Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

High Mountain Desert
Colorado Springs

Lectionary: 111

I tell you, if he does not get up to give the visitor the loaves because of their friendship, he will get up to give him whatever he needs because of his persistence.
"And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks, receives;
and the one who seeks, finds;
and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

I didn't expect the bird box to be occupied one Spring day when I opened the lid and peeked down into it. For a moment I couldn't figure out what I was seeing, for there was nothing but four odd-looking red squares. I soon realized they were the open beaks of four baby birds. Somewhere under the desperately hungry throats were tiny feathered bodies, but I couldn't see them for their open mouths. 

That, I think, is how we should pray to the Lord. I'm not talking about winning the home game or closing the deal on a new home. I'm talking about praying with the desperate realization that no one might survive this ordeal; that help must arrive soon or there will be no one to beg for it. 

Citizens of the secular city think of prayer as what we do when all else fails. (Haven't I seen a bumper sticker to that effect?) Or it's a courtesy for the children's sake, to remind them they are not hungry chicks but small humans who should not eat until everyone is seated and dinner is served. A Hail Mary is a football stratagem, or the complement to baling wire when we're trying to make this tractor last one more planting season. Citizens of that city should pray --mind you -- but only after they have worked hard to find a technological, biological, or sociological solution. They don't deserve to ask until then, and should not bother the LORD with their silly affairs.

As I read the polls, I see I am not the only one who thinks the great American experiment is failing. Many people think we should invoke martial law and suppress the needs of minorities. Who cares what transsexuals want when the entire nation is arming for civil war? 

As I read the Bible in this moment of raw fear, I see that God's people are often in dire straits. In the historic experience of Church, we always seem to have our back to the wall. Our prayers often remind the Lord -- as if he's not paying attention -- that he is about to lose an enormous investment, and the nations will laugh at his failure. 

Psalm 83 -- which is not heard in the Liturgy of the Hours -- expresses this desperation in the form of a curse against the nations:

Deal with them as with Midian;
as with Sisera and Jabin at the wadi Kishon,
Those destroyed at Endor,
who became dung for the ground.
Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb,
all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,

Understandably, the psalm is not used during our liturgical prayers. But rather than fixating on the horrible curse, with it memory of Sisera's bloody demise, we should experience our ancestors' stark fear and pray: 

God, do not be silent;

God, do not be deaf or remain unmoved!

See how your enemies rage;

your foes proudly raise their heads.

They conspire against your people,

plot against those you protect.

They say, “Come, let us wipe them out as a nation;

let Israel’s name be remembered no more!”

They scheme with one mind,

they have entered into a covenant against you....

We pray with the desperate realization that we are approaching extinction. We follow with the confession that we have not been willing to see the situation in its entirety; that is, from God's point of view. 

And we finally address our enemies with love and compassion. For our prayer has aroused  something they might not have, faith in the Lord who hears prayers. 

If the LORD has given us his Name, and will help us as we pray in his Name, he is also concerned about our enemies, and about every creature under heaven. As he said to Jonah: 

"...should I not be concerned over the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot know their right hand from their left, not to mention all the animals?”

We pray that our faith, which is as desperate as the four baby birds, might find an echo among the foes as we come together to work out solutions. 

In fact, there have been worse times; but they don't have to get worse for us. We are ready to pray with persistent perseverance today. 

Father, hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come....