Sunday 29 C (2022)

Luke provides a useful direction for listening to today’s gospel.

In the first line, he says the parable is ….

about the need to pray continually and never lose heart.

Last Sunday, on Radio 4’s Sunday programme (13 and a half minutes in)

there was a brief interview with Alex Frost,

an Anglican priest from Burnley.

He spoke about how he had come to this ministry in his 40s,

after 20 years as a store manager in Argos

and a stand-up comic in the evening.

During much of that time,

he said, he had had no interest in the Church as an institution,

the only thing he did was say the Lord’s prayer, the Our Father,

which must have been taught to him at school,

since he knew it wasn’t from his parents, who weren’t in any way religious.

And, he would recite it every night.

…well the whole story is longer…but that is the key bit for me today….

he recited the Lord’s prayer every night…

He was given the grace of persistence,

and from that he was, in God’s time, led to ministry.

Returning to the parable…..

obviously, the judge, who eventually concedes, is nothing like God.

The judge is concerned about his own comfort, not justice,

and is peripheral to the parable.

The message is with the widow.

The widow pleads for justice, over and over again, continually.

The widow does not lose heart, does not give up.

Jesus’ followers are to do the same, both individually and collectively.

We are to pray, over and over again, without giving up:

for the spread of the good news of Jesus Christ;

for peace between and within nations;

for a flourishing of justice and human solidarity;

for relief of famine;

for conversion of hearts;

for action to mitigate climate change;

for individuals with profound health problems;

for protection from war….

and the list can go on and on…..

…but you will find them all encompassed within the Lord’s prayer,

one way or another, when you ponder on its petitions.

A brief manual of Christian practice (Didache)

written, roughly 1900 years ago, not long after the time of the apostles,

includes the words of the Lord’s prayer

and the pithy instruction:

pray this three times each day…

Now, for those with time, inclination, and opportunity,

‘three times a day’ is built into the Church’s liturgy:

in the Mass, and in the Morning and Evening Prayer of the Church.

But, obviously, you don’t have to do it like that…

Simply reciting the Lord’s prayer attentively, carefully,

each morning and evening and at one other point in the day

is participation in the continual, persistent,

prayer of Christians through the centuries –

our persistent prayer, day and night,

that all humanity becomes aligned with God’s will.