Introduction
When there is an important goal in sight, people will persevere in an effort to attain it. Today’s Bible readings encourage us with pictures of perseverance and help to remind us why and how to persist in our faith.
This week's news
Six years ago, British three-year-old Madeleine McCann went missing from her family’s holiday apartment in Praia de Luz, Portugal. On Monday 14 October, BBC’s Crimewatch TV programme broadcast a new reconstruction of the events surrounding her disappearance in 2007. The new findings followed a top-to-bottom review of the evidence by the Metropolitan Police. That review came about after years of persistent campaigning by the McCanns, who have never given up hope of finding their daughter.
BBC news report on the response to the Crimewatch appeal
On Tuesday evening, Sicily declared a state of emergency in response to a refugee and immigration crisis in the region. Nearly 400 migrants have died in shipwrecks in recent weeks in the area around the island of Lampedusa. Hundreds of refugees from countries such as Syria and Eritrea are arriving there daily, desperate to find a better life for themselves and their families whatever the risk.
BBC news report on Sicily's state of emergency
Reflection
According to UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, there were 15.4 million refugees across the world at the end of 2012. In addition to these refugees – strictly, the term only applies to those fleeing persecution in their own countries – there are many others equally desperate to escape troubles, such as famine, conflict or poverty, and to seek a new start elsewhere. They will often go to great ends, risking dangerous journeys at sea, like those that ended tragically near Lampedusa, or other hardships. Their endurance is incredible, almost impossible to understand except that their need is great and their belief in a better life, strong.
Kate and Gerry McCann’s hardships have been of a different order, but they, too, have shown remarkable perseverance, keeping the search for their daughter alive over many years despite slow progress, personal slanders and the failure of past investigations.
When something is really important – your child, your future – you persevere in hope.
The need for perseverance through and despite difficulty and opposition is a common thread in today’s readings. Jacob wrestles through the night with the angel/man/God in Genesis 32.24-28 to win God’s blessing on his life – and a new start, as Israel. The widow ‘kept coming’ (Luke 18.3) to the unhelpful and obstructive judge in her search for justice, even though she was turned away many times. Paul urges Timothy in his work to ‘be persistent whether the time is favourable or unfavourable’ (2 Timothy 4.2).
Such persistence is never easy: Timothy is warned he must ‘endure suffering’ (2 Timothy 4.5) and Jacob’s struggle is so violent it leaves him ‘limping because of his hip’ (Genesis 32.31). To persist like this we need to know that it’s going to be worth it.
This is where the teaching and learning demanded of Timothy – and of us – comes in. How else are we to know that God is great and faithful, unless we hear it, from Scripture or from those around us in our church communities? Timothy is urged to ‘continue in what you have learned’ all the way from childhood in ‘the sacred writings’ (2 Timothy 3.14-15), which have taught him about ‘salvation through faith in Christ Jesus’. Having learned from Scripture in this way, he is to go on to ‘proclaim the message’ (4.2) to others and ‘encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching’, so that they may learn too.
Psalm 121 is perhaps one of those Scriptures that Timothy would have known. In it we hear strong reassurance of God’s own persistent, patient love towards us. How could we ‘wander away’ (2 Timothy 4.4) when God does not abandon us?:
- ‘...he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.’ (Psalm 121 v.4)
- ‘...the Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and for evermore.’ (Psalm 121 v.8)
Prayer
There is a short, simple prayer of intercession for refugees on the old Invitation to Prayer website. Alternatively, for use in a time of quiet prayer:
Stories of suffering surround us, overwhelming:
on the news, people we may never meet flee dangers we hope not to know;
on our streets, people we walk past each day face hardships we can barely glimpse;
in our homes, people we love hold us close, whispering of their struggles;
in our hearts, our own heartaches are felt.
Stood at the foot of a mountain of troubles,
help us to lift our eyes towards you,
for our help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.
You will not let us be moved from our path towards you;
you will neither slumber nor sleep.
The day is breaking, the sun is rising,
and God will grant justice to those who cry out.
Help us to hold firm in faith till then,
persisting in the work you have called us to do,
proclaiming your message of good news
through words and deeds.
For you will keep us safe in our going out and our coming in,
from this time on and for evermore
Amen.
Questions
Do you have any experience of persistence in faith rewarded that you could share with others to encourage them?
Are you facing any situations that you need encouragement to persist with today?
Does persisting in faith mean always getting what we want? Read 2 Timothy 4.3-5 again. Sometimes we may have to face the truth that some of our ‘own desires’ are not God’s. Even when our desires are not in opposition to God’s, persistence in faith is not about having all those hopes met, but about carrying out our ‘ministry fully’, sometimes at the cost of ‘suffering’.
Action/Young People
The following suggestion could work in a number of contexts, from a small group, to a youth group or even a short show-and-tell / question-and-answer section in a main service.
For World Refugee Day earlier this year, UNHCR ran a project on Pinterest called ‘What would you take? / The most important thing’. (www.pinterest.com/refugees/the-most-important-thing).(Pinterest is a social networking website that operates much like a pinboard, displaying collections of pictures accompanied by short captions, gathered around particular themes.)
‘What would you take?’ uses that one simple question as a way in to thinking about the reality of life as a refugee. On the board, participants, including real refugees, celebrities and members of the public, share the one thing they would – or did – take with them if/when forced to flee their home.
You could explore some of the answers as a way of connecting with the human stories behind the refugee crisis headlines, and as a way of thinking about what does – and what should – matter most to us. You could also invite members of your group or congregation to share what their ‘most important thing’ would be.
The stories on the UNHCR Pinterest page include those of some young people and children:
- Wais was 15 when he had to flee Afghanistan with only some photos and a ring from his mother to remember her by (www.pinterest.com/pin/210332245070341207)
- Fatemeh, a young girl who was also forced to flee Afghanistan, was glad to have been able to take her dolls with her (www.pinterest.com/pin/210332245070053759).
There are also two ladies – not themselves refugees, however – who say that if they were ever forced to flee, they would take their Bibles:
Dell (www.pinterest.com/pin/210332245070053827)
Elizabeth (www.pinterest.com/pin/210332245070341222).
Finally, for the view of someone pretty well known, footballer Eric Cantona says he would take a pen and paper (www.pinterest.com/pin/210332245070472793).
You could also explore facts and figures about refugees worldwide and their status in the UK on the UK UNHCR site.
Rebecca Froley was the launch web editor for www.rootsontheweb.com and continues to work in online publishing.
Hypertext links to other websites are for the convenience of users only and do not constitute any endorsement or authorisation by ROOTS for Churches Ltd.