Persist…on purpose!

July 27, 2025

Scriptures: Hosea 1:2-10, Colossians 2:6-19, Luke 11:1-13

At first glance, it seems like there are two parts to today’s reading that are not really related. At first we hear Luke’s version of the Lord’s Prayer…and then Jesus tells the disciples a story…a story which I believe, actually gives context to, and illustrates the prayer, if we listen closely.

And that story, which is indeed an interesting parable, reveals a critical point, a point which I believe speaks to this particular moment in time with both clarity and conviction. It speaks loudly and clearly to our current state of affairs, both within our nation, and as regards how our nation is currently interacting with the rest of the world, both with our supposed allies, and not.

And that critical point in the little parable which Jesus recounts, regards the stated motivation of the one who is greatly disturbing his friend’s sleep and asking for his help in the dead of night. Why does this friend who is fast asleep, all tucked in with his family, finally relent, get up, and give his friend what he is asking for? Why doesn’t he just pull his pillow or blanket over his head and drown out what seems on the surface to be quite an annoying interruption?

I believe he finally does grant to his friend the help he is seeking because that friend is seeking late night assistance in order to help another, because the provision he requests is solely in order to serve another. And that my friends, begins to speak to who it is we are, and to what our mission is, here and now.

In this time, in this moment, in all we do or say, we too need to be persistent in seeking after our Lord’s assistance and provision in order to accomplish the good works that have been laid out before us.

‘Give us this day, our daily bread’, Jesus prays…a request that follows directly on the petition which asks ‘thy kingdom come, thy will be done’. It is important to hear the prayer in the order in which it is given…‘thy will be done’, is followed immediately after with ‘give us this day our daily bread’. In other words, if we are intent on fulfilling our Lord’s will in and through our lives, then we will need the resources and wherewithal to do it…resources which the prayer addresses…and resources which evidently are both fully…and solely sufficient for that moment, and for the specific request lifted up. Note that the friend who finally got up and gave his nagging visitor what he had asked of him, did not say to him, ‘here, here is enough supplies to last you for a month, now go away, and please do not disturb my family in the dark of night anymore!’ No, the one seeking assistance in order to provide assistance for another was given just what he asked for…daily, or perhaps in this case, ‘a night’s worth of bread’, fully, and only sufficient for the need at hand.

I firmly believe, because that is the witness and testimony of my life…that whatever we need in order to keep our focus fixed on serving our Lord as we lift up and serve our neighbors in need will always be provided…after all, that is our story…that is who we are…that is our lived experience as a small community dedicated to seeking the will of God for our lives, and then doing the best we can to follow the guidance we receive from the Holy Spirit. Is it bold or presumptuous to make that claim? Perhaps it may seem so, but the overwhelming evidence of our lives together over the last number of years would seem to prove it out.

If we here have been anything, we have been persistent in seeking to live into the vision that was laid out before us quite some years ago…to prove to the naysayers, to those who were not sure if we were even still open…that our desire and intent to become a community of faith was, and remains ‘loud and proud’. That in all truth we werea gathering of the closest of friends, dedicated to the belief that our ongoing mission was to reveal the love of our God in any and all ways we could, through a commitment to service and servanthood, both to and for each other, as well as to our community at large.

And through it all, through the high and low times, we have held on, we have wavered at times, but we have never lost heart. We have made mistakes, but somehow even those have been ultimately blessed and turned to the good…we have sought, and still seek to act in faith, trusting…no, firmly believing that the Lord will honor our every effort to love one another, as we persist in that belief, trusting that the ‘daily bread’ will be provided anew each day.

‘Ask’?…oh we have asked…unafraid of the magnitude of our requests, trusting that the goodness and the assurances of our God are always greater than what we feel we actually need to carry forth…and truly…we have asked, and we have received.

‘Seek’?, oh have we sought…through times of struggle and many moments of uncertainty we have persisted in seeking after what the gospels tell us is in fact the Lord’s desire for us. That his stated desire is for good, and for us to prosper in righteousness. For you see, we do not have trouble at least trying to trust that the words of our Lord as recounted in the gospel accounts are not only true, but are meant for us both to believe in, and to act upon. We have sought, and the goodness of our Lord has been revealed to us time and time again.

‘Knock’ our Lord tells us…‘draw near and bother me’, just as that pesky neighbor in our parable did. And so, we have knocked…andknocked again…and the truth of Revelations Chapter 3 and verse 20 has been revealed to us over and over…that verse, which is one of my favorites, and indeed one of those ‘rocks’ upon which I stand, finds our Lord telling us, ‘Behold! I stand at the door and knock; if any hear my voice and open the door, I will come into their house and eat with them, and they will eat with me.’ Indeed, our knock on the door of our Lord’s heart has been answered more times that we can count.

We live, move, and have our very being as a community of faith, by seeking to be living proof that asking, seeking, and knocking persistently before our Lord of love, does in fact, as the old hymn recounts, ‘give us bread for the day, and bright hope for tomorrow’.

So…if our motivation, our reason for gathering and believing remains strong and unwavering, and if our primary, if not our sole purpose in practicing our faith is to seek out, to find, and then to practice ever greater love towards one another…then the daily bread of our Lord will be sufficient for each day, and our Lord’s will, will continue to be revealed through and within our lives. Persistence in faithful living will be honored with grace and goodness both to share, and to dwell within.

We are uniquely blessed, regardless of whatever challenges the world may throw up in defiance of God’s love and compassion. And we will continue to offer light in times of darkness, hope in moments of despair, and daily bread for all who still hunger, in body or in soul.

For in the end…the right motivation…with a full measure of persistence…seasoned with watching and waiting…will ensure that our walk forward is never alone…and is deeply, and daily blessed…

Thanks be to our God of grace and love…

…amen