This week I
came across this prayer from South Africa:
You asked for
my hands/that you might use them for your purpose,/ I gave them for a moment
then withdrew them/for the work was
hard.
You asked for
my mouth/to speak out against injustice./ I gave you a whisper that I might not
be accused.
You asked for
my eyes/ to see the pain of poverty./I closed them for I did not want to see.
You asked for
my life/that you might work through me. / I gave a small part that I might not
get too involved.
Lord forgive
my efforts to serve you/ only when it is convenient for me to do so,/
only in those
places where it is safe to do so,/and only with those who make it easy to do
so./
Forgive
me,/renew me,/and send me out.
There was a
widow who ---continually, repeatedly, constantly--- came to a crotchety
heartless judge; pleading, demanding, calling for justice.
The mothers
and grandmothers of missing and murdered indigenous women – implored, reported,
sought justice – from the system to look for their daughters; to make an
inquiry into why they had been forgotten.
Ceaselessly petitioning so others would join them, and their prayers
would become a reality.
Faduma
Dayib, a Somalian woman whose family sold everything 26 years ago – to send
their then 18 year old daughter to safety, as an asylum seeker; after spending
the past years in Finland, managing to find a way to become a public health
expert and award winning activist, she now wants to return to Somalia. Faduma comes to a government that neither
fears God nor has a respect for people; pleading, demanding, calling for
justice – she is ready to lead. To bring an end to killing and corruption, to
create stability and prosperity she is running in Somalia’s presidential
election.
This week
Michelle Obama responding to a current wave of those who speak neither a fear
of God or a respect for people, said in a speech “It reminds us of stories we
heard from our mothers and grandmothers about how, back in their day, the boss
could say and do whatever he pleased to the women in the office, and even
though they worked so hard, jumped over every hurdle to prove themselves, it was
never enough. We thought all of that was ancient history, didn’t we…” Michelle became the voice of women -diligent and
persistent “widows”- picking up their torch, and continuing to “bother” the
powers that be ---asking, crying for, demanding, justice.
The opening prayer from South
Africa, refers to the time of apartheid. The Black Sash – a group beginning in
1955, was a non-violent white women’s resistance organization; seeking justice,
rights, equality for blacks. Their persistence in challenging the rule of their
time was a long one. Their prayers were
added to by actions prayers of others: Nelson Mandela, Steve Biko, Soweto
students, Desmond Tutu, to name a few.
Thousands of hours of prayer contributed to the end of apartheid. The
prayers were not simply words, and were not just offered by women who had lost
their husbands. Widow is used to represent a person who is outside the justice
system, one who is low on the socio-economic scale, one for whom the rest of
society would not fight, one who is forgotten.
For “widows”
cross the centuries, prayer has been and is a persistent action directed at the
powers that be, to challenge and change an inequitable system; a call to turn
to and live the golden rule – fear and love God, love and respect your neighbour;
so there might be justice for all. The
widows big prayer is that world becomes the reign of God, paradise, now.
This is your
anniversary Sunday (129 years). That is
a lot of years of prayer.
Consider for a
moment your parents, grandparents, great-grandparents who prayed here. Call to
memory the matriarchs, the patriarchs, the faithful, the Sunday school teachers
who taught you, prayed with you and for you.
Ponder the thousands of prayers that were offered in this place through
the years – for comrades at war, for those lost at sea, for fishermen, for
families with illness – tuberculous, influenza, now cancer; over the babies
baptized in this font, and confirmands who confessed their faith; in times of
thanksgiving, at weddings, at funerals; for neighbours up and down the road,
for relief efforts the world over, for newly formed Synods, the Canadian church
and the church abroad; for schools, for young people as they moved to the city,
for a continuation of rural life, for access to health care, for peace in a
troubled world…
Friday I
visited a gentleman who was born and grew up in Rose Bay. He attended Sunday
school here many years ago. He talked
about the things that he learned in this place, from the people who worshiped
and gathered here. He talked of learning
more in this place, than, anywhere else, and was so grateful for growing up
with the faith foundation mentored by your fore bearers. This place set his beliefs and his actions
for the way he lived his whole life. The fear of God and respect for people
translated from the leaders in this place, through prayer, into his heart, has
affected his heart such that his life has been a continued prayer as it works
to better the world around him.
From week to
week, you probably look around, and you see fewer people in the pews – as
populations age, as people move to town, as people decide to not participate –
it can become disheartening. People of
St.Matthew’s, do not loss heart, rather, be a community that continues to pray
together. Be the persistent widow. Now, saying this, the prayers are not the
words, “please save this church,” “let Pr. Ott live another 100 years so we
have a pastor,” or “let our children
all come home and be as active in this building as we have been.” The widow’s prayers, in the Gospel, were
outward prayers. She, in humility and
with few assets, was about active prayer – confronting corrupt power for the
purpose of correcting injustice. Her prayer was far greater than her own need.
As a community
of God-fearers, as faithful pray-ers, what do you see outside your doors that
needs persistent active prayer? This is what the next decade of church life is
about. Somewhere along the way, prayer
for many in the church, has become a grocery list of wants; a bunch of words
that don’t seem to be answered. Prayer
has become futile and meaningless because it has become self-serving and
indulgent. Prayer is the opposite.
I
knew an older woman who had debilitating Parkinson’s disease. Once ready for
the day, she would sit in a chair placed by her front window. Down the street
was an elementary school. Everyday she
prayed for the individual children who went past her window. She knew all of them, by watching them. She missed them if they were sick, if they
moved. She knew those who were having a hard time. She knew those who lived in
unsafe conditions, those underfed, and so on. The children knew her too; some
would wave, nod their heads, smile, behave momentarily- as they walked past her
hedge. The adults knew that she watched over the neighbourhood. The children
kept her well, all things considering, and her spirit boosted their days- and
thus the learning, of each child. For her this was persistence; her living
outside of herself for the health of the whole community.
As a community
you are called to be the widow, out of thankfulness on this anniversary, you
are called to continue in bringing the kingdom of God into the now. Fear God, respect people; together find the
injustices to be addressed and actively pray through it together; continually,
repeatedly, persistently. And if the Son
of Man should come, in our lifetimes, faith will be found on earth…in
communities, like this, that are faithful in active prayer that seeks and moves
towards justice for all.
You asked for
OUR hands/that you might use them for your purpose,/
WE gave them for
a moment then withdrew them/for the work
was hard.
You asked for OUR mouthS/to speak
out against injustice./ WE gave you a whisper that WE might not be accused.
You asked for
OUR eyes/ to see the pain of poverty./WE closed them for WE did not want to
see.
You asked for OUR life/that you
might work through US. / WE gave a small part that WE might not get too
involved.
Lord forgive OUR efforts to serve you/ only when it is
convenient for US to do so,/
only in those places where it is safe to do so,/and
only with those who make it easy to do so./
Forgive US,/renew US,/and send US out. … for another 129 years of ministry. AMEN
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