“Jesus was telling them a parable about their need to pray continuously and not to be discouraged.” Luke 18:1

Dear Friends: 

How can we not be discouraged?! When we pray; and we pray; and we pray, and our prayers are not answered. Is God not listening? Does God care? Are we not praying correctly? In Jesus’ story from Luke’s gospel of the annoying widow her persistence gets her the justice she’s so desperately seeking. That’s all well and good. But, we all know that our prayers don’t always get answered the way we think they should be answered. The child doesn’t get cured. The cancer doesn’t go into remission. The loneliness does not lift. Try as we might all too often we feel the remoteness of God, rather than the loving intimacy of God. Could it be that Jesus has a different understanding of prayer for us? 

Jesus’ disciples are looking for just the right way to pray. There’s where Jesus breaks through. If we’re trying to master the right way to pray, we’re assuming that we’re in charge. But, that’s not prayer. Prayer is about being in communion with God. Prayer is about surrendering ourselves completely to God’s will. Prayer is about coming before God with all of our “stuff” whatever our motives may be and just pouring all out before God, trusting in the power of God’s saving grace in hearing our prayers. So, when the annoying widow comes before the judge seeking justice, this is Jesus’ way of saying, we’re not moving on in our prayer life until we first can get our asking out of the way. First, we just have to take care of our self-centered prayer. Ask. What do you need? Tell Jesus. He’s listening. 

Then, prayer might take another step. Prayer is about the ever growing, loving relationship we have with our God, the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Our God in three persons wants us in relationship with him/her. So, this God of ours will take us any way he/she can get us. God in Jesus Christ prays; he prays for our realization that our praying is not about us getting what we want so much as it is that praying is simply about being in the presence of God. Knowing God as the end all, be all is being in communion with God. So, when Jesus says, “pray continuously” he isn’t telling us to drop everything and sink to our knees. No, Jesus is talking about how we go along day in and day out with the realization that we are always in the true presence of God. 

Not long ago, I was sitting with someone who spends her time checking on people’s prayer lives. She asked me how my prayer life was coming along. Embarrassed, I confessed to her that my prayer life was basically in the toilet. Not good. She asked me what my daily rituals are like. I explained to her that I’m grateful to have a Bible open on my desk every day; aware that many, perhaps even most, do not have that privilege. That when the day goes along, I’m continually able to absorb scripture. There’s comfort in resting in scripture. On I continued with my litany of rituals: Wednesday morning drive by prayers in the chapel at 7:00 a.m. with a faithful few; the weekly deep dive into preparing sermons; the preschool chapel with dozens of precious prayers; crafting prayers for Sunday worship. At the end of my catalogue of what seemed not to be much, she affirmed that I have some significant holy habits. That if we’re to define prayer as practicing the presence of God, then prayer can begin to occupy much of our days. 

On Sunday, we’ll look a bit more at Jesus’ command to pray unceasingly. God is waiting and welcomes our arrival. In the meantime, you may be praying over your pledge promise for 2020 in the life of Epiphany. We’ll be offering up our pledge commitments on Sunday in worship during the offertory. If you’ve already pledged online, thank you. If not, feel free to do so: https://epiphanyec.org/give/ During worship cards will be made available indicating you’ve pledged and for you to place the offering plate as it is passed.  Again, thank you for believing in God’s great love shining in the life of Epiphany as made known through your generosity. Following worship Confirmation for Youth will continue from 11:30-12:45. I’m looking forward to teaching about how we became the Church, the Episcopal Church and what it means for us today, especially with this group of extraordinary youth in Confirmation class. Sunday evening Episcopal 101 for adults from 5:00-7:00 will continue with our walk through the Book of Common Prayer, and especially how we understand the sacraments. Also, from 5:00-7:00 the Parent Support Group will gather in The Gathering Space for an informal pot luck meal, discussion and babysitting for kids.  

May you feel the continual presence of God as your week goes along. 

You remain in my prayers of thanksgiving. 

Many blessings,

Hillary