Bless thou, the words of my lips and the meditations of our hearts that they be of profit to us and acceptable to thee, oh our rock and our redeemer. Amen
A security guard of a large department store saw a boy standing at the bottom of the escalator one day. The security guard became suspicious. He watched the boy for a while. The boy had his eyes glued on the moving handrail. Finally the security guard went over to the boy and questioned him. "Something wrong young man?" he asked? "No sir "., replied the boy, not taking his eyes off the handrail, "I'm just waiting for my bubble gum to come back."
Perseverance is a theme in all three readings from the scriptures today - perseverance in the face of suffering and injustice - perseverance in the face of neglect and rejection - perseverance in the face of trials and adversities.
But not just any kind of perseverance is featured in our scripture readings; rather the perseverance of faith is held up to us, that perseverance which arises out of the hope that we have in God and which plays out in how we live in the world, whether the time is favourable or unfavourable.
Often of course the times are unfavourable.
We face issues far more serious than having our bubble gum get stuck on an escalator handrail - we face a world that to most of us seems completely mad, completely out of control - and we can easily slip into despair.
O Lord, how long shall I cry for help and you will not listen? Pleads the prophet Habakkuk - Or cry to you "violence" and you will not save? Why do you make me see wrong doing and look at trouble? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention is all around me!
Who can blame a person for pushing the buttons on the remote control when the news comes on? For changing the channels when pictures of starving children on the African continent are presented.... it all seems so helpless and we cannot watch.
Yes, the times can be unfavourable indeed - and it is hard, very hard, to believe in God some days. How, oh how, can he let this pain, this suffering, this gross injustice continue?
It is easy my friends to loose heart - to forget - in the face of woe - just who we have and what we have in our God.
It is easy to forget the truth upon which the world is founded. The laws by which it ultimately operates, and the decrees to which it will finally be subjected to.
The apostle Paul's young friend Timothy went through a period of forgetting like this.
He attempted to preach the Gospel and was threatened by the authorities; he tried to spread the word - but was ignored by the crowds; he spoke of healing and of salvation and of those few who responded many ended up arguing over doctrines and beliefs as if the dotted I's and crossed T's of each word they had heard was critically important and God would reject those who did not believe exactly as they did.
I rather imagine that Timothy felt like he was spitting into the wind, spinning his wheels, going nowhere in a hurry.
Certainly Paul thought that Timothy had developed that feeling, that is why he wrote to him as he did:
Continue in what you have learned and firmly believed... In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom - I solemnly urge you: proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favourable or unfavourable; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching....always be sober, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully.
Many forces attack us my friends, often it seems that all there is is bad news - and we find ourselves losing heart - indeed many fall into doubt and unbelief when faced with suffering and injustice.
And that is very sad - for it gives the victory to the enemy.
We do not struggle, brothers and sisters, against flesh and blood, but rather we struggle against principalities and powers in the heavenly places.
Our enemy is Satan, and he wants us to surrender, to give up, to let go of God and to sink into despair.
We are in a spiritual battle and we need to use the spiritual tools provided by God if we are to be victorious, if we are keep the faith and not loose heart.
One of those tools most surely is prayer - persistent prayer - persevering prayer.
Jesus tells the parable of the Widow and the Unjust Judge to illustrate what our prayer to God should be like: it should be continual - and demanding - and never give up, never give up no matter what the opposition throws at us, never give up until the day when the justice he has promised arrives.
But another tool, and certainly the most basic tool that God provides, is the faith we have - the faith that is referred to in the parable of the widow and the unjust judge when Jesus, after saying how God will respond to those who ask for justice, asks:
"and yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"
Faith, my friends, is a living thing, and like all living things produces still more life, that is - if it survives long enough - if it is nurtured and nourished properly.
Too many of us give up. We cry out to God and our neighbours for help, we complain about how hard things are and how we are suffering, but we never get down and do that which we really need to do, we never feed ourselves on the word of God and take comfort and strength from all that it says, and so we end up contracting a case of spiritual malnutrition and we waste away - all the while expressing great surprise and disappointment- as if it could be any different!
Will Christ find faith in this world when he returns?
Will he find people nurtured by the living word of God? People who are strong enough to weep with those who suffer and to demand healing and justice from the unjust judges of our world as they continually pray and wait for the true and final justice of God to be executed upon the world?
What I am saying to you is quite simply this - God has provided us with what we need to persevere with, he has provided us with all the tools we require to live life triumphantly and well.
There is a victory! There is justice! There is a time when what goes around comes around! Just as that young boy knew as he waited at the escalator handrail for his gum.
I ask you to remember God's answer to Habakkuk's cry - an answer that is also given to us by Jesus in the gospel....
There is still a vision for the appointed time; it speaks of the end, and does not lie. If it seems to tarry, wait for it. It will surely come, it will not delay. Look at the proud - their spirit is not right within them, but the righteous live by their faith.
My friends , our pain when we look upon the evil in this world is a good thing - it tells us that we are still alive spiritually, that we still care.
Jesus lamented over Jerusalem - knowing how it would be destroyed. He wept at the grave side of Lazarus - sharing the sharing the pain of Mary and Martha. And he raged over the corruption and injustice of the Temple authorities and the teachers of the law who placed burdens on the backs of others that they would not carry themselves.
Should we be different than he who is our Master, our Saviour, our Friend?
Jesus said
"Come unto me all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me. My yoke is easy, and burden is light"
I have always take that to mean that we put down the burdens of anxiety and fear that we care - those centred on such things as what we shall eat and what we shall wear and how successful should we be - and take upon ourselves the kind of burden Jesus bore - concern for the poor, care for the sick, anger for the unjust, compassion for the lost.
And of course - my friends - it is a yoke of service - of walking the walk as well as talking the talk, no matter what the time is like.
The burden is light - not because it lacks any seriousness - but because it is carried within us by the power of faith - of trust - and of confidence - those things that are nurtured in us by the word of God and by persistent conversation with him in prayer.
I would like to end with a story about the nature of persistence - of perseverance if you will - it is about the first pilot to fly across the United States from coast to coast.
On September 17 1911 Galbraith Perry Rogers left Long Island, New York and on November 5th he arrived in Pasadena, California. The time Captain Perry spent in the air was only 3 days and 10 hours and 14 minutes. Along the way he crashed 39 times and made 30 other unscheduled stops. The only parts of the original plane that were left and completed the trip were the rudder the drip pan.
Pray always and do not loose heart, feed upon the word of God, be persistent whether the time be favourable or unfavourable, and our Lord will give you his yoke and his burden, and lead you and our world into the fulness of the Kingdom of God.
Blessed be the name of God, day by day. Amen.
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