People of Faith

This sermon can be listened to here 
 
Gate Pa –  29th Sunday in Ordinary Time- Year C – 2019
Readings:
Psalm -                Psalm:119:97-104                                    
First Reading -    Jeremiah 31:27-34
Second Reading -2 Timothy 3:14 – 4:5
Gospel -               Luke 18:1-8
What I want to say: 
There are some big questions raised in this story. Who is God? Does God answer prayers? What is prayer? What is faith? What is justice? 

What I want to happen:
People to name the issues of justice around us today, to pray incessantly, and to be open to being called to engage in that work of justice making – for there is God
The Sermon

           1.     Introduction:

just finished reading Karen Armstrong’s “The Bible: A Biography".
talks about how bible came to be
and how it has been read over the centuries
The Word of God speaks through the words of scripture
-         something that can be read in several ways
-         give several different readings
-         so is something we should constantly we wrestle with
what surprised me was that the shift from that
to
The bible is the Word of God
when bible stopped being something to be read in number of ways
-         something to wrestle with
to makers handbook
only read in one way – literally
like simple set of instructions
only really happened in last 140 years
Armstrong suggests
-         I agree
desperately unhelpful for Christian faith
ability to talk to each other
read scripture way allow us to hear Word of God speak in issues we face today
also been damaged

            2.     Let’s wrestle

That is a very meaty gospel reading
There are all kinds of audiences
-         poor who Jesus spends much time
o   lives shaped by cruel exploitation and arbitrary and unjust abuse of power
Ü long coming of promised reign of God’s justice
o   represented by widow in this story
-         also Luke’s community whose lives similarly shaped
o   who long coming Christ
raises all kinds of questions like
-         who is God
o   can God be relied on
o   will God’s justice ever come
o   does God ever answer prayer
-         what is justice?
o   what is it we long for?
-         what is prayer?
o   what is it that we should pray for?
o   what is the effect of prayer?
-         what is faith?
You might have questions of your own

           3.     Justice

judge offers us definition in what he is not
-         he does not love God with all their heart and soul and mind
-         he does not love their neighbour as he love themselves.
found in summary of Mosaic law which is found in each of the gospels
-         love God with all their heart and soul and mind
-         love their neighbour as they love themselves.
-         able to see our neighbour in all
-         even those who are unlike us
-         including
o   alien in the land
§  refugee and asylum seeker
§  immigrant
o   those of different faiths
o   those of different ethnicities
o   poor
o   widow
o   and so on
God is the God of justice
who longs for us to love in this way.

            4.     Prayer

in this passage prayer is not just intercessory prayer
-         comes out of our relationship with God
-         communal activity
-         actively seeking God’s will
-         God’s will is for justice
prayer is more than words
-         even just words we say for justice
act of allowing ourselves to be changed in the act of praying
-         so that we become an agent of God’s justice
-         so that we become like the widow in this story
-         beating black and blue
o   that is what the Greek says
o   giving a black eye
Ü those who perpetuate injustice
Ü those like the judge
o   who do not love God with all their heart and soul and mind
o   do not love their neighbour as they love themselves.
-         in prayer we are changed to be people who love God
o   love ALL our neighbours
o   seek justice for all brothers and sisters

           5.     Faith

what then is faith?
praying for justice incessantly
-         not losing heart,
-         not losing hope,  in face of the evidence
as I wrestle with this text
it asks me
Ü who is it that I pray for incessantly today
Ü who is in need of justice that occupies my thoughts
Ü that call us to pray always and not loose heart
talk to neighbour

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