Posts Tagged ‘Persistence’
Keep Digging That Well and Don’t Give Up – Br. Geoffrey Tristram
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Br. Geoffrey Tristram
The Third Sunday in Lent
“Give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty.” The story of Jesus and the woman of Samaria is one of my favorite Gospel stories. One of the great moments of my life was when, on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, I went to that same well where Jesus met with that woman of Samaria. Jacob’s well is now in the modern town of Nablus, near the Biblical site of Shechem. Archeologists affirm that the very same well has been there, and in daily use, for almost four thousand years, ever since the land had been purchased by Jacob. Having bought the land, the first task was to dig a well to find water. It must have been a Herculean task, for it was dug through bedrock, and it is 151 feet deep, which is the height of a 15-story building! Of all the places in the Holy Land, it is probably the one exact spot where we know that Jesus stood. I will never forget the overwhelming feeling that Jesus had actually stood right here, where I am now! Read More
Shamelessly Free – Br. Lain Wilson
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Malachi 3:13-4:2a
Luke 11:5-13
If you’ve been around children for more than about five minutes, I’m sure you’ve gotten frustrated. They interrupt and question when you just want to have a nice conversation. They run ahead, or behind, or zigzag, or sit down when you just want to have a nice walk. Think about that behavior. Now imagine yourself doing it. Does it make you uncomfortable? Do you think about what other people may think about your doing or asking? Name that uncomfortable emotion. Is it embarrassment or, perhaps, shame?
The word in our Gospel reading translated as “persistence” literally means “shamelessness.” Your friend knocks at the door late at night, and knocks, and keeps knocking, without regard for what you think about him. He needs something. Like a child, he is unashamed of his need, unashamed to ask, unashamed to persist.
Children appear in both our readings this morning, and imagining a particularly shameless child helps us to understand not only what it means to persist in prayer, as Jesus exhorts us, but to persevere in a relationship with God. God, Malachi tells us, will have compassion on those who serve God, as parents have compassion on “children who serve them” (Mal 3:17). I imagine this group not just as obedient children, but as shameless children, unembarrassed to revere God, unconcerned by what others, who see no profit in serving God, may think about them. This is the shamelessness of the psalmist, who persists in giving thanks to God despite those who mock him. This is the shamelessness of Saint Paul, who is unashamed of the Gospel (Rom 1:16).
This is difficult. We face enormous personal and social pressures to care about what others think, to conform, to grow up. But when we apply this to God, how easily we complicate our relationship with God. What childlike shamelessness gives us, I think, is single-minded freedom. Think back to that child. How would she express her need, how would she pray, how would she relate to God? Where do you feel resistance in doing likewise? What would it take for you to turn to God like her—unencumbered, unembarrassed, unashamed? Ask Jesus to give you that freedom—the freedom to ask, to search, to knock . . . the freedom to be shameless.
Amen.
Broader Horizons – Br. David Allen
Mk. 7:24-30
(Also cf. Mt. 15:21-28)s
Today’s Gospel reading is the story of Jesus and a woman whose little daughter was afflicted with an unclean spirit. The woman was a Gentile of Syrophoenician origin. This story occurs in only two of the Gospels, the Gospel According to Mark, which we heard this morning, and that of Matthew.
I have been praying with these two versions of that story for several weeks, since I was asked to preach on this lesson.
There are several small differences between the two versions; differences in how those who recorded this event saw it. I think that these differences are of far less importance than the final result. Read More