I'm
taking my very first on-line course ever from Lutheran Seminary in
Philadelphia. The course title is
"Who Am I to Go to Pharaoh? Biblical Insights on Faithful
Leadership." Since it's only for
continuing ed credit, there are no tests or papers. However, it takes about 2 hours each week for
5 weeks--one hour for the lecture and another for reading and answering
discussion questions in a forum. The
first week I was quite excited and looked forward to figuring out how it all
worked. When I discovered the professor
would be interesting, I knew I had made a good choice, even though I went into
quite blindly.
However,
the second week--this past week--I almost forgot to schedule the time to watch
the video. My commitment to persevere
and complete the course expectations was clearly faltering. I hurriedly carved out the time late Thursday
evening and was rewarded by another great lecture. I even discovered something I seemed to have
missed in previous Bible study. In
Exodus 24 the writer recounts a covenant ritual of, first, sacrificing to God
on the altar Moses had built at the base of Mt. Sinai and, then, of Moses
reading the law to the people. After
this ritual some 70 plus men went with part-way up the mountain where they met
God and they "ate and drank."
Worship followed by a parish picnic?
There is nothing new under the sun--but I digress.
The
reason I told this story was to focus on a word from the Collect of the Day and
my lack of that quality this week. The
word is "persevere." In the
collect it describes what the church all over the world needs to do:
"persevere with steadfast faith in the confession of [God's]
name." Our faith and our displaying
that faith in our lives and with our words shouldn't be just off-and-on--only
when it's convenient.
We
encounter perseverance in the story of Jacob at the fork of the Jabbock stream.
Jacob perseveres in a very physical encounter with an unnamed
"man." He continued to
struggle and refused to let go of the person whom Jacob understood to be
God. Jacob is blessed for his
perseverance, but God's name remained hidden.
Jacob may persevere, but there is a limit to God's forbearance.
Keeping
on--persevering--appears in the epistle reading as well. We heard a passage from the second pastoral
letter to Timothy, the apostle Paul's faithful companion. Paul sent him to the
Christian community in Ephesus to deal with false teaching. Timothy is expected
lead that community, so they will be faithful to the gospel as Paul taught them
first. How should Timothy manage this sothat
all who belong to God will by "equipped for every good work?" These are the key words: "I solemnly urge you: proclaim the
message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable. .
." Be persistent, in other words,
persevere in what you are called by God to do.
And
if these two examples weren't enough to convince us that persistence should be
esteemed, we have the final example of the parable of the persistent
widow--usually called the parable of the unjust judge, but we won't be focusing
on him today. Jesus tells the disciples
that the parable shows them that they should "pray always and not lose
heart." The widow persevered in
begging for justice in a court case.
Eventually she received justice, despite the odds being stacked against
her. Jesus' point was that when we pray
the odds aren't stacked against us, so this should make it even easier for us
to persist in calling to God in prayer.
So
here we have three examples--each slightly different--of perseverance or
persistence as a virtue. When we think
about this virtue, a concern comes to mind. In real life, though, perseverance
may well drift into a negative stubbornness or a fixation on something lacking
in real importance or even something hurtful.
The test of whether one's perseverance can be called a virtue or a fault
lies in the context in which one expresses it.
Are others in the community helped or hurt by our perseverance? Does it draw us--and those in our community--closer
to each other and to God? Is it expressed
in a way that leads to the greater good?
A
wonderful expression of the positive aspect of perseverance can be found in one
of the promises of our Baptismal Covenant and in a prayer near the end of our
baptismal rite. In the Covenant we
promise to persevere in resisting evil and when we sin, we will repent and
return to the Lord. We are promising to
resist what prevents us from staying connected with God. Then knowing that we cannot always behave in
ways that please God, we promise to turn back toward God, saying that we will
try once more to love God and our neighbor.
The
other important time the word “persevere” appears comes just after the water is
poured over the candidate's head. The
priest prays these words: "Sustain her, O Lord, in your Holy Spirit. Give her an inquiring and discerning heart;
the courage to will and to persevere; a spirit to know and to love you; and the
gift of joy and wonder in all your works." In the second phrase of this prayer we are
asking God to bless the candidate's steadfastness in making courageous choices
and not giving up when life becomes difficult.
As
we think about how we persevere or fail to persevere in the daily choices we
make, let us pray for God's guidance to discern whether our choices will help
others, will draw us closer to God, and, in the end, will promote the greater
good. If we put on blinders to the
context of our choices and end up making self-centered choices, or if we give
up when life becomes difficult, our lives will not show a steadfast faith. But if we allow ourselves to be open to where
God seems to be leading us--as Jacob did, as Paul urged, and as the widow who
sought justice did, persevering in the path we have chosen will be a virtue and
will show a steadfast faith!
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