Power of Persistence

With the rain this week, cooler temperatures and the shorter days, it is finally feeling like fall here in Southern California. With our government still shutdown, a Kaiser Permanente strike, and all the other things happening in our communities and around the world, there is no doubt that we are all experiencing challenging times. Our fall sermon series theme is Faith Over Fear and part of our faith journey is to simply recognize when we are feeling fear and to try to let go of that feeling, in faith that our God is a good God. Our God is just God that can move mountains for us when we are feeling the flow of God’s power in our lives.

This weeks lectionary happens to be a selection from the Gospel of Luke where a widow is able to force a judge into serving up justice for her cause. This widow from the parable had one superpower that was able to create great change. Her superpower? Faith and persistence.

Please come and join us as you are able to find inspiration for how our faith can drive out fear. If we are faithful in our pursuit of justice and implement the power of persistence, justice will prevail!

Luke 18:1-8 A widow begs for justice

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?”

In Faith,

Rev. Dr. David C. Brown