In my early teens, a favourite hip-hop artist of mine was MC Hammer.

Nowadays he’s remembered for 

His “Hammer pants” which were super baggy pants made of parachute material,

Which might be worn by the female dancers of an Arabian nights harem.

As is common with many US American pop singers

Every so often they record a Christian-themed song, which is seemingly at odds with the rest of their output,

And so MC Hammer in 1990 released the song entitled “Pray,”

With the catchy and very repetitive hook:

“We’ve got to pray just to make it today”

Aw yeah we pray.

And as I was thinking about how Jesus invites us today 

to pray always, and persistently,

That repetitive phrase:

“We’ve got to pray just to make it today”

Popped into my head.

—

In today’s Gospel reading we hear a challenging parable.

We’re introduced to two characters: a judge and a widow.

The judge is described as unjust, perhaps corrupt or incompetent,

He’s disdainful and mocks God and people.

If you hope you’ll get justice with this guy, 

chances are you won’t.

He wields considerable power.

The second character is the widow, 

Likely poor, without much money or power, 

Under normal circumstances, 

the judge wouldn’t have time of day for her.

But her power lies in her persistence. 

She just won’t take no for an answer,

She just won’t keep quiet and go away.

Jesus tells us the parable 

“to show us that we should always pray and not lose heart.”

Persistent prayer is not nagging at God 

but a faithful posture that trusts God’s justice, 

grows our endurance, and shapes our work in the world — 

so we are encouraged to pray always and refuse to lose heart.

—

As Jesus told it, 

the widow kept coming back 

again and again, and

Demanded of the judge:

"Grant me justice against my accuser”!

(V4 

For a while the judge refused but later 

he said “though I neither fear God nor have respect for people

(V5 

because this widow keeps bothering me, 

I will grant her justice so she may not wear me out”

or in an alternate version of the story:

so that she may not finally come and slap me in the face.”

It’s surprising that this widow, this powerless person 

can force the hand of the indifferent and disdainful judge.

The system is broken,

But her boldness is rewarded.

And her persistence is a model for us to follow.

Her Persistence is an emblem of faithfulness.

Hers is a Faith that demands justice 

A Faith that looks to God’s promises 

and lives as if they will be fulfilled.

—

The persistent prayer of faithful widows 

is a theme throughout Christian history.

The famous church father St. Augustine, 

as a young man lived a life of sin and debauchery, 

but later he credited his mother Monica,

For never ceasing to pray for her son.

His mother’s prayerful tears 

were the reason that eventually Augustine came to know God.

When we think of persistence and tenacity,

Perhaps we envision a small child.

Young children can be very tenacious 

when they get something in their head.

During long car rides, the “are we there yet?” for the hundredth time,

Or standing at the supermarket checkout line 

begging for a candy treat that is located so strategically at eye level: please mom…just one small candy bar? Please mom, please?

Young children are experts at persistence, 

because they know they can wear us down 

with their incessant whining and pleading, 

and so just to get them to stop and quieten up 

we will give in and get them what they want.

—

Like the widow we struggle day by day with various challenges

And like the widow, we are invited by Jesus to keep on praying,

To be persevering in our prayer.

Persistent prayer describes a life oriented toward the Divine,

an ongoing posture of dependence, attention, and conversation with God.

When we don’t give up in our prayer, 

we realize how much we need God to survive,

And it becomes easier to remember to talk to God at all times.

Persistent Prayer trains our hearts to notice God’s presence, to re-align our anxieties, 

and to keep hope alive when circumstances threaten to crush it.

What does tenacity in prayer look like?

First of all it’s as simple as setting aside time to talk to God.

It doesn’t have to be long: tiny prayers are perfectly fine. 

A few words here, a few words there.

O God, help me.

O God hear me.

O God, be with me.

With these little steps,

We build our trust in God.

We build our determination to connect with God,

We train our mind like the addict seeking their next fix

When we pray persistently we’re like the back country canoe camper 

seeking a good campsite to spend the night.—Our focus is solely on God.

We can build our persistence in prayer by not giving up,

And coming to church and coming back to receive the means of grace, 

to be fed at the Lord’s table and with the Word of God.

We can persist in coming forward for blessing in our rite of healing and anointing.

We can wrestle with the Word like Jacob wrestled all night with the angel.

If we feel weak: we can lament, cry out, even accuse God.

Sometimes “prayer feels like pounding on locked doors!”  

But we can bring that honesty to God; 

Because God is patient and will not turn us away, 

even if we come with our doubts and our anger.

Will we always receive what we think we need? No.

Does that mean that we never pray again or trust in God? Also, No. (James Martin)

But don’t give up because 

Persistent Prayer trains our hearts to notice God’s presence, 

When we keep on praying, it can re-align our anxieties, 

And when we don’t give up on prayer, 

we can keep hope alive when circumstances threaten to crush it

—

And we know this because we know God’s character.

God’s mercy lasts forever

And his lovingkindness from age to age.

If even the unjust judge can be moved by persistence, how much more will our just and loving God respond to prayer?

If even the disdainful judge from our parable will eventually relent and listen to the widow,

How much more will God, who is merciful and kind and loving, listen to us when we pray?

“God receives our supplications with love, and answers them with care”

God gives us his blessing,

And God never fails in time of need.

So, how might this look for us this week?

—

What tiny, repeatable habit could help you keep a prayer posture this week?

Perhaps by choosing a small repeatable prayer that you can link to your breath

Like breathing in:

O God, be with me.

And breathing out:

O God, help me.

O God, be with me.

O God, help me.

And then praying for God’s guidance to determine what next steps you need to take.

Pray-then act-, and repeat.

Pray, then act prayerfully.

—

Pray always…don’t lose heart.

And Remember, we all…

“We’ve got to pray just to make it today.”

—

Sources:

Workingpreacher.org: Commentary on Luke 18:1-8 by Eric Barreto