Worship on 17 October 2010 at St. John's the Divine in Southwest Harbor, Maine, was led by the Rev. Anne Mallonee. She talked of the importance of the persistence in prayer, even when things do not change. Prayer, after all, is a conversation with God, and it changes the person making the prayer, who then has the blessing of this change. Prayer allows us to be open to the power of God, to be aware of God's love. It is a way of connecting with positive energy.
She talked of studying the parables by trying to become one of the people in the parable, and looking at what is happening from their point of view. The lesson today was from Luke 18: 1- 8, about the woman who continually pestered the unjust judge until the judge gave her justice. She talked about looking at the parable from the point of view of the woman (a person seeking justice) but then changing to the point of view of the judge. This change in point of view caused her to ask who, then, was the woman? And she felt that perhaps the woman was God: each and every day asking us to be just. God is the most persistent, god is love, and invites us every day to do justice. God asks us to be in relationship, and to be a part of the solution. We simply need to respond when God asks. How we respond will be different for each: for some, we will care for our family; for others, we will make changes in the world at large: each can contribute. We need to know, and understand, what it means to be Jesus in this world, and, with faithfulness and persistence, we can then use our words, our lives, to model this to the world.
As always, the sermon was much more eloquent and cohesive and meaningful than I have presented. These words are what I heard and remembered. The words about this lesson are my interpretation of what was said. The actual words said and ideas presented belong to Rev. Mallonee and were delivered in a manner that was more interesting and likely clearer than what I have shared here.
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