Persistent Faith
Message October 19, 2025
Luke 18:1-18
Message: Persistent Faith by Deb Beutel, Lay Leader
During last Sunday’s Mission Rivers Cluster Charge Conference we heard DS Rev Lindsey Baynham Freeman preach a message to us entitled, “Worthy of the Calling.” It was a reminder to be persistent in our prayers and actions! The new motto of the District Office on Connectional Ministries is Cooperate, Collaborate and Connect. That kinda sounds like a message of persistence to small rural church now , doesn’t it? Persistence. What does that mean for us in a body of believers, when we are in worship together or when we are doing our prayers and devotions at home or during the week between Sundays? The fact that we gather week after week when much of the community around us doesn’t see the point of gathering together to Worship our Savior, might be a part of that persistence. Too often, we congregations of small churches feel the weight of failure because we aren’t growing as fast as we think we should or don’t have the right people or we do not have as many Children or Youth as we think we need, or whatever signs that we sometimes think are used to measure our faithfulness. But when we gather, few or many, week by week, we are holding fast to faith. We cannot discount that fact! We can celebrate that in worship, every single Sunday, every single week!. We can give God thanks for divine faithfulness, even as we offer our own faithfulness.
Week after week, we pray for God’s kingdom to come and for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. And we are a part of that working of will. As we pray that prayer, we are signing up again to be a part of the redeeming force at work, reconciling the world to God. It is a high calling, but we are up to it. Our presence attests to that. So, embrace the moment as you worship today and everyday.
At the heart of today’s text from Luke is justice. Prayer, faith, and persistence are the tools to bring about God’s justice in the world. Justice work begins with awareness and faithfulness and quite frankly with persistence! How can we increase our membership and share God’s Love and his word with our larger community? Well, for starters, we need to pray, pray fervently! We need to be persistent! We know God’s timing is always perfect and we need to accept that his prefect timing may not be our timing! We know God always answers prayer, but we also know sometimes the answer is No, because it is not God’s timing at that moment or because what we are praying for is our will and not his. And sometimes, he says, not quite yet…and we need patience and persistence. We are not going to understand nor be able to discern God’s answers to these are questions without persistent prayer and worship. We need to be asking God for discernment. Asking God to speak into the minds and hearts of those of us who are gathered. What is his plan for the gathered worshipers in God’s great work of salvation and transformation? Where can we stand with the Spirit within our local community?
Well one of the ways we can do this is to celebrate the persistence of the worshiping community; lift up the persistent faith. But also declare that work continues and much more prayer - with words and with hands and feet - is needed, especially in and around our community.
Let’s just make a list of the parables we wish Jesus had never told. At least, it’s something to do in our heads before we get to work wrestling with the text. Just for fun. For relief. So, what do we do with this parable of the unjust judge and the persistent widow? Do we make it simple? Keep at it. That seems to be what Luke is suggesting, anyway. He tells us when he introduces this parable by saying Jesus told this about “their need to pray always and not to lose heart” (Luke 18:1 NRSV). Luke says that is what this is about. And it is a powerful message. Hang in there. Keep at it. Keep chipping away, and eventually, you’ll get an answer. In God’s perfect timing.
Except what does that say about the God we worship, the one of whom Jesus asks, “Will he delay long in answering them?” Despite his own response, we would have to say, “Well, yes, in our experience, God delays. Sometimes painfully so.” It isn’t a stretch to say that in every congregation, there are those who have worn out their knees and shed many tears in persistent prayer and are unable to see an answer that comes close to answering their pleas. They might hear the suggestion to keep at it more as a burden than a blessing, and sometimes it can feel like It’s more like a slap in the face than a pat on the back.
Was Jesus just wrong about the speediness of God’s response? Or was there something different about time? What seems slow to us isn’t slow to God. “Nor are your ways my ways” (Isaiah 55:8 NRSV), and all that. “A thousand years in your sight are like yesterday” (Psalm 90:4 NRSV) doesn’t sound like a quick response. And it has never been our responsibility to give excuses for God.
If not excuses, what about explanations? Are we expected – required – to give explanations for God? Well, no, not really. Except often, we need them ourselves. We need to understand what is going on and what is expected of us so that we can continue in our journey of faith, our discipleship path. The problem with explanations is that they often change due to circumstance and perspective and, often, need.
Well, then, let’s look at us. Luke tells us that this parable is to tell us about our “need to pray always and not to lose heart” (Luke 18:1 NRSV). So, what do we learn about prayer in this parable? Is Luke giving us a formula for prayer? Hmm. Another look tells us that we don’t learn much about prayer or about how to pray from this text. But, we see that we’re to keep at it.
This is a parable of contrast and not of similarity. God isn’t an unjust judge who has to be badgered into answering prayers for justice. Rather, God is a God of justice, who lays it out clearly, weighs it toward the most vulnerable, demands it most vociferously from the prophets and preachers, from the scholars and the priests. It’s there; it’s been given, this justice; it is within our reach, in our grasp. And yet. And yet.
Is this a parable about how to pray, or is it about living the life of a disciple? Well, yes! Both, of course. Praying is doing, and doing is praying. The woman in the story was praying as she stood vigil at the judge's door. She was praying as she pled for justice. She was praying as she made a nuisance of herself to such a degree that even someone who cared for neither God or human beings finally caved and gave her what she clamored for.
When we’re told to be persistent in prayer, it means moving our feet. It means knocking on doors. It means evangelizing in our community. And not losing heart. Not giving up when we don’t seem to get the desired change we want instantly. We must realize that part of the change is in us, as we are shaping our hearts into the mold of his heart and perhaps we are learning to accept God’ perfect timing instead of our human need for immediate gratification. We need to consistently care for the ones he cares for and do so with perseverance. Thoughts and prayers, according to this parable, are much more active and frontline. And we keep at it. We do not lose heart.
And yes, we still need the quiet conversations with God, where we pour out our hearts and weep our laments. We still need a place to withdraw. But we withdraw so that we can then go back out and stand vigil against injustice and share the good news once more. Because we have a persistent faith.
In closing, as God’s people growing in grace, we will continue to grow in grace with others and connect with the saving love of Jesus Christ. So, on this Laity Sunday, let us continue to lift up God’s call to follow the way of Jesus and lead others to him – especially, as we consider what it means to be Spirit-strong, connectional disciples, ligament leaders who “cover” the LORD’s song together. And remember to Cooperate, Collaborate and Connect in order to share the Glory of God to those in our community! Amen