Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Communion with Almighty Love
Justice is a common theme for all people. Too often, each person’s version of justice is colored by a personal agenda, value, or worldview. We want to assume that God is on our side. When we turn to God for intervention (prayer), we are faced with surrendering control over the outcome. Faith and trust in God become our spiritual posture.
Jesus encourages us with the parable of the woman and the judge. To be clear, the judge does not represent God in this story. Both characters are part of the listener’s experience. The judge is our unconscious, habitual disconnection from the Divine image of reality. The woman is an invitation to bask in the sacredness of the present moment where Divine justice is revealed. This is prayer.
I had many quotes taped to my office door. One said, “The end of prayer is not to win concessions from Almighty Power but to have communion with Almighty Love.” God’s grace interrupts our unconscious, habitual existence to reveal the sacredness of life in the present moment. In the present moment—the sacred space of life—we can see the justice of Almighty Love and discern action that is consistent with Jesus Christ.
Of course, we cannot control when or how grace interrupts life. And there is no need to be critical of ourselves when we slip back into unconscious life. This is just another opportunity for God’s grace to work. We can make ourselves available only through a life of persistent prayer and then respond by being Christ in the world.
Rick Beck, retired pastor
Calgary, Alberta
