SCRIPTURE: Luke 18:1-8
TEXT: 1Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. THEME: Pray always and in any kine ways. INTRODUCTION In 1866, after the American Civil War, and a year after the assignation of the 16th President Abraham Lincoln, on October 10th, Wailuku Union Church filed papers of incorporation. Bringing to life an English language church, to serve new immigrants to Hawaii who have come to work in the bourgeoning sugar industry. The Hawaiian nation was conquered by King Kamehameha and has been unified for years. The missionaries who arrived in 1820 have been working diligently for almost half a century to bring the Good News of Jesus Christ to the residence of Hawaii and now to English speaking immigrants. The Rev. Thomas Gardner Thurston was our first pastor but after 2 years he left for the mainland. The Rev. William Alexander, of the Wailuku Mission filled the pulpit for many years. After his death the church was serviced by a number of pastors, sometimes from Makawao Union. There was a 10-year span when the doors of the church were closed with only one member Edward H. Bailey, until 1905 when The Rev. Rowland Dodge was engaged to hold services at Wailuku Union Church. Former members followed. But in 1910 the County of Maui condemned the Church’s property for Government use and the Church purchased and built on its current location. In each generation, our members have persevered with persistent faith that carried them through each challenge, relying on the promises of God, compelled by a calling to mission and praying to a loving God. SCRIPTURE In last week’s lectionary text, the prayer that Jesus answered was from 10 people with leprosy who cried out to Jesus for mercy. They were healed, on the way, following Jesus’ instructions to show themselves to a priest. Only one of them, a foreigner turned back to Jesus, recognizing God as the author of their healing, with praise. In today’s pericope, Jesus encourages his disciples to always be in prayer. Then he told them the story of a persistent widow, who had learned to speak up and use her voice in advocating what was rightfully hers. In many cases, we approach God in prayer as we would a judge, crying out for what we need, for what seems to be just, we argue, cajole, plead, beg and nag God, who’s hands hold the balance of life and death. But what if God is not a judge that needs to be convinced by some selfish motive to answer our prayers? What if God, who loves us, desires the very best for us, even more than what we can conceive of and answers every prayer, even the unspoken prayer too great for words? Then when we prayer, God is not judging us. Sometimes prayer’s answer will mean a change by us for the better. Sometimes God’s answer will cause a change in others for the better. Sometimes our persistent prayer can be a change in our situation. And in other times it can change our perceived future for what God has in mind. Working our way through the Gospel of Luke, it could mean a change of the social economic system that abolishes slavery and has fair and equal pay. It could be a change from the Roman Empire where a people could be free from oppression. It could mean a new way for the People of God to be the People of God different from the Worship in the temple in Jerusalem. It could be having the people in power, doing the job they are supposed to be doing serving the people under their care instead of having them serve them. It could mean a change in focus away from selfish greed and to a compassionate humanity. APPLICATION “Pray to God so we don’t lose heart”, is not praying to a judge but to a God who journeys with us. Prayer then becomes an ongoing conversation of constant discovery, revelation, change, insight, creativity, expansiveness, help, joy and hope. How do we prayer so we don’t lose heart? Here are 4 things we can do to pray so we don’t lose hope.
CONCLUSION ‘A praying caring church’ is our church’s motto. It is challenging being 156-year-old church today. Gauging success by the amount of people who come, or by the amount of money we collect is not an accurate way to measure our faithfulness to participating in God’s mission. Our spiritual heritage creates the foundation for us to follow God into the future. Our Affordable Housing Project will be built on the Mission Grounds. Our neighbors will see a church that does not only do things for themselves but lives and practice their faith in being real in the community. We are sitting in the present, poised for the something different that God will bring as the church of the future. Proclaiming the living of God and shaped by God’s constant and extraordinary love continues to shape us and our world. This answers the question at the end of this parable; “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” If we are praying God will.
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