On Persistence
October 19, 2025
Rev. Traceymay Kalvaitis

Jeremiah 31: 31-34

The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another or say to each other, “Know the LORD,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD, for I will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more.

Luke 18:1-8

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

***
Today’s sermon is titled On Persistence.

I’ve been thinking this week about where and how we experience persistence. Time comes first to mind as perhaps being the most persistent. Light is persistent, too. The Hubble space telescope has relayed images of a star that could be 500 times larger than our own sun. The star is 28 billion light years from earth.* Scientists named the star Earendel, which is Old English for dawn star; I think Persistence would have been a good name, too.
In our scripture reading for today, a persistent widow is the character Jesus chooses to illustrate how faithfully persistent his followers must be. When Jesus creates this story, he is on his way to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover and he knows that what awaits him in Jerusalem will not be a warm welcome. Jesus is trying to prepare his disciples for what is to come. He is assuring them that they have all the faith they need, if only they would put their faith into action. The action Jesus is encouraging is persistence and, in particular, persistence in prayer.

Let’s not forget that Jesus is creating this story from his own mind, so he could have used any ensemble of characters to illustrate his point, but he chooses a woman living on her own and “a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought.” The power dynamic could not be more skewed in favor of the judge, a male, in a public position of power, with the authority to grant or to deny justice. But for all of his advantage and privilege, it is the persistence of the woman that wears him down. There is some hidden humor in the story that has been lost to translation.

When the judge is about to capitulate, he says to himself, “…because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me.” There was only one word that the author used for “come and attack me;” it was the Greek word hypopiazo. Properly translated, hypopiazo means “to give a black eye.” Surely, Jesus’s audience would have laughed at the idea that the judge would relent in fear that the woman might give him a black eye.

The woman is the heroine of this story. She is faithful in her pursuit of justice. She is not dissuaded; she is not dismissed. She refuses to give up hope. She tries and tries and tries again. Jesus is saying to his disciples, “Pray like this. Things are about to get rough. Remember what I tell you. Be persistent in prayer and do not give up.”
There are at least a dozen different pieces of scripture that urge us to “pray constantly…give thanks in all circumstances…pray without ceasing” but is this really possible outside the confines of a monastery or abbey? How can we possibly go about our daily lives in a constant state of prayer?

Friends, this may sound improbable, or even impossible, but there is one author in particular who devoted his life’s work to these questions. Thomas R. Kelly was a Quaker mystic and author of a book titled A Testament of Devotion, published in 1941; he writes, “Deep within us all there is an amazing inner sanctuary of the soul, a holy place, a Divine Center, to which we may continuously return. Such practice is no mere counsel for special religious groups or for monks retired in cloisters. This practice is the heart of religion. It is the secret, I am persuaded, of the inner life of the Master of Galilee (Jesus). He expected this secret to be freshly discovered in everyone who would be his follower.” In his book, A Testament of Devotion, Thomas Kelly compels us to develop a practice of turning heart and mind frequently back to love, to light, to the holy presence within and without, so that even our most common and mundane tasks take on an element of blessedness and our lives, well-lived, become what is perhaps the purest form of prayer.

Thomas Kelly is building on the premise that Jesus outlines in the Gospel according to John, chapter 14 where Jesus says, “I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.” It is our work as followers of Christ to learn how to live into this truth. Like with any learning, it takes practice and persistence.

Friends, this practice is important because it will keep us centered as we weather these tumultuous times. From a centered place, we are not so easily thrown off balance when things don’t go as expected, or as desired. From a centered place, and with a practice of prayer, we can hold on to our hope for the future even as we witness a breakdown in the rule of law and attempts to dismantle our democracy. 2000 years ago, Jesus knew that what his disciples needed the most was faith, hope, and persistent prayer because they would be the ones who would eventually suffer the oppressive forces of Empire, but first they would witness a grave injustice in the arrest and execution of their beloved teacher. Jesus knew that would not be the end of his story, though. Jesus knew the persistence of Divine justice would prevail. Thanks be to God.

In closing, I am thinking again of the persistence of time, water, and light. May our prayers for justice be carried forward, unrelenting as time and the turning of the earth. May our prayers for justice shine with the light of a thousand stars, illuminating the way to a brighter future for all of humankind, with no exceptions. So be it. Amen.

Persistence: per “thoroughly” (“forward,” hence “through”) + sistere “come to stand”
*https://www.discovery.com/space/furthest-star

Pastoral Prayer

Gracious Lord, our God, we are thankful for our immense capacity for awareness and feeling, it is surely a gift from you. Even when the weight of knowing and feeling feels too much to bear, remind us, Lord, to appreciate that we are not unaware, and that we are not numb. We pray to be strengthened and encouraged in the work that lies before us…the work of healing, the work of repairing the brokenness within ourselves, the work of holding the needs of others in balance with our own needs, and the work that You place in our minds and hearts. Help us, we pray, to say “yes”. Help us, we pray, to say “I’m sorry; please forgive me”. Help us, we pray, to trust in the goodness that You intend for us, as your children. Thank You for our many blessings. This we pray in Christ’s name. Amen.

Benediction

I leave you with these words from the poet Rainer Maria Rilke, from his collection titled Book of Hours: Love Poems to God

God speaks to each of us as he makes us,
then walks with us silently out of the night.
These are the words we dimly hear:
You, sent out beyond your recall,
go to the limits of your longing.
Embody me.
Flare up like a flame
and make big shadows I can move in.
Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror.
Just keep going. No feeling is final.
Don’t let yourself lose me.
Nearby is the country they call life.
You will know it by its seriousness.
Give me your hand.
Book of Hours, I 59