Keeping the Faith

 Luke 11:1-13

As old as this passage is we misunderstand it. We think the parable means for us to rub the genie and get what we ask for, but this is not the point. The point is in keeping the conversation going. After all prayer is just this, we are in conversation with the One in whom we believe. Whether that takes the form of Jesus, or God or the Holy Spirit it is not one sided. Sometimes the answers vary and we don't like the reply. So we forget or refuse to engage in it again. Yet this is the very essence of faith. And this is what Jesus is speaking of today.

"Teach us to pray" and the prayer comes with a story attached here in Luke's gospel. It is the only gospel to give us this parable. And the parable shows us to keep engaging in the act of prayer. Why? Because it is a part of faith.

Faith is something we don't hold onto anymore. There is not a lot of faith in our leaders - now this is in the opinion polls, not my own version of it. There is not a lot of faith in science. There is not a lot of faith in truth. There is not a lot of faith in God. We are losing faith because nothing seems to ring with truth to us. Now maybe this is the problem. We don't have faith because we don't engage back into with the others. We cut off the conversation, we don't want to listen, la la la we don't hear like a toddler. Yet faith means we have to engage with the other. Today we have to keep engaging with God.

This sometimes is hard. Slowing down and praying and then listening. Sitting with the words or a word in prayer. Being with others and really hearing the words we are saying every Sunday as a part of prayer. The liturgy is supposed to engage us in that. It is where we bring all of the world, all of each and every strife, of those forgotten, of those marginalized, and of our own concerns to God. We remember what it is to pray on behalf of those who can't and won't pray. Keeping the faith of those who can't until maybe they can.

Also it keeps our faith. When we pray there is a divine connection we can't deny. Even in the midst of the worst times prayer keeps us grounded. Think of the simple here. We adore - worship God. We pray for the kingdom of God to come near (not us or our version). Give us the simplicity of life giving food, bread. Then forgive us as we are also forgiving everyone else (ouch). And keep us safe, don't let us stray into the unchartered territories of being unsafe, but if we are help us to see what it is to be safe ourselves.

I'm reading the next story in the Gamache series by Louise Penny. I love this crime fighting figure because he has faith. He examines himself and others. He knows he could choose another way - power, greed and tip into the wrong pathways, but he always puts others first. Always chooses that vulnerability is a power, a power to heal. 

So keep the faith. Stay with praying in whatever way or form it comes to you. Especially when times are tough, pray. Then examine yourself. See what you are asking - is it simple, is there a reply you see from God, is there just rest and healing you need in the depths of it? Take the time and keep the faith of engaging no matter what you find there. Dare to be vulnerable with the One who will never use it against you and fall into those arms of love.