In the gospel reading for this past Sunday, Jesus tells the parable about the persistent widow, who overcomes the stubbornness of the unjust judge. (Read the text in Luke 18:1-8 before reading the sermon.)
When do you notice yourself holding your breath?
What do you think prayer is like? When do you feel a need to pray?
to read the sermon:
I know I have held my breath this week, for many reasons. Worldwide people were holding their breath to see the miners in Chile come out of the rescue capsule. We hold our breath when the doctor steps into the room, clipboard in hand, and sits gingerly before speaking words of diagnosis. Parents hold their breath when they see for the first time a child jump from the peak of the swing, and also when they listen closely to each sound awaiting the safe arrival home of their teenager.
When we hold our breath, we do so out of anxiety. We do so out of impatience – I have noticed myself holding my breath, pursing my lips when there is even the silliest delay in my day – too many people in the grocery line that seems never-ending. I hold my breath out of excitement and anxiety – when my favorite NFL team's quarterback sends up a long pass with the seconds ticking down on the clock – I hold my breath – as if doing so would make that catch.
The fact behind our readings for today is that Jesus' followers were holding their breath too. They were holding their breath and being anxious rather than hopeful, and so Jesus reminds them to breathe with a parable.
This parable reminds us to be patient and persistent – to have hope. God is not the unjust judge – but if an unjust judge can get worn down by the widow's persistent hopefulness, how much more will God, who is just, and loves you, respond to every need you have.
Prayer is what Christ offers us as an anchor of that hope, of God's presence in our patience. But maybe Jesus' followers needed reminding. Perhaps they thought of prayer like like holding their breath – asking – please God – and then holding it – waiting for an answer – impatiently.
At moments of stress and anxiety, we hold our breaths. When we are scared, we hold our breaths and hold our tongues from saying even what we know to be true – that hope exists, even if it is simply that hope is found in that God is beside us in suffering.
The fact that we hold our breath at these times is really interesting to me – why do we do this? I think we do so as a physical response to our psychological notion that we might be in control of the situation. But this very same breath teaches us we are not in control. Because – have you ever tried to hold your breath – really hold it? My brother and I used to compete in the backseat in car rides or underwater in the pool – who can hold their breath the longest. I think this may be an apt metaphor for all of us, no matter our age – we want to hold our breath perfectly, prove we are most in control.
But as I learned despite myself, I can never hold my breath as long as I'd like. If you try, eventually your body takes over – you gasp for air. Even if you could hold your breath, your body has a stopgap – you'd pass out and breathe again. It's involuntary. You cannot choose to breathe, no more than you can choose to trust. It's a gift isn't it, just breathing. This week our congregation was blessed in a real way how much breathing is a gift, with the birth of Arianna Grace, breathing on her own, a gift of God.
When you hold your breath, you trust yourself instead of God. But God is in control - God who gave us our first breath of life. Sometimes when we feel hope might be lost, we hold our breath. But Jesus, who teaches us to pray to our father, tells us this story and reminds us that just as we need to persistently breathe, we need to persistently pray, and not lose hope. Each time we breathe, though we take it for granted, it is a reminder of God's persistent, enduring love for us. God gifts us with each breath. God doesn't give us our breath to hold it, but to live in it, to let it go out, to trust God and pray with each breath. Because prayer isn't like holding your breath, anxiously waiting for an answer – prayer is like breathing – a constant conversation made possible though Christ.
God not only breathes life into us, but also breathes life into the scriptures. When we read “All scripture is inspired by God,” this is what is meant – in-spired – it comes from the same root as respiration, respiratory, and this means that scripture has God's very breath in it. So when we feel like holding our breath or don't have the words to say in prayer, just breathe – return to scripture – it too has God's very breath in it. Perhaps there are words of scripture that you return to and can remember as easily as breathing – (examples) – these things that we have learned from childhood – words of scripture - that is prayer, a gift from God. There are tragic times which we hold our breath and we think – there are no words for this – what words can be found in prayer? God reminds us just to breathe – and just as naturally, people pray in times of crisis. That is why God gives us the gift of words of scripture but in it today asks us just to be persistent – prayer like breathing - constant. And I have always found comfort in these words of scripture from Romans - “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.”
As persistently as each breath we take, for our entire lives, God is with us. Prayer is not holding our breath and waiting for an answer, but it is how we live, it's like breathing. I wrestled with this sermon and sat at home pouring over the texts, searching for a direction, praying anxiously, when then I remembered to just breathe. A form of prayer I use often is just a basic breath prayer – pick a short 3 or so word phrase or two, and concentrate on it with each breath in – and out. So as I prayed for God to breathe into this sermon, I looked down at the t-shirt I was wearing, from a youth retreat I led several years ago, and the theme – CPR. That is what prayer is – CPR for a people who need it so badly from holding their breaths for so long. At this event CPR stood for Christ-Provided respiration. Christ-Provided respiration, I think that's what prayer is, and in prayer, we are able to breathe and have hope. Thanks be to God. Amen.
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