PERSISTENCE PAYS OFF?

We were coming to the end of the holiday in France. All we needed to do was to catch the ferry and we would be home. The ferry terminal was crowded. There was a strike at one of the other ports. Gloatingly we drove past and handed in our tickets. 'These tickets are not for this boat. These tickets are for the boat yesterday.'
Now, I could go into the rights and wrongs of the situation, but I'm not clear about whether it was my dad or the travel company at fault. All I know is that the boat our tickets were valid for had gone and because of the strike there was a huge queue of people waiting for a place on a ferry.
I had an awful night. Because my brother's friend was with us there wasn't room for us all to sleep in the car, so I volunteered for the terminal lounge. It was full of partying people and I didn't get any sleep. But every few hours my dad would go back and pester (the only word for it) the ferry company officials. 'Got any space for me yet?' At first they said, 'well there might be something Tuesday' - that was when we first arrived on Sunday. Monday morning Dad was in the queue again when they said to the man next to him who had come for his ticket for the boat, 'Oh Sir, you've got a trailer, we haven't room for a trailer, you can't get on the boat'
'I haven't got a trailer' piped up Dad. 'Oh take the space then Mister Rees then' they said 'and stop pestering us' under their breath I expect. Persistence paid off.

Solzhenitsyn, the great Russian writer, told of his time in prison. It was a dreadful place and part of the punishment was that no-one was allowed to speak. There was nothing to read, nothing creative to do - the aim was to crush the spirit. He said that the strain and repression form this atmosphere had set in so badly that he thought 'I will never get out of here'. One night, he considered taking his own life. He knew that if he tried to escape he would be shot but he thought that at least that would be the end of that. But his faith would not let him carry out his scheme.

Daybreak came and he was taken out to work as usual. When a break finally came, he sat under a tree. Again the thoughts of escape or death came to him. He even placed his hand behind him, up against the tree, ready to push off and run. Just then he was joined by a fellow prisoner who sat beside him. This was a man newly come into the prison. They were allowed no words, but when Solzhenitsyn looked into the mans eyes  he saw something he had not ever seen on a prisoners face before - a message of love and concern. As their eyes locked in silence they started communicating with their souls. The prisoner took a step forwards and drew a cross on the ground with a stick.

New hope surged into Solzhenitsyn at that moment. he knew without a doubt ' Jesus loves me! He is in command! It is not hopeless!' Three days later he was released from prison. At his release he learned that many people had been praying for him. He knew with powerful certainty that God is sovereign and there is still hope. The persistence of those loving and supportive prayers paid off.

Kay Roberts tells a story about when she was teaching English as a second language to a woman from Viet nam. She began to get acquainted with this woman, who opened up about herself. At the close of the Viet Nam war the woman's husband had been put into prison by the Communists. he was in big trouble. Every day the woman would go to the prison, knock on the office door and ask the officials to release her husband. Every day she sat on the steps of the prison. She would not go away. Day after day after day she went back to plead the innocence of her husband. And one day they simply went and got him out of the cell and let him go. Her persistence paid off.

It was the same with the widow in the story jesus told. There was a judge in town who felt that he was the Law. He feared and respected no-one - or God. There was a widow who was being badly treated - widows of the time had little rights and what little she had was being denied her. Instead of crumbling, the widow decided to do something about her situation. She went to the one in authority - the judge. At first he had nothing to say to her ' Go away i can't help you, there is nothing to be done'. But she would not give up. She kept on and on and on. Finally the judge thought to himself, 'unless I do something, this woman is going to keep on and on and on. And so he made sure that she was treated fairly. Her persistence paid off.

So what is it saying for us? That if we badger God about something - especially if it is something really important to us - that God will give in and reward our persistence? That persistence pays off?
Its not so simple is it? There are times when we all feel our prayers haven't been answered - usually in those life and death situations.
I want to say - and I don't mean this in a simple way - that what we feel is that our prayers haven't been answered in the way that we wanted them to be. That does not mean that God does not always keep his promises. That he doesn't listen to our prayers. He does. But sometimes what we want and what we get are different.

