Living On A Prayer - A Sermon for Sunday October 16, 2022

FIRST READING: Genesis 32:22-31

Returning to the home he had fled many years before after stealing his brother’s birthright and his father’s blessing, Jacob wrestles all night long with a divine adversary who ultimately blesses him and changes his name to “Israel,” a name that means “he wrestles with God.”

22The same night [Jacob] got up and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had. 24Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. 25When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket; and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. 26Then he said, “Let me go, for the day is breaking.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.” 27So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” 28Then the man said, “You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed.” 29Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. 30So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved.” 31The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip.

GOSPEL: Luke 18:1-8

The holy gospel according to Luke.

Glory to you, O Lord.

Jesus tells a parable of a hateful judge who is worn down by a widow’s pleas. Jesus is calling God’s people to cry out for justice and deliverance. For if an unethical judge will ultimately grant the plea of a persistent widow, how much more will God respond to those who call.

1Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. 2He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. 3In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Grant me justice against my opponent.’ 4For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, ‘Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, 5yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.’ ” 6And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? 8I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

The gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, O Christ.

Let’s talk about prayer.

My trusty dictionary of New Testament Theology

offers 31 pages defining prayer.

But in its simplest sense,

prayer is conversation with God:

asking,

seeking,

knocking,

praising,

thanking,

petition,

supplication,

and most important,

listening.

Simply put, prayer is about relationship with God,

fellowship with God.

Prayer was and is the first act we are invited into

as Christians.

Traditionally, immediately following baptism,

new Christians were then invited to join the

community in the prayers of the people.

Joined, connected forever with Christ in baptism,

prayer is our first freedom in Christ,

and it is our primary ministry.

When it comes to faith in Christ,

when it comes to being the church,

we focus on what God is doing.

So it is in our prayer;

we generally focus less on what we try to do for God

and focus more on what God is doing

for us and for all creation.

When we gather for worship,

we pray often, and we also pray practically:

we have a prayer of the day

which sets the tone and focus

for our worship together.

We pray the ancient words of the Psalms,

we offer prayers of intercession,

we will pray over our offering,

we will pray at the Lord’s Table.

From 10:03am to 11:15am on Sundays,

all we do here is prayer:

active dialogue with God with a purpose.

For Martin Luther,

prayer was certainly practical.

In various letters he wrote,

Luther would ask the recipient to pray for his constipation.

It might sound trivial,

but this was a serious concern for Luther,

and he believed that God responds to prayer

in practical ways.

If you want to know what Lutherans believe about prayer,

start with the Small Catechism,

especially as Luther explains the Lord’s Prayer.

You can find the catechism in the hymnal;

page 1160 if you’re interested.

If you’ve never seen Luther’s Small Catechism,

you can search for the app on your smart phone.

As Luther explains the Lord’s Prayer;

prayer begins with belief;

with the gift of faith in our God

who we can approach

like a child approaches a loving parent.

You’ll notice that the language of each petition

recognizes God’s work,

and asks that it may happen among us.

God’s name is holy:

may it become holy in and among us.

May God’s kingdom come also to us.

May God’s will be done in and among us.

This perhaps is the most important part

of understanding prayer:

prayer is about God’s will,

not ours.

But not everything that happens in our world

is God’s will.

The Lord’s Prayer recognizes

that there is evil in the world,

sin that surrounds and divides.

We ask that God would deliver us from evil,

forgive us of our own sin

and call us to forgive others.

But what about when our prayers seem to go unanswered?

Perhaps you’ve heard someone say

“If only you had enough faith,

God would have answered your prayers.”

Perhaps you have also wondered:

why did God answer this prayer and not another one?

I can think of two individuals I know,

both suffered with cancer,

both were fervently prayed for by the community of faith.

One died within a couple months of diagnosis,

the other was found to be in remission.

If the community of faith prayed for both people,

and one dies and one lives,

what difference does prayer make?

When we think of all the evil in the world,

We can’t help but question God’s work

amidst such great suffering that we witness:

amidst war,

colonial injustices,

Amidst crime,

assault,

racism,

cancer,

mental illness...

Many of us have wondered:

Does our prayer even matter?

Does God even listen to prayer?

Is my prayer like an unwanted phone call from a telemarketer,

or door-to-door salesmen,

or like an invitation to connect on LinkedIn?

Like the parable Jesus shared,

are we just a bother to God?

I’m reminded of the Bon Jovi rock anthem….

whoa, we’re half way there,

whoa, living on a prayer!

In the song,

Tommy and Gina, are down on their luck.

Tommy works at the dock,

but the union is on strike.

Gina is working at the restaurant for a little,

but they’ve got each other,

so they give it a shot.

But all Tommy and Gina do is struggle:

struggle to make ends meet

and struggle to be together.

They’re living on a prayer.

Apparently this song was written as a response

to Ronald Reagan’s trickle down economics

and how many working class people suffer because of it.

