus sighed. More remarkably, Mark uses two different forms of the verb in
this passage. It is an act of deep empathy and prayer. Being in ministry is thus to sigh with the sighing. Pastoral prayer is sighing.
So I’m off for the weekend. To sigh – to God, through Jesus.
Thanks Steve – I’ll tuck this one away. This is very connecting and accessible.
Comment by Adrian — June 15, 2013 @ 3:17 pm
Cheers Adrian. It’s certainly been, for me, a really helpful and connective approach to faith. Makes me think of other bodily noises – groans for a start 🙂
steve
Comment by steve — June 15, 2013 @ 10:44 pm
This is really good- think I may quote it! Thanks
Comment by Graham — June 20, 2013 @ 7:23 am
[…] really good post over at http://www.emergentkiwi.org.nz/archive/a-theology-of-sighing/ which has a great […]
Pingback by Digging a lot » Blog Archive » Sigh — June 20, 2013 @ 7:40 pm
Great Graham. Enjoy away. Sigh away,
Steve
Comment by Steve — June 20, 2013 @ 9:23 pm