Sermon 6 - Ask and ye shall receive
Gloria's death was relatively sudden. However, I did receive some advance warning. This was prompted by advice from a security colleague, who happens to be a physician, who told me to bug the staff in ICU about the cytology results coming back from the lab. Cytology is the study of cells and tissue. I knew that, but I didn't know the implications of what Martin was looking for. However, I did take his advice, and, every time I visited Gloria, I asked the ICU staff if the cytology results had come back from the lab yet. I asked every day. It took several days for the results to come back from the lab. But, because I had been bugging and bugging them every day about the results, when the results *did* come back from the lab they told me flat out it was adenosarcoma. I reported this to Martin, and his response was that he had thought so, but hadn't wanted to say so, and were they talking about palliative care? I *definitely* knew what the implications of palliative care meant. So, because I kept bugging them, I had at least a week to prepare myself before the hospital was willing to use the term "death."
When I got to Port Alberni, a couple of the churches that I was attending various functions from, had had a number of deaths in recent history. Two of the pastors expressed interest in some kind of Christian grief counseling, or grief group. I was interested in this, along with my grief guys idea, and so, whenever it seemed appropriate, I bugged those pastors about whether they had thought anything more about these grief groups. And I talked about it in prayer meetings and men's groups. And, eventually, I annoyed G enough that he formalized the idea, and actually started something. So, because I kept bugging people, the group actually started.
This sermon is not about grief. It's about bugging people. Actually, it's about bugging God. Jesus tells us, at least twice, to bug God. In one parable, he uses the illustration of going to a neighbour, late at night, to get some provisions for a guest who has arrived unexpectedly. The neighbour has gone to bed. The whole household is in bed. Probably in one bed. If the neighbour gets up to give you provisions, he is going to disturb his children. And we all know how difficult it is to deal with children when they have been awakened unexpectedly and unfairly. You don't want to wake your children up and have to deal with that. But, Jesus says, even though your neighbour doesn't want to get up and give you the provisions that you need, if you keep pounding on his door, and keep bugging him, he will, however unwillingly, get up and give you what you need.
Why does Jesus say that God is like an unhelpful neighbour?
The other parable is even worse. Jesus says that God is like a corrupt judge. A widow has a court case that needs to be decided in her favor. She has a good case. If the judge will only render his decision, it's going to go in the widow's favour. But the judge is corrupt. The judge is waiting for a bribe. The judge thinks that if he just holds off long enough, the widow is going to offer him a bribe in order to get what she needs. But the widow keeps on bugging the judge, and finally the judge just gives up renders his decision and she gets what she needs.
Is Jesus saying that God is corrupt? That God is like a corrupt judge? That God is looking for a bribe?
The point of these two parables is to keep on bugging God. Is this because God is forgetful? Is this because God needs a reminder? Of course not. Is this because God is unwilling to give us what we need? Of course not. We are to keep bugging God; we are to keep on praying, for our benefit, not for God's benefit. It is important for us to pray. It is important for us to keep praying. There is something of benefit to us in keeping on praying, even though God knows what we need, and God knows what the best time is for us to get it. Prayer is for *our* benefit, not for God's benefit.
Why is it important, for us, that we pray? I don't know. We aren't told why. We are just told to do it. There are a few possibilities that we might consider.
Praying means we are talking to God. Therefore, we are thinking about God. That's probably a good thing. Thinking about God, meditating on God, focussing our thoughts on God, considering the nature of God: all of these things are probably good for us. Anything that keeps our focus on God is a good idea. God wants to have a relationship with us, so it is only right that we pay attention to Him. And that is what we were created to do, so doing it is undoubtedly good for us.
There is an additional side benefit from praying: it gets our mind off us. Now, there are times when we should think about ourselves, and ways that we should think about ourselves. But it is unlikely that we think of ourselves too seldom. Thinking about ourselves tends to happen automatically. And, a lot of the time, we think about ourselves too much.
For example, I am a grieving widower. Because of that I am damaged, and in pain, and lonely. And I think about that a lot. Way too much. And if I let myself think about that, then I spiral into a pity party: oh, woe is me! I'm all alone! I'm lonely! God, you said I am not supposed to be alone! Why did you leave me all alone? Why am I so sad and lonely?
Well, I am sad and lonely because I am dwelling on the fact that I am sad and lonely. So, when I start into that spiral, I try to stop it by praying. And not just praying about being sad and lonely, but praying about other people. I pray about you lot. I pray through the churches of Port Alberni. Now, hopefully, these prayers, for you, do you some good. But they definitely do *me* good, because when I'm thinking and praying about your problems, I'm not thinking about *my* problems.
So when you see me walking down the street, talking to myself, I'm not talking to myself. I'm probably talking to God. Likely about you.
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