Persistence in prayer
Sermon by Pr. Michelle Sevig on the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost + Sunday, July 27, 2025.
The doctor had come into the family waiting room to tell her the results of the recent CAT scan; and the first words out of his mouth were, “It’s not good news.” I was sitting with the wife of a patient who was just brought into the Emergency Department by the paramedics, providing comfort and care as the chaplains often do for the families of trauma patients. After the doctor told us the results of the tests, he said, “Now is a good time to pray,” as he gave a nod in my direction.
The doctor left the family waiting room to return to the patient, and the wife looked at me, “What good does it do to pray anyway? He already told us the outcome. Why pray?”
Now I know she wasn’t asking for a treatise on prayer. Or even a three point sermon on the merits of prayer. She was in pain, fearing losing her husband, and wanted to know what difference it makes to pray.
I doubt she’s the only one who has this burning question. Why pray? I’ve had my own struggles and questions about prayer, especially when I prayed fervently as a child that my dad would be cured of his Multiple Sclerosis. He wasn’t. In my work as chaplain, I’ve met several people who’ve prayed fervently that their loved one be cured of cancer or lung disease or heart trouble. Sometimes those prayers change from asking for a cure to asking for a peaceful death. There are those who pray for a new job, pray for a full term pregnancy and a healthy child, pray for peace in their families or neighborhoods, and they don’t always get what they ask for.
What are we to make of these prayers? It’s easy to think that we’ve not been doing it right, not praying hard enough, not using the right words, not having enough faith or trust for God to answer my prayers. Our prayers, in light of today’s parable and teaching from Jesus, can create a huge crisis of faith. It puts us in the position of wondering whether God failed us or if we failed in our prayers.
So what are we to do? Stop praying?
Jesus encourages us to pray even more. We are to be persistent before God in our prayers; in our asking, seeking and knocking. Our prayers should be bold, audacious, even as shameless and irritating as a pesky neighbor who won’t stop asking for what they need in the middle of the night. We should persist until prayer becomes an on-going conversation between us and God, because prayer is more than just asking for things. Prayer is also praise, prayer is thanksgiving, prayer is questioning, arguing, lamenting, and yes, even silence is prayer too.
Henri Nowen, beloved theologian and fervent pray-er wrote, “Praying is not simply some necessary compartment in the daily schedule of a Christian or a source of support in a time of need, nor is it restricted to Sunday mornings or mealtimes. Praying is living. It is eating and drinking, action and rest, teaching and learning, playing and working. Praying pervades every aspect of our lives. It is the unceasing recognition that God is wherever we are, always inviting us to come closer and celebrate the divine gift of being alive.” ¹
To pray always and in all ways is a persistent, bold and shameless on-going conversation with God. Whether our prayer is a sigh too deep for words or crying out in angry protest with those who are suffering, we lay our whole lives before the one who gives life. Our shouts of thanksgiving are prayers acknowledging God’s ultimate goodness and care for us. Tears of sorrow in the midst of loss are prayers seeking comfort and hope from the one who suffers with us. Asking boldly for what we need affirms our fundamental dependence on God.
Persistence in prayer is not only about reorienting God or directing God’s action, but a prayer-full life will reorient us. We are changed as we count on God to be in relationship with us, and prayers are answered with the gift and presence of the Holy Spirit. It is God’s Holy Spirit that breathes life into us and gives us the words, the desire and the persistence to pray.
And still there will be times when we don’t know how or what to pray, when our lives won’t seem very prayerful at all. In those times we pray the prayer that has been prayed throughout the ages, given to us by Jesus himself. A communal prayer, not just for me and my needs, but a prayer that grounds us in the body of Christ and the mission we share.
Jesus teaches us to pray for the coming of God’s kingdom, daily bread for all who hunger and the forgiveness of sins. These are more than simple petitions to be recited. Jesus is giving us a model for a prayerful life. It’s more than a laundry list of requests. Jesus teaches us to pray for God’s abundant peace and mercy for all. He teaches us to pray for an end to hunger, that all may have the daily bread they need. Jesus teaches us to pray seeking forgiveness, but in the same breath to grant forgiveness to those in need.
When we pray as Jesus taught us we stand ready to become part of the answer to our prayers. Because we can’t ask God to feed the hungry if we aren’t willing to share from our own tables. We can’t ask God to bring justice to those who are oppressed without standing alongside them in the struggle. We can’t pray for an end to war, without actively working for peace. We can’t ask God to heal the sick without being God’s instruments of healing and care in the world
In the end, a life of prayer is a life of open hands—open to vulnerability, open to love, open to mystery. That’s why we encourage you all to open your hands while praying the Lord’s prayer during the liturgy–to be open in posture and spirit to receive the gifts of mercy, love and grace while we pray.
And to quote Henri Nouwen once again, “Above all, prayer is a way of life which allows you to find stillness in the midst of the world when you open your hands to God’s promises and find hope for yourself, for your neighbor, and your world”
Open our hands, Lord, and hear our prayer.
¹ Nouwen, The Only Necessary Thing: Living a Prayerful Life