When my friend died in a car crash which left her daughter on a life support machine, we all prayed that little Bethan would recover. But it soon became clear that she was brain stem dead and her machine was switched off. And gradually we came to realise that she would have had very little quality of life. But that's a hard kind of situation to deal with.

Our sister church, St Georges, prayed and prepared hard for their project - one day it was all go and the next it was off. It was heartbreaking and it was puzzling. It seemed so right. But the church has improved because of it, the people are more open to change. When the project was first suggested some members of the congregation actively campaigned against it. When the new building plans were put forward, everyone was behind it. And St Georges though downhearted did not give up when their first plans were thwarted and their persistence paid off (watch this space anyway, more news this week!)

A Minister called David Hills points out that we must live 'in the meantime'. We cannot just sit and wait for our prayers to be answered - even if we are persistent in prayer - we have work to do. IN our reading from Jeremiah it talked of a time when everyone will know of God's love. There will not be any work of preaching or teaching left for us to do. I can't wait! But we are living 'in the meantime' when we need to follow Paul's advice to Timothy. We, like him, need to hold to our faith in the love shown through Jesus and keep spreading the message - to persist in teaching, conversing and praying about our faith.

And that's what Jesus is talking about in this parable of the widow and the judge too. Its given a little title by Luke - it is told to the disciples 'to teach then that they should always pray and never lose heart'.
As David Hills puts it
Jesus is simply saying that if we persist, not just in prayer but in faith, God who is just, can be counted on to deliver on the promise.

And there can be a bonus to all this persistence. Norm Seli, a Canadian Minister honestly says that persistence doesn't work like a light switch. You can't just switch on justice, or a real knowing relationship with God. It takes time and you have to keep at it. It is not so much a case of wearing God down as wearing us down - or is it tuning us up? Time and persistence can make us aware of God reaching out to us in all sorts of ways we didn't realise before. With persistence we can discover that God is present and part of our lives. Persistence pays off.

But Norm also points out something else the story flags up. That you have to give it what you've got. In the story this woman at her beam end has nothing but time. And so that is what she gives - that is what it costs her. She spends time and discovers justice. We have to give it what we've got to. We need to keep at it and give it all to God. And your relationship will grow deeper and stronger. you're set right with God.

And that works for persistent widows, for ministers, for husbands, for wives, for children, for us all. The key is to give it all you've got.
Some days that means giving God praise and joy at a wonderful day or good news form the doctor. Just keep reminding God that you appreciate your life.
Some days that means giving God your worries and concerns. your fears over what might happen, what will happen, what has happened. It means telling God what keeps you up at night, what winds you up so much that you end up snapping at your family. Some days we are consumed with fear and we only have worry to give...so give it to god.
Some days w only have anger. That's OK God doesn't expect a polite smile and an 'Yes, everything's fine', when what we really feel is 'God, this stinks? How could you let this happen? This is just not right!' Jesus talked about the real world. God lives in the real world. So give God the real world as you experience it.

The promise is that when we give what we have and keep on giving, when we persist, we will know a real relationship with god that gives us comfort, helps us through the hard times and adds to our joy. That helps us to see and act so that justice is done.

One more thing to persist with. You know how Jesus has the habit of leaving us with a bit to make us uncomfortable at the end? It's true here too. He ends with a question - God will respond with justice for his people so much faster than that corrupt judge - but will the son of man find faith on earth when he comes? Can we persist? Even when life is a struggle? Once you have fallen in love with Jesus, how can you live without him? Persist with that relationship, through prayer, through seeking justice, in love and the relationship will grow and flourish in all sorts of unexpected ways. We can only give with his help, we can only love with his help. Live in the presence of God and you will find that persistence pays off.

PRAYER:
When we feel drained and full of worries, help us to persist in prayer.
When we feel we have nothing left to give, help us to persist in service.
When we feel we are just going through the motions, help us to persist in worship.
When we feel our prayers have not been answered, help us to persist in faith.
Persistent God, you have kept faith with us, loved us and guided us,
help us to persist in loving you. Amen