Pray always
From Wellington Cathedral of St Paul
Pray always: Do not lose heart: 17 October 2010: am: The Very Revd Frank Nelson
- Psalm 119: 97 - 104
- Jeremiah 31: 27 - 34
- 2 Timothy 3: 14 – 4: 5
- Luke 18: 1 - 8
“Pray always; do not lose heart.” The opening words of Jesus in today’s Gospel could just as easily have come from the President of Chile, or one of the other leaders of the remarkable drama that has gripped the world this past week. The rescue of all thirty three miners after so many days trapped deep underground is a tribute to human courage, faith, determination and sheer dogged determination not to give up hope. I was among the many millions across the world who glued myself to a live internet feed waiting for the first miner to appear. More than one tear needed to be wiped away as one by one, slowly at first, and then a little faster, all thirty three appeared, and then those brave rescuers who allowed themselves to be lowered into what could so easily have been a tomb. Many more stories will emerge as the men come to terms with what they have survived, and find ways of re-integrating into their homes, families and communities. For now, let us be thankful for the ending; and that, for once, the best brains in the world were able to work together.
So what is Jesus on about when he tells his disciples to pray always, and not to lose heart? What can we learn from the parable about the widow seeking justice from a cold-hearted, self-confident, somewhat pompous and self-righteous judge? Last week we were encouraged to be thankful as we listened to the story of the ten people healed of their leprosy, with only one, a foreigner, thinking to come back and say thank you. I was in Christchurch Cathedral last Sunday morning, listening to the Dean of Napier drawing some parallels from two earthquakes eighty years apart. I also enjoyed dinner with the Bishop of Christchurch and found myself marveling at Bishop Victoria’s courage in calling on the people of her diocese to come up with $100,000.00 as a thank offering for the people of Haiti. Perhaps understandably, her call has received a mixed reception.
“Pray always: do not lose heart.” Through her persistent asking for the judge to make a decision one way or the other, the widow finally gets satisfaction. Not, we notice, because her case is particularly strong (we are in fact told little about her actual case), but simply because she wears down the judge. For his own sanity, and to be rid of this pesky woman, the judge grants justice. Is this the way with God? Do we pray day and night, nagging God for what is on our prayer list, until God gives up and gives in? Surely not! And yet Jesus is quite clears in his instructions to the disciples: Pray always.
Jesus contrasts the judge and God. The judge finally gets tired of the woman and grants her what she wants – for his own peace of mind. But God, Jesus implies, listens to the people who are at the bottom of the pile, those called “his chosen ones”. We need to go back to the Old Testament, and the Beatitudes in Matthew 5 and Luke 6, to remind ourselves that God shows a distinct bias towards the poor, the down-trodden, the powerless. The widow in Jesus’ day was one of that group. She had no one to plead her cause, to stand up for her, to fight her corner, put her case before the arrogant judge. Although there is not much of this theme in Jeremiah, today’s reading actually does suggest that God hears the cries of the oppressed. After all the suffering the people of Jerusalem have undergone at the hands of the Babylonians, God begins to talk about a new covenant, a new hope, a new light. If you like, this is the drill chewing its way through the rock to those miners, bringing vital food and water to the trapped, and the equally vital and hope-filled news to those on the surface that they were all alive.
But through all those days of waiting, patience tested to the limit, hoping beyond hope, as the great drills bored slowly through the rock, both miners and people on the surface needed to carry on living, setting up routines that would keep them going day by day. In the end, their patience and hope was justified, and the celebrations echoed around the world.
Over the past few months I have been reading, thinking and writing about the spirituality of St Benedict of Nursia. Despite living fourteen hundred years ago, his writing is, as I discovered, very relevant to today. Benedict wrote a simple Rule of Life for his monks to help them on their journey of faith. His words are not that different to those of St Paul to Timothy; or, for that matter, those of Jeremiah to the exiles living in Babylon. Hold on to your faith. Set in place some planks, some values, some exercises, which will help you to remain faithful. Pray always, do not lose heart.
Benedict offered his monks three vows, and three simple principals for daily living, which would, he believed, keep them at prayer and full of hope. The vows were stability, obedience and continual conversion. The principals were prayer and worship, reading and study of scripture, and manual work and physical well-being. I love those words of St Paul to Timothy, they are so contemporary. “The time is coming when people… having itching ears … will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires.” (2 Tim 4: 3) How very modern. We listen to what we want to hear. We flick between channels never settling on one thing or another, constantly searching for someone who, in a slightly different translation of Paul’s words, will tickle our ears. No, says Benedict. No, says St Paul to Timothy. No, says Jesus to the disciples. Stick with it. Persevere in prayer. Hold on to your faith. Stay with what you were taught. Stability is important.
Benedict’s second vow was obedience. This really answers the question raised by the perseverance of the widow. Do we just keep bombarding God with our wishes? Jesus, Paul and Benedict are all clear that we need to be in tune with God. For Benedict, to be obedient to God means to listen to God. Our English words obedience and audience come from the same root – both are to do with listening. If we really listen to God, then we will be obedient to God. St Paul reminds Timothy that all scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. (2 Tim 3: 16) True prayer is not simply bombarding God with our shopping list, but carefully listening to God – through scripture, through intelligent conversation, through study which seeks understanding. When we do this, Jesus’ words to persevere in prayer and not lose heart, begin to make sense – and our prayer brings us increasingly to be of a mind with Christ. Obedience, listening to God, in the stability of faith inherited from those who have gone before us, leads to the third of Benedict’s vows: Continual Conversion.
There’s a wonderful tension and elasticity here. Stability and Obedience do not mean being static, living in a straight jacket, but invite us into the open and ever-changing dynamic of the Holy Spirit, forever challenging, forever drawing us outward and onward, forever enriching us as we grow more and more into an understanding of the love of God.
St Benedict offered a simple formula, what he called a little Rule of Life. In order to live in the dynamic tension between Stability, Obedience and Continual Conversion, Benedict encouraged his monks to feed their souls, their minds and their bodies. So he fashioned his day around the worship of God, the study of scripture, and the manual work needed to look after themselves physically. Neglect one and the others go out of balance. Look after all three, and the balance is palpable.
When you think about it, a Cathedral tries to do just that. This Cathedral invites us to focus on worship, on education, and the hospitality that invites people to be whole. Through stability and obedience we are led into that continual conversion which leads to eternal life.
As Jesus said to his disciples: “Pray always; do not lose heart.”
