Sermon from Oct. 17, 2010 based on Luke 18:1-8
Tomorrow, it’s election day in our two towns and the Municipal District. We’re facing high residential taxes in our two towns, a plebiscite in Black Diamond on whether to support the library construction, a need in the community for a Community Centre that has room for Beneath the Arch concert where liquor can be served, a need for the Legion to have a new place to reside. And all within what two communities with a population of approximately 3600 can afford.
We’ve seen disagreements over business plans for the Legion’s Centre 78, we’ve seen library supporters disagree with town councillors, we’ve likely been the recipient of a few angry emails between people on different sides of the issues. There’s been wretched name calling that should make uncomfortable Christians of those seeking to follow God’s law of love. We see candidates express a desire for more businesses in Turner Valley and in the Black Diamond industrial park. We all desire more businesses so our towns look vital and so we have a wider tax base and alleviate some of the tax pressure on residents. Yet, we all know we’ve developed a taste for shopping in Okotoks, Calgary and on the Internet, that no new super business on Main Street Turner Valley is likely to break.
I received a facebook message from one election candidate to look at the opinion of one local person on another webpage. I went to the page. I read with interest. I support the person’s views and new insights and information was offered in the commentary. ‘Who is this person who writes so well,’ I wondered. I went to the profile page. No photo, no identifying features. I looked up the given name on Canada 411 and then pulled out the ol’ local telephone directory. I couldn’t see that the person lived in any part of Alberta, let alone our two towns. ‘Is this person real,” I wondered. ‘How can I trust the supposed facts in the letter – even if its an over all opinion I agree with. And what about supporting the candidate who passed on the letter?’
We go to the polls tomorrow and are we expecting justice like the widow received in Luke’s Gospel? No, but we’re certainly hoping on it. And by our voting, our participating in the democratic process, we are perhaps like that persistent widow. We vote in faith that what is for the ultimate good for our community – that what is just -- will happen.
But it’s easy to be discouraged, isn’t it?
That’s why Jesus told this parable. “Jesus told his disciples a parable to teach them that they should always pray and never become discouraged.” It’s easy to be discouraged in life but it is our connection with God that keeps us sane. It keeps us on a steady track. We pray to God.
Jesus said, “ Now will God not judge in favour of his own people who cry to him day and night for help? Will he be slow to help them? I tell you he will judge in their favour and do it quickly. But will the Son of Man find faith on earth when he comes?”
Jesus reminds us that ours is a benevolent God who will hear our prayer, much quicker than a corrupt judge. But then there’s that last line thrown in: “Will the son of man find faith on earth when he comes?
It’s pretty easy to be faithless and have doubts. Did we not have doubts that the 33 Chilean miners would ever see the light of day again? Our photo comes from the rescue of the second miner who came out of the mine shaft. This miner’s words stood out in news reports on the internet:
Mario Sepulveda spoke of the demons he faced while trapped underground for 69 days. "I was with God and I was with the Devil, (The demons)… fought me but God... won. He took me by my best hand, the hand of God and I held on to him," Sepulveda said in an interview just one hour after he was extracted from the mine. "I never thought for one minute that God wouldn't get me out of there," he added.'
Thank God none of us have had to be 700 metres under the ground for 69 days. But we all know about demons that haunt us. Perhaps a better word for those demons are doubts or fears. But ultimately what sustains us is God and the miner underlines that: “I never thought for one minute that God wouldn’t get me out of there,”
Of course, he probably did. But he couldn’t let those fears over take him. Ultimately he knew he had to rely on God.
This continuous prayer – night and day – as Luke writes is a key one for us Christians. Because doubts come upon us – even if we’re Mother Teresa.
Through the years we’ve all seen the photos of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, smiling, doing her work among the poorest of the poor, praying, holding her rosary close to her face. She’s been much admired by millions, held up for her strong faith.
Yet even Mother Teresa knew she needed this Scripture. Two years ago, ten years after her death, a book from the nun’s private writings was published. It’s called Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light. (Brian Kolodiejchuk, ed. DoubleDay, 2007) Yet often Mother Teresa’s writings were about her struggle with darkness and doubts.
"There is so much contradiction in my soul, no faith, no love, no zeal. . . . I find no words to express the depths of the darkness. . . . My heart is so empty. . . . so full of darkness. . . . I don't pray any longer. The work holds no joy, no attraction, no zeal. . . . I have no faith, I don't believe."
These are Mother Teresa’s honest words. The Saint of Calcutta she’s been called. But how often have we not said similar words to ourselves? How often have such thoughts and doubts prevented us from coming to Church on Sunday morning? How often have similar thoughts and doubts caused us to become cynics rather than believers?
Prayer, persistent prayer, sustains us and keeps us with God. It wards away the fears, the doubts. Prayer is easy. Stay away from any writer or teacher who tells you prayer involves a boring routine that wears you out. Prayer is simply an ongoing, delightful, life-giving conversation with God. There are so many ways to pray. If one way bores us, go on to another. Just keep the connection to our life giving and sustaining God. We pray to God, night and day for justice and know that we will be heard.
The persistence of the widow in seeking justice also models for us that as we pray for goodness we are also persistent in seeking justice. Now, this may not involve going and knocking on a judge’s door day and night, thinking you’ll get heard. In this day and age, we’re more likely to get arrested before being heard. Ultimately God wants us to use our common sense, to find the best way to help us get our need for justice to be heard.
Often there are several steps to be taken to be heard. I was watching a movie called Boycott recently about the start of the civil rights movement. Rosa Parkes has been arrested for not giving up her bus seat to a white person. Organizers for a boycott of the buses were failing because of division in the black community. But because of the strength of the church in the black community, they knew that a clergy spokesperson was crucial to unite them. So Martin Luther King, Jr. was approached to be their spokesperson. One step upon many, in using common sense to find justice, while praying along the way. Did they have doubts? Lots. But they persisted.
When we think about the Persistent widow, one real life character comes to mind – Erin Brockovich. Here’s a promotion picture from the movie that starred Julia Roberts. Roberts played the real life Erin Brockovich who helped the residents of Hinkley California. Their drinking water was contaminated by cancer-causing hexavalent chromium. The case was settled in 1996 for $333 US million the largest settlement ever paid in a direct action lawsuit in US history.
Ken McI. and I have been reading the book The Truth Shows Up written by Harvey Cashore. Cashore is now head of Investigative Journalism for CBC and the book chronicles his 15 years tracing the Airbus pay outs to Canadian politicians. It was 15 years of persistence.
We are called to be people of God who’s hearts are shaped by God’s law of love. There will be times that doubt, discouragement plague us. Let those be the times we do as the Chilean minder did. Let God take our hand and we hold on to God.
AMEN.
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