Pentecost 22

Pentecost 22 (Luke 18:1-8)

“When the Son of man comes, will He find faith on Earth?”

Persistence is an important aspect of success.

People try and fail many times in many different areas of life. From school, to romance, to business to learning a new skill or language persistence in the pursuit of accomplishment is key.

Most people are not prodigies. Most people cannot sit down at a piano at a young age and begin to play effortlessly and flawlessly. Those few who can generally are selective prodigies. They have one very narrow area of inherent expertise. In other areas they are much like the rest of us.

For the vast majority of people, failure is the prelude to success. We learn from our mistakes. And, we grow in the process of trial and error linked with dedicated practice.

Whether pitching a baseball, playing a piano or inventing new technology persistence distinguishes the person who succeeds from the person who gives up.

As with all things in life faith requires persistence. We need to make a choice to practice our faith as we practice a sport, a musical talent or an skill.

C.K. Chesteron, the English lay theologian, once wrote that Christianity has not been tried and found wanting. It has not been tried.

Christian Faith is a personal relationship. It is a threefold personal relationship that involves God, other people and the image of God imprinted on our souls.

As with all human endeavors and all human relationships, the relationships of faith requires time and attention. The point of the parable of the importunate widow is not to nag people or God or yourself to do something you don’t want to do. The point is persistence.

Christian Faith is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. The two images the Bible uses to describe the quality of the relationship are marriage and friendship.

Faith not only require persistence it requires passion. The casual musician is not the successful musician. The casual scientist is not the successful scientist. And the casual approach to romance does not facilitate and form a relationship.

If Juliette had replied to Romeo’s passionate and poetic pledge of devotion with the word: “whatever” the play would have ended with the first scene of the first act.

The same is true for faith. From time to time I hear people say that they prayed for something and did not get it. As a result, they gave up on God. They say something like: God did not answer my prayer so I no longer believe in God.

Faith is not the same as belief. Faith may indeed include a  certain set of beliefs. Holding belief is not as demanding or as life transforming as practicing faith.

The point of the parable is persistence. Jesus reminds us that belief is easy. It comes and goes. Faith is challenging. And, it produces a new way of living that transforms our thoughts, emotions and will.

As Jesus gave this very brief but pointed teaching on faith he looked at his followers. He considered his enemies. And, he pondered the large numbers of people who expressed their indifference with the attitude if not the word: “whatever.”

As I consider the meaning of Jesus’ teaching I remember the emphasis of so many televangelists, church committees and councils  who are concerned with right belief apart from an active dynamic living and transforming Faith. The purpose of the Church is not to provide rigid inflexible uncompromising beliefs. The Church is the Bride of Christ who seeks to help her members to grow and transform is the delight of the Beloved.

Given human nature and human history, it is clear that when Jesus returns he will find belief. It may be religious belief or secular belief. It will likely be a commingling of both as people attempt to justify their political and economic interests with a veneer of religious language.

Jesus questions whether he will find faith. Christian Faith has not been tried and found wanting.  By and large, it has not been tried. It has not been tried because it requires an effort in the realm of time and attention.

The reality of God does not emerge in our lives from a casual expectation that God resides in a set of beliefs. The reality of God is not that God will give us what we want when we want it just because we want it.

The reality of God is the ongoing passionate friendship we cultivate with Jesus Christ. Answer to prayer emerges in the dialog of faith, in our daily practice of the Real Presence of God.

God never holds back from us his blessing. God is the great “I Am” who is always present to us. We can choose to manifest the blessing of God in our lives only through a process not a demand. The process is our active participation in the divine life of the Trinity.

God himself is the blessing. If we cultivate the relationship with God the Father through God the Son by the indwelling presence of God the Holy Spirit then that active dynamic and transforming relationship allows us to manifest in our lives the blessing of God’s presence in our lives in a practical and a particular way we and everyone else can recognize.

This is not magic. This is not name it and claim it assertion of our individual will to power. This is not deprivation based prayer that focuses on getting what I don’t have.

This is the practice of faith. This is the union of the soul with God the Creator and the participation of the soul with God in His eternal delight in creating. God wants us to be active co-creators of our own lives with Him, in Him and through Him.

Belief impels us to demand of God to give us what we want. Our focus in this type of prayer is lack. The voice of this prayer is:  I lack therefore I must have. I must have therefore God must give. It is the voice of demand, desperation and despair. From this set of beliefs we focus on lack and live from the place of deprivation. No matter how much we get there is never enough to fill the void we have created in our souls.

Faith invites us to surrender to the infinite creativity of Divine Love. Our focus in this type of prayer is God. The voice of this prayer is: I am here in your divine presence. I am filled to overflowing with your infinite and eternal love. I surrender to your love the highest and deepest aspirations of my soul. Together we will manifest blessing. The voice of this prayer is the voice of faith, hope and love. It is the delight in participating in the abundance of the infinite God of Love. In this prayer of faith our souls become fountains of grace and channels of blessing.

Jesus invites all people everywhere to meet him at the altar of Real Presence on the day of Real Presence. As Jesus looked out into the world when he first told this parable so he looks out into the world today. He seeks friends who have a passion for the personal relationship he offers us.

And, he continues to ask us specifically: when I come before you on the Day of Real Presence what will I find? Will I find faith?