Sunday, October 16, 2016: "Don't Give Up - Take Heart" Fr. Carey Stone



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Proper 24C’16

Luke 18. 1-8
16 October 16
St. Luke’s Episcopal Church
North Little Rock, Arkansas
The Rev. Carey Stone
 
O merciful God who encourages us to pray and not to lose heart: Grant us grace to come boldly to your throne, asking in faith and not letting go until you bless us, through Christ our Lord. Amen
 
Today’s collect uses the word “persevere”: “That your Church throughout the world may persevere with steadfast faith.” According to the Oxford Dictionary to persevere means to “continue in a course of action even in the face of difficulty or with little or no indication of success.”  In our gospel reading today we hear the story of a persistent widow and a crooked judge. 
 
Before we hear the widow’s story of perseverance I’d like to tell you about a story that involves my favorite widow, my mother who recently turned 93! In the late 1970’s one of my brothers became involved in a religious cult. As this sermon is being recorded and will be posted on the web I won’t say which cult; but let’s just say they are the ones who show up on your doorstep on Saturday morning wanting to tell their story and to leave their pamphlets with you. 
 
Another hallmark of this religious group is that they do not celebrate any holidays including Christmas, Easter or birthdays and they refuse to say the pledge of allegiance. When you don’t celebrate any holidays this effectively removes someone from their extended families lest they be exposed to any different ideas from what their religion teaches. 
 
Well my mother was not going to stand for this! This galled every cell of her 5ft. frame. She began to study their religion, and had many conversations of “intense fellowship” with my brother. However, the most important conversation she had was the one she had with God. For thirty long years she beat on God’s door, asking God to deliver her son from this crooked religion that had robbed her of her son. When most had given up – she simply would not. 
 
As his thirtieth year in the cult approached he was excommunicated for two offenses: 1) Not being faithful in knocking on doors on Saturday mornings and 2) My personal favorite, not being able to control his wife’s smoking! Because of my mom’s fighting spirit and her persistent prayers she gained a son and I got my brother back. Our first Christmas together after a thirty-year absence was nothing short of miraculous!
 
In today’s gospel we hear of a widow who possessed this quality of perseverance in spades – with ‘bulldog like tenacity’ she refused to give up until justice was done!  Day after day after day the widow would present herself before the judge and cry: ‘Grant me justice against my opponent.” The scripture doesn’t tell us what the injustice was that was being committed against her or who the perpetrator was had been committed against her. As in many parables the lack of information is by design, it enables us as hearers to enter into the story and apply the story to our lives.  We ought to let the story stir us up so that we don’t give up on our hopes and dreams for our families, for our nation and world and for ourselves. What are things that just aren’t ok if they stay the same?  
 
History gives us many examples of those who refused to let go of God until their hopes and dreams were fulfilled. Abraham Lincoln held the dream of a United States of America where there was freedom for all its citizens. No doubt he was tempted to give up many times. However the following quote gives us some clues as to how he was able to remain hopeful, never giving up his dream: “I have been driven many times to my knees, by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom, and that of all about me, seemed insufficient for that day.” Lincoln knew that if his dream was to be realized it could only come in answer to prayer. 
 
A more recent example of someone who held onto God and their dreams is someone I had the wonderful privilege of meeting while I was in seminary, the former Archbishop of South Africa, Desmond Tutu. His dream was for a S. Africa free from the oppression of Apartheid. Though he had many opponents he kept coming back to God day after day after day. Like the widow, Tutu was tenacious, and refused to let go of God and of his dream until it was fulfilled! S. Africa is very different today thanks in part to his prayers and his obedience to the direction of the Holy Spirit. 
 
Both Lincoln and Tutu are great examples to us but both are quite removed from our immediate concerns. Although we do care about national and global injustices like civil war and racism;  our primary concerns tend to be about very ordinary things. Things like keeping our jobs, paying our bills, tuition and taking care of family.  We worry more than ever about the safety and welfare of our loved ones. Whatever your hopes and dreams you have don’t give up – there is a God who stands ready to hear our prayers. Through the widow, God is letting us know something – that God honors our tenacity in prayer.   
 
The judge in the story represents a harsh, insensitive and authoritarian figure we sometimes equate with God. The story tells us that the judge neither feared God nor had respect for the people. He says one day in exasperation: ‘Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.’ Christ follows this by saying: ‘And will God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you he will quickly grant justice to them.’ God is saying to us in effect ‘if an old crotchety judge will grant your requests and bring relief how much more will I come to your aid and answer when you cry out to me.’     
 
‘That’s all fine and good’ you may say, ‘but if God is so eager to answer then why is God’s timing so lousy? And why does it appear that some prayers never get answered at least in the way he had hoped?”  These are hard questions. I’m sure the widow gave the judge a piece of her mind more than once about his delays. I think God understands our questions and impatience and wants us to bring these to him as well. God’s delays are not always God’s denials. 
 
Maybe there is a process at work here – a process of transformation.  We find something perhaps even more important than receiving answers. By coming to God in prayer we ourselves are changed. 
 
There is an old prayer written by a soldier during the civil war that summarizes this well:  
I asked you God, for strength that I might achieve; 
I was made weak that I might learn humbly to obey. 
I asked for help that I might do greater things; 
I was given infirmity that I might do better things. 
I asked for riches that I might be happy; 
I was given poverty that I might be wise. 
I asked for power that I might have the praise of men;
 I was given weakness that I might feel the need for you. 
I asked for things that I might enjoy life; 
I was given life that I might enjoy all things. 
No, dear Lord, I’ve gotten nothing that I asked for; 
but everything I hoped for. 
Despite myself, my prayers were answered; 
and I am among those most richly blessed.
 –From The Twelve Step Prayer Book, p.18
 
Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. Amen