It is about hope amidst injustice.

Take my hand, we’ll make it, I swear.

Perhaps we can relate

as we live with economic uncertainty today,

livin’ on a prayer.

There’s a line in the song:

“you live for the fight when its all that you’ve got.”

Sometimes that’s what life feels like:

- a constant fight,

a constant struggle.

Perhaps that’s what prayer is all about.

Prayer is like Jacob’s wrestling match with God

in the Old Testament lesson from Genesis.

But This was no mere struggle.

It was a fight.

Jacob would not let go of God,

and God could not get away from him.

God had to strike Jacob to get away.

God didn’t touch Jacob,

it wasn’t like shoeing away a fly.

God struck Jacob on the hip,

with enough violence to cause significant injury.

Think about Jacob’s persistence.

He holds on all night,

and will not let go before day break.

This is a serious issue because

the belief was that if you saw God face to face,

you would die.

Jacob seems willing to die and will not let go of God -

not until God blesses him.

Wrestling matches don't end in draws,

and it seems Jacob is the winner.

It seems that God blesses those who wont let go.

Jacob is renamed Israel,

which means to struggle with God

or wrestle with God.

This will be a defining characteristic

of the nation of Israel,

and I suggest for Christians as well.

Not only does Jacob wrestle with God

but God wrestles with Jacob.

This is what happens in prayer,

and we grow in this process.

Wrestling with God in prayer

helps us to seek wholeness

in understanding who God is.

This means we can’t pretend to know more than we do,

and we can’t pretend to know

how God will respond to certain prayers.

Honest prayer acknowledges the evil in the world

and the evil in ourselves.

In prayer, we acknowledge that

we are limited against evil,

and that our own sin causes evil to multiply,

even when our intentions are good.

Honest prayer acknowledges that our deepest hope

is in our God,

gracious and merciful,

slow to anger

and abounding in steadfast love.

Honest prayer upholds God’s goodness

and loving kindness

which is greater than the evil in our world.

Honest prayer looks to God for help,

so our greatest task in prayer is to listen.

Consider Jesus’ parable of the the widow

who approaches the unjust judge again and again.

“Grant me justice against my opponent” she says.

And since the widow keeps bothering him,

eventually he grants her justice.

Parables are about the kingdom of God,

parables are about God’s character.

I don’t think that God is the unjust judge in this parable.

Luke may simply be telling us that,

if an unjust judge eventually rewards persistence, 

then how much more will God provide?

But what if God is the persistent widow?

What if God is the one who keeps coming to us,

bothering us, again and again,

and wont leave us alone

until we change our minds

and we work for justice?

As C.S. Lewis puts it,

“I pray because I can’t help myself.

I pray because I am helpless.

I pray because the need flows out of me all the time

- waking and sleeping -

(prayer) doesn’t change God… (prayer) changes me.”

God responds to our prayers in a Christ centred way;

In a mission focused way.

In a way that joins us

to God’s work and God’s will.

We might cry out to God,

asking “why don’t you feed the hungry?”

and hear God asking the same question of us.

If we pray for the hungry to be fed,

and we have abundance,

God will probably call us to feed the hungry.

If we pray for justice for the oppressed,

and we have influence,

God will probably call us to be influential.

If we are quick to offer thoughts and prayers

amidst terrible injustices

God will probably call us to work for change

for the common good.

Christ, the widow,

keeps bothering us,

calling to us to strive for justice and peace.

And when the Son of Man returns,

will he find faith on earth?

I can pray for an end to violence,

I can pray for peace,

I can pray for justice

but I had better be open to the opportunities God gives me

to be a person of peace and justice.

Sometimes thoughts and prayers just aren’t enough.

To the question then, why bother praying?

Does our prayer even matter?

Yes. Pray.

God always listens to prayer.

God always responds to prayer.

You are not a bother to God!

Our prayer does matter for when we pray,

we are participating in Christ’s ministry,

because prayer is central to Christ’s mission,

and prayer does make a difference –

not how we want it,

but how God wills it.

So, as Martin Luther said:

“It is not a bad sign, but a very good one,

if things seem to turn out contrary to our 

requests.”

Prayer acknowledges the mystery of God,

and acknowledges that we do not know the answers.

Prayer means asking the difficult questions of God

and being willing to be changed.

Like a Bon Jovi song written during economic collapse,

we simply cannot make it on our own,

we are all living on a prayer.

We are utterly dependant upon our God.

We are not called to a passive faith.

We are called to an active faith:

one that is continually wrestling with God,

in conversation with God,

knocking on the door like a persistent widow

in need of justice,

in need of an advocate.

Like Jacob, God blesses those who wont let go.

May we wrestle with God,

and in that struggle find ourselves blessed.

May we pray without ceasing,

and in that communion,

find ourselves being changed.

May God give us a faith that listens in prayer,

that we be joined to Christ’s work in the world.

Thanks be to God. Amen.