Luke 18:1-8
Several
years ago, I read this extremely popular book at the time, one that was highly
controversial, although in my opinion a pretty unorthodox but beautiful account
of describing what is indescribable, the Holy Trinity. The book was titled The Shack. The premise of the book on the surface was a
man and his family goes camping. His
daughter is abducted and later evidence emerges that she was murdered by a
serial killer in a small shack not far from the campgrounds. The father, Mack, says that at this point his
life enters what he calls, “The Great Sadness.”
Four
years later, he receives a letter from God which commands him to go back to the
Shack to meet. Sounds weird right? And off Mack goes with some prodding and
family encouragement and when he is about to leave the Shack, the whole world
is transformed and he has this mystical encounter with the Holy Trinity. Most
of the book is a dialogue between Mack, and God the Father, God the Son, and
God the Holy Spirit.
What
I found most powerful about the book, was the conversation of prayer and
forgiveness that is established by Mack.
The first is an important concept – the need for Mack to forgive God for
not disclosing all the answers to life’s most challenging and painful
question. Mack has to get to a place
where he can let go of needing to know, to let go of having all of the answers,
or even a suitable answer for the pain, the grief, and the sickening
destruction of his own self by what he has experienced.
The
next is the work that Mack does to forgive his daughter’s killer. Each day, it is a prayer. Each day, Mack asks for help in forgiving the
person who has caused more pain than I can possibly imagine a family or individual
can endure. But he prays. He needs endurance. He needs to not lose hope for his own grief
and his own process of healing. He knows that the task of forgiveness is the
most challenging task he can possible take on, but he also understands the slow
process and need to make that attempt, day after day, week after week.
I
thought of the character Mack when I read today’s Gospel. He reminds me of the widow from the parable
told by Jesus. The widow and the judge
are both familiar characters in our lives.
The judge is a politician who is always looking out for his own good and
not the welfare of anyone else. The
whole town knows the character of the judge, even the widow in her time of
need. Maybe we are all too familiar with
this judge during these times!
And
we can hear the plea of the widow. She
knows that the judge has not an ounce of feeling for anyone but himself, but
she knocks anyway. And she keeps
knocking. Please, please, please
help. By now, its 2am and the neighbors
are furious. They continue to slam their
windows shut. “Help me, help me, help
me.” And finally the door opens, “Fine,
I will help you if you just leave me alone.
Now get out of my sight and don’t come back.”
The
judge responds, but only to make his life simpler. He wants sleep and it is easiest if he helps
the widow. And the widow who has been seeking justice is appeased. And we are told this is what prayer is like.
Our lives are to be a constant stream of being, of asking for help, of asking
for guidance, of giving thanks, even when it seems useless. And this is where
we hear the character of Mack each day,
“God, help me. Help me to forgive
the person who has done the unforgivable act. I am not there yet. Help me.”
Each day, going back, demanding help. Each day, he assumes, will be like the
previous, with forgiveness not fully there yet.
When
I was growing up, my parents constantly reminded, “Be nice to your
sister.” I remember being punished a few
times where my father would make me write out on notebook paper, “I will be
nice to my sister and my mother, and I will respect women at all times.” He would have me write some sentiment like
that over and over, 100 - 500 times depending on the severity of what I had
done.
Looking
back (and after studying moral theology) I am much more aware that my father
was not concerned with my immediate actions. If I continued to be disrespectful
or mean to my mother, if the behavior was not curbed, then over time, it would
be even more difficult to change my actions.
I would slowly grow into being a more disrespectful person. However, if I would write something down
100-500 times, the sentiment would affect me by encouraging me to be that which
the written statement called me to be.
This
underlying principle affects all vices in virtues in moral theology. Think about lying. If for say, you decided one year to bend the
truth on your taxes. I imagine it would
be a little bit easier to make the same justification the next year, and even
easier the third year, and many years down the road, you might find yourself
saying, “Hey, everyone does this, it is not a big deal.” A small action, when repeated begins to shape
who we are.
Or
imagine learning how hard it is to apologize and admit that we are wrong to our
loved ones. I bet it is really hard the
first time we have to do that, but overtime, it becomes easier, and we become
more attuned to the people we are in relationship, and find it easier to admit
to our own faults and limitations.
Small
actions, repeated over and over and over can affect who we are becoming, both
positively and negatively. Just as it is
not likely that a person just randomly goes off and robs a bank. It is much more likely they have been
committing crime after crime, escalating, until they reach the point of robbing
a bank. Or imagine a philanthropist. It
is not probably not likely that a very wealthy person all of a sudden for the
first time gives away a lot of money.
There have likely been acts of charity over time that have helped that
person become more charitable.
To
some extent, I believe that this understanding of moral theology and how vices
and virtues shape who we are as people can help us to understand the intent of
the parable that Jesus offers. Why is
it important to pray always? Why should
we be concerned with not losing heart? What
if we are not feeling the inspiration that we desire every Sunday? Why continue?
Why not just stop going to church?
What if we are not inspired by the sermon, or what if we are not inspired
by the music? Why do we keep praying? What draws us back? Shouldn't we just take a break? Or stop, maybe pick up a new hobby? Whittling sticks? Or taking nature hikes? Playing the tuba?
To
use the famous words of a liturgical theologian – Praying shapes
believing. Just in the same way that
writing 500 times, “I will not make fun of my sister’s braces” can help me to
be more compassionate to my little sister, what we say and do each week slowly
works on each of us as individual humans, opening a relationship to God through
prayer. It is why we need to say the
confession over an over. It is why we
need to say peace be with you over and over.
It doesn't mean that from time to time, more often than not, we don’t
feel like the widow banging her hands on the door of the unjust and selfish
judge. We do, but we are called to
continue to pray, to be open, to be available, to be in relationship. We are called to gather here week after week,
to say, “Peace be with you to our friends and family, including those who
royally ticked us off, because eventually we will believe that.” We are called each week to ask for
forgiveness and slowly over time we will truly believe that we have been
forgiven, and week after week we pray for God to restore the entire universe,
trusting that one day that work will be complete, the kingdom come, salvation
present.
Praying
shapes believing. And prayer shapes us,
it molds us, and calls us forward. So do
not lose heart, Pray always, banging your fists on the door of the threshold of
God. Because, will God not grant justice
to those who cry to him day and night?
Amen.
Sermon Preached at Church of the Annunciation
October 20th, 2013
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