PERSISTENCE
The following is an adaptation of the synod’s Fall Stewardship offerings based on the upcoming Sunday lessons from Luke 17:11-19 and 2 Timothy 2:8-15. Enjoy this gift from our Synod.
Persistence is an interesting component to a life of stewardship. Parents may find the persistence of their children to be terribly annoying, and some may find how our own persistence lands us in trouble on more than one occasion. Yet in the lessons for this week, Luke 18:1-8 and 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5, persistence is one of the many ways a disciple acts out their faith (or faiths, to use the verb). The widow, who has been harmed unjustly, continually goes to the judge who finally rules in her favor, not because he feared God or respected the widow, but simply because he tired of her persistent requests. Similarly in the 2nd letter to Timothy Paul urges Timothy to persistently proclaim the message, whether the time is favorable or unfavorable, relying on scripture as a God-inspired writings that instruct us on salvation.
When Jesus began his public ministry in Luke's gospel, he started by reading from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah,
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release
to the captives and recovery of sight
to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour."
Before these words, Mary had already sung of how God's presence on earth through the birth of her son, Jesus Christ, would topple unjust systems, feed the hungry with good things and send the rich away empty. The birth of Jesus Christ would signify a turning in the world, one that means justice, peace, forgiveness, and wholeness. And for the duration of Jesus' ministry, his disciples and the crowds who followed him saw these things take place. All throughout Luke's gospel to this point Jesus had healed the sick, fed the hungry, advocated for the poor and the widow, included the outcast and cast down the powerful. People and communities found forgiveness of sin and freedom, and lived in God's grace and love, otherwise, they lived in salvation.
Sometimes reading the accounts of Jesus' ministry in scripture can feel like reading a fairy tale. A 'once upon a time' story in a fantastical land where people were miraculously healed, where everyone had enough to eat, and the dead lived again. They seem so fantastical because when we look at the world today, we continue to see hunger and poverty, hate and war, needs for healing and reconciliation. It is easy to lose hope, to believe that our prayers for peace go unanswered. We can grow complacent, and that our persistence can wane.
It is here we can lean on and learn from our siblings of color, who though they have suffered oppression and injustice persist in their calls for God's mercy and miracles. Black theologian Rev. Otis Moss III says it this way, "The very nature of the faith is carved in the splintered wood of an unfinished democracy. This is the faith where miracles are not anomalies, redemption is not a fairy tale, and deliverance is not a descriptive adjective but an active verb, permeating the soul of every believer. This is a faith where [Harriet] Tubman learned her freedom, [Sojourner Truth] discovered abolition, [W.E.B.] Du Bois discovered intellect, Zora [Neale Hurston] found her literary power, Langston [Hughes] crafted poems, and Ida B. Wells discovered her journalistic integrity." (https://www.childrendefense.org/child-watch-columns/health/2015/thepower-of-prophetic-grief/)
This is the faith of the woman never giving up in going day after day to the unjust judge. This is the faith of the early disciples living in a time of great persecution. This is the faith of us today - living in a time when, as 2 Timothy says, "people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths." Now is not the time to give up and grow complacent but is all the more reason to persist in our faith - in proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ and persisting in the work of being disciples of Christ.
Persist in praying, in giving, in hoping, in waiting on God's kingdom to become embodied in the church. This is how disciples steward with persistence: to believe that God's promises are for all creation, that God's grace is for all people, that stewarding with persistence we give - of ourselves, our time, and our possessions - so that in faith the miracles we hope for become a reality.
With persistence the congregations of Southeastern Iowa work to proclaim the gospel with nearly $500,000 given last year to start new congregations across the US - that's hundreds of new communities who are reaching out with the good news of Jesus Christ and welcoming them to God's table. With persistence Lutherans across the US gave to make sure all have bread, with over $20.7M given to alleviate hunger. With persistence individuals and congregations show up - at schools and blood banks and nursing homes and homeless shelters and untold number of other places to give of their gifts so that others may know of God's justice and love. Like the widow and like Timothy and like so many before us, let us steward these lives of faith with persistence, never giving up on our hope in the fulfillment of God's promises.
How have you endured in faith in the midst of difficulties? How have you continued to hope when it seemed hopeless? How have you used your gifts (either skills and talents or finances) to join in God's work of justice and love? In what ways have you been persistent in your life?
How have you seen persistence in others? Thinking particularly about in people living on the margins or who are oppressed by society, what can we learn from their resilience and persistence? In what ways are you tempted to give up on God's promises, and how might you think about persistence in faith differently?
God of justice and mercy,
You hear the cries of your children and you persist in coming to earth. Give us persistence in our hope that your promises will be fulfilled. So help us steward our gifts that the oppressed and marginalized find justice, and that our work may be for the world good news in the power of the Holy Spirit and in the name of Jesus. Amen.
