Don't Lose Heart

Texts: II Timothy 3:14-4:5, Luke 18: 1-8 In these past weeks we've been reading great parables and stories from the Gospel of Luke that have a theme: Don't lose heart. The theme is present in our scriptures and in our focus on the national observation of Children's Sabbath. To find ourselves relating to children, their needs and thoughts, let's hear some children speak about their perspectives on faith, related to views on angels. My dear friend in Massachusetts, a person I met while a missionary in Thailand, sent me these quotes: "Angels explained by children" "I only know the names of two angels. Hark and Harold." Gregory, age 5. "Everybody's got it all wrong. Angels don't wear halos anymore. I forget why, but scientists are working on it." Olive, age 9. "My guardian angel helps me with math, but he's not much good for science." Henry, age 8. "Angels don't eat, but they drink milk from Holy Cows!!!" Jack, age 6. "All angels are girls because they gotta wear dresses and boys didn't go for it." Antonio, age 9 "My angel is my grandma who died last year. She got a big head start on helping me while she was still down here on earth." Katelynn, age 9 "Some of the angels are in charge of helping heal sick animals and pets. And if they don't make the animals get better, they help the child get over it." Vicki, age 8 This morning we participate with faith communities all over this nation remembering the precious lives of our children and youth by observing Children's Sabbath. Don't we treasure their honesty, sincerity, and literal way of seeing the world. How can we let them suffer and become the victims of our greed? Marian Wright Edelman of the Children's Defense Fund says: "If every one of us looked at each child as a child of God, we wouldn't stand for the injustice that kids suffer." The facts tell us that every 10 seconds a high school student drops out. Every 35 seconds a child is abused or neglected. Every 40 seconds a baby is born into poverty. Every 51 seconds a baby is born without health insurance. We need the persistence of the widow in the parable to make sure that we are not lax in seeking the highest quality of care for our children in their early stages of development toward adulthood. What can we learn from scripture? The parable of widow is about persistence in prayer and relationship to God. It is about persistence with our human ways of dealing with layer upon layer of social problems that affect every level of family life. We are guided to be like the widow who badgers and persists an uncaring and corrupt judge to give her justice. She gets justice, because she just will not stop until she has the answer she's looking for. We are asked as followers of Christ to value this approach of the needy woman without power, position or money. Jesus used this parable to teach us about the great need of ongoing conversation with God and conversation with those who can help us "with the cup of cold water for the least of these my children." The tiny mustard seed of faith can move mountains. Every congregation's prayers, words, actions, matter. We are encouraged to be like the widow, persistent and determined in our prayer life and in our seeking of justice for those who are needy among us. A powerful book written by Marian Wright Edelman in the early 90s is about what her family gave her to take with her through life. She remembered at the funeral of her mother some of the wisdom she lived by and the wisdom she wants to pass on to her children. (Edelman, The Measure of our Success, c. 1992) Edelman writes, "The legacies that parents and church and teachers left to my generation of Black children were priceless but not material: a living faith reflected in daily service, the discipline of hard work and stick-to-it-ness, and a capacity to struggle in the face of adversity." "Give up and burn-out were not part of the language of my elders-you got up every morning and you did what you had to do and you got up every time you fell down and tried as many times as you had to to get it done right." She says about her family... "They had grit. They valued family life, family rituals, and tried to be and to expose us to good role models.....I have always believed that I could help change the world because I have been lucky to have adults around me who were good role models-in small and large ways." (pp 6, 7, 8 The Measure of Our Success) Who were your role models growing up as a child? What did they teach you that have helped you to be persistent and faithful as a Christian? Marian tells us in the 25th lesson of her 25 lessons for life, her roadmap for her children: "always remember that you are never alone." She tells her children that there is nothing they can ever say or do that can take away her love or God's love for them. She recalls a sermon her father gave in the 1950s' regarding home life and devotion to children "Parents for today's children must at all costs maintain a home, a center of love for their nurture and security. The pressure of our high-powered civilization is too much for a homeless and loveless child....nothing must separate parents from their duty to their children." (p 75 Ibid.) The emphasis in the parable is on God's love for us, God's children. God is reliable and cares for us. We are to never give up and always hold on to our prayers, not matter fragile they seem. This poem made me aware of how fragile our prayers are but how needed the urge to persist is in our prayer life. Let me share a poem with you that has helped me to be aware of the meaning of these persistent prayers... Wild Horses Prayers are not predictions. They are hardly contracts Binding gods and events To the tether of our will. They are wild horses. The cures to our pains and soothing our losses graze with unconcern on slopes in the distance. Some are spotted, others solid bright or dark- all free as ragged wind on an upland range. As we near them they raise their head, catching scent of our desire, deciding whether to run, whether to await us. (William M. Ramsey, Christian Century, 9-26-10-3-01, p 6) Our Gospel lesson guides us toward prayer and an attitude to "not lose heart." Who would have predicted that story of a widow's persistence for justice when confronted with a corrupt and uncaring judge would direct us to our knees. But, that is exactly what God wants of us. Prayer, conversation, action, commitment....the combination will keep us hopeful. We close with a prayer and a pledge on this Children's Sabbath that we take responsibility for all God's children. We will try not to lose heart! "We pray for children who want to be carried and for those who must, for those we never give up on and for those who don't get a second chance. For those we smother....and for those who will grab the hand of anybody kind enough to offer it." (p 97 The Measure of Our Success)