The Persistent Widow (Luke 18:1-8)

1Jesus told his disciples a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. 2He said, ‘In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. 3In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, “Grant me justice against my opponent.” 4For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, “Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, 5yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.”’ 6And the Lord said, ‘Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? 8I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?’

Scripture seems to suggest that prayer is not simply a part of life, which we can conveniently lay aside if something more important comes up. Prayer is as essential to our life as breathing. Paul urges the Christians of first century Thessalonica to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thess. 5:1). And in his letter to Rome, the Apostle instructs the Christian community there to "be constant in prayer" (Rom. 12:12). What is more, there are 17 separate references to Jesus prayer life in the gospels. Jesus prayed, early in the morning(1) and late into the night(2); he prayed often(3). He prayed before he went to the cross(4) and while he was on the cross(5). He prayed for people(6); he prayed at the beginning of His ministry(7) and during his ministry(8). He withdrew away from people to pray at all the significant points of his ministry (transfiguration(9), choosing his disciples(10), teaching his disciples(11), Peter confessing him as the Christ(12)).

Prayer is the basis of our Christian life, the source of our experience of Jesus as the Risen Lord. Yet for many of us, prayer means little more than standing in the pews for an hour or so on Sunday morning or perhaps reciting, in a mechanical fashion, prayers once learned by rote during childhood. Our prayer life - and thus our life as Christians – can remain, for the most part, at this superficial level.

How can we be expected to pray all the time? We are, after all, very busy people. Our work, our spouse, our children, and our school - all place heavy demands upon our time. How can we fit more time for prayer into our already overcrowded lives? To pray means to think and to live our entire life in the presence of God; it is what St. Paul means when he writes to the Corinthians that "whatever you do, do it for the glory of God" (1 Cor. 10:31). How do we do this in lives that can squeeze any ideas of stillness out of us?

Spoken Meditations

Using repeated phrases, as an aid to prayer is common in many Christian traditions, particularly the orthodox and catholic.  In the Anglican service book also, short repeated phrases are often used to separate prayers, e.g. ‘Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.’ The Orthodox Tradition offers the Jesus Prayer, which is sometimes called the prayer of the heart: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Focus on the Lord (for praise), have mercy (for supplication) and sinner (for repentance). I would say that you don’t properly start praying until you are bored. Repeating the words of a prayer starts of as a mechanical word repetition; then you engage with the words, then you are bored and then finally you go beyond the words to engage with the reality of God.

A Five Finger Model of Prayer

Here is a way of praying for others by using your fingers to trigger you into thinking about different groups of people.
Thumb: Those furthest away – missionaries, persecuted Christians, friends and families overseas.
1st finger: Those people who lead and guide us, pointing the way (ministers, teachers etc.)
2nd finger: The strongest finger – those people with power and responsibility (governments etc.)
Ring finger: Those people we love – family, friends.
Little finger: Those who are ill, weak, infirm, old, poor, helpless…
Whole hand: Pray for yourself finally, offering your hands to God to serve Him as praying and serving hands for all the people you meet.

Arrow Prayers
An ‘arrow’ prayer is simply a quick prayer to God, like an arrow shooting up to heaven!  It is a good way of praying a simple thought, especially in the middle of a busy situation or if you find long wordy prayers difficult.  God is just as willing to hear short bursts as great long eloquent prayers: He is always listening!  An example might be, ‘Lord, please help me be patient with (name of person) right now!’ or ‘please let me know what I can say / do to help (name of person) in this current situation’.  (N.B. It would be wise to discern when to pray these out loud with the person in question and when to keep them silent, between you and God!)

Teaspoon Prayers (Thank You, Sorry, Please)
No, this is not praying with cutlery, but is a way of remembering different aspects of prayer.  I learnt ‘teaspoon’ prayers at a Sunday school where I used to teach.  This formula helps you divide your prayer time into three sections, so that prayer is not a shopping list of requests but a relationship with God.          

Thank You: Take time to thank God for all He has done, or for specific answers to recent prayers.
Sorry: Say sorry for mistakes you have made, things you have said or thought that you shouldn’t
have, and for things you have failed to do.  Ask God for His forgiveness.
Please: Ask God for what you need (most people tend to be best at this part!).

Yet there is one niggling thought that lingers behind these easy cast images of how to prayer - why did Jesus need to pray. What was it about the life he led that meant him constantly withdrawing to spend time on his own? It could be that he needed to think through and work out what it is that God wanted him to do and the whole process of his messiahship took more courage than we give him credit for. It could be that temptation is harder when it is resisted. It could be that a refusal to judge people takes more energy than we realise. It could simply be that that praying was what he wanted to do more than anything else. Pray because you have to, pray because you need to but pray also because you want to.

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If the cross does not shock you then you have not understood it.