Prayer

Text: Luke 18:1-8

It occurs to me that when Jesus needs to tell the disciples a parable about the need to pray and not lose heart, that means that the disciples are losing heart and having trouble with prayer. Jesus was not in the habit of just making random observations or telling stories that happened to occur to him that morning. He is teaching them how to follow him and he also sees that they are struggling because that glorious kingdom of God that everybody wants doesn’t seem to be making itself known. They are on the road, often without provisions, often in conflict with either society or the religious authorities, and the farther along on their journey they go, the fewer the people who are still with them as Jesus talks more and more about suffering and carrying the cross, and death. 

Losing heart seems like a pretty natural response to how things were looking. I would venture to say that this week with what is becoming distressingly frequent news about shooting rampages past and present and committed by young teens, and the continuation of the unfettered spread of lies and scare-mongering as just part of every day “news,” and story after story of people harassing and even making death threats to other people who have gay or transgender children or serve on school boards or election boards or are judges or doctors or ……, it would be easy to lose heart today, too, in the face of continuing injustice we see all around us.

So here comes Jesus with a timely word. I know it looks bad. Have faith. And here’s how to have faith because this is the question most of us have: pray. Cry out day and night to God about all these things. That is what faith does. Prayer is central to faith. New Testament scholar Luke Johnson puts it this way when he says about this story, “[P]rayer is faith in action, not an optional exercise in piety, carried out to demonstrate one’s relationship with God. Prayer IS that relationship with God.”

Which brings me to a British TV show called Rev. The series ran for three seasons between 2010 and 2014 and features an Anglican priest, The Reverend Adam Smallbone, who faces challenge after challenge while serving as the vicar of a small, struggling church in the multi-cultural, inner city east end of London. Adam has to deal with the church hierarchy, always pressuring him to bring up the numbers of parishioners and pledges, parents who want to join the church only so their kids can get into the parish school, drug addicts and homeless alcoholics who constantly ring his doorbell, a passive aggressive co-worker, constant pastoral demands, and an increasingly frustrated wife.

Adam is no Vicar of Dibley or Father Ted. The series is a comedy, sort of, and also a send up of the church with a parade of outrageous characters, and yet it is a very faithful rendition of what it means not just to be a vicar but what it means to be a faithful member of the very very messy community of Christ.

Of particular note is prayer. In every episode we overhear Adam’s prayers. He prays while he is walking down the street, while he’s washing dishes, while he’s looking for a lost child, and also when he goes and sits in his empty church. While occasionally his prayers are confessions - “I know I shouldn’t have said that, God” and a few thank you Lords for helping him get over his jealousy of a rival or helping him find that lost child, and a few are his wondering why he can’t be better at life, the most fervent of his prayers begin with “Why, God? Are you there, God, and if so I have just a couple of questions." He tells God about his fears and doubts when he does’t know how to solve the problems of his parish. “Why did you make me a priest, God, and then put me in a parish where everything is about petty cash and bookkeeping?” he cries. “I don’t know about finance - don’t you want me out there spreading your word?” “Why did you send that curate to my church who is so much better than I am?” he complains. At one point we see him finally just lying in a pew, his arm hanging down to the floor as he cries, “Why do you allow there to be kids who do not know what World War II is? Why did you send that reviewer to my church on my one bad day - is that what I deserve? Why is there always litter in the graveyard? Why do Nazis always live until they are 96? Why are there no more bumblebees? Why do African women get raped every day by boy soldiers while going to get water for their starving village?”

Adam prays without ceasing and while it may be that he gets off topic sometimes or loses the thread, for him having faith means keeping up the conversation and not holding back.

Well, you might say, that’s nice but he’s a TV vicar. It’s his job to pray. But remember that Jesus said this to all his disciples - have faith and that means cry out to God day and night, for that is what faith does. It’s all of our job to pray without ceasing, not just the job of professional pray-ers.

And indeed, in the final episode of the series, we finally hear the prayers of the other characters in the show, for Adam has taken to his bed, broken hearted and completely discouraged. Some of them pray for him and pray about him, crying out to God for him, while others pray for protection and for their loved ones. Others show through their prayers that injustice is not on their agenda, only their own self-delusions. But we see faith in action, prayer that results in action, prayer that names injustice and prayer that becomes the impetus for gathering, once again, as God’s people who believe in hope and resurrection and the dignity of every human being.

God is faithful. And we are faithful too when we pray without ceasing, when we pray even though we are in danger of losing heart, when we cry out our pain and confusion and heartbreak and righteous anger, believing that whether we can see it or not, and even if it seems like goodness and justice are taking a really long time, God is with us always.