Letter from the Rector – July 24, 2026

Dear Good People of St. Paul’s,

Do you ever feel like you don’t know how to pray?

Do you pray for a certain outcome – how do you know for which one to pray? Or what if there are several possible and good outcomes?

Or what if the situation is totally overwhelming – a deep injustice, a death, a betrayal, what is going on in the world? How does one pray in those circumstances?

This week’s excerpt from the lectionary begins with, “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” (Romans 8:26). The Spirit helps us pray; when we don’t know how, the Spirit prays for us.

Our sighs become prayers, our cries become prayers. This morning, after experiencing so many calls of people who need help with rent and utilities from people we have already helped, my heart was heavy with the need right around us. I reached out to a friend, tears in my eyes, bemoaning the number of people who are working, trying to make ends meet, and do not have enough.

That call became my prayer.

Anne Lamott in her book, “Help, Thanks, Wow,” gives us her three one-word prayers. They are in line with these groans from the Spirit. Help – calling for assistance from God. Thanks – gratitude for the good things around us. Wow – naming the wonder around us.

I wonder if at times we make prayer too difficult. Prayer is communication with God. It’s part of the relationship we have with God. It’s talking; it’s silence. It’s the exclamation of “Ugh!” in frustration when evil seems to be winning. It’s the deep sigh when none of the options in front of us seem like good ones. When we are in relationship with God, it’s all prayer.

Let us allow the Spirit to do the work in us and through us, praying for what is important to us, from the personal to the global, trusting that God is in it all.

In Faith, Love, and Service,

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