Weekly Liturgy : October 13-19
- Cory
- Oct 13
- 3 min read
Luke 18:1-8
NIV Translation
Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.
He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’
“For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”
And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
REFLECTION
from Cory
For most of my life, I’ve thought of prayer as asking God to give me what I want, or what I think I need. It was a thing that I did that somehow convinced God to do what I wanted. This parable can be read in that light. My persistent prayers will finally warrant a response from God. On my best days, the thing that I wanted might come close to justice, and somehow my prayers would be the thing that convinced God to act justly.
At some point in my journey, someone asked me to flip those characters. What if I was not the persistent widow, but the unjust judge? What if God was the one who longed for justice in the world and I was the one too comfortable on my throne of power to want to hear about changing the status quo?
Maybe I am the one who does not care enough about God or others enough to pursue justice for the oppressed and marginalized.
In that scenario, prayer becomes something different. The persistence of my prayer in that situation does nothing to change God, but it exposes me and my hard heart to God’s longing for a world of justice and beauty.
The image that I get is of the Grand Canyon and how the water worked to slowly erode the land and carve out that massively beautiful canyon.
May our prayers shape us and form us into channels of God’s justice so that the water of God’s mercy can flow freely and abundantly to a thirsty world.
PRACTICE:
Outward Mindset Application
This week, who are the people that you might label as “persistent problems?” How is their persistence pointing towards a lack of justice in the world?
Non-Violent Communication Question of the Week
In thinking about those people that we label as “persistent problems,” how can you learn more about their unmet needs or desires?
Pathways toward Centeredness
Contemplatives: Loving God through Adoration
Breath prayer is a form of contemplative prayer linked to the rhythms of breathing. Practice the breath prayer at various points of your day with this prayer:
God, may your justice roll down like waters, and your righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
Questions for Reflection
Take a moment to re-read this passage. What happens when you read it as though God is the persistent widow and you are the unjust judge?
“Liturgy” refers to the habits and practices humans use to form community around shared values and meaning. At Church at the Park, we desire to be a community of practice, becoming people who see the world through the eyes of the marginalized, making meaning through the lens of pain and suffering, and committing ourselves to non-violence in a wounded world. This weekly email is intended to provide pathways of practice for becoming the type of people who embody these values.
Many of our reflections on each week's text come from other sources. If you're interested in reading more of what inspires us, here our our two favorite reflections.
Copyright (C) 2023 Church at the Park. All rights reserved.
