Dear Members and Friends,

Doris, one of the seniors at the Lutheran congregation I served in Georgia, was getting more and more frustrated with her power company. She couldn’t find a way through the maze of options on their automated phone system to talk with a living, breathing person about her billing questions. After a fit of anger, she had a moment of cool, calm clarity that allowed her to come up with a brilliant plan.

What did she do? Do you remember those archaic utility bills you once received in the mail? How the section you returned with your check looked like one of those computer punch cards? And how it read, “Don’t write, staple, cut or otherwise mutilate this card”? The utility also warned not to use the return envelope for correspondence about billing questions or concerns. Well, Doris disregarded those warnings and coolly channeled her anger as she wrote her questions on the card, put about six or seven staples in it, cut the card decoratively in a couple of places, and otherwise mutilated it!

Her plan worked. A few days later, the telephone rang, and a living, breathing human being from the power company said, “Yes, Mrs. Reynolds, you got our attention, so what exactly is your problem?”

Thanks be to God, inside that imposing, impersonal company with no soul were still living, breathing human beings who cared. It wasn’t just computers running the business. Doris had gotten the attention of a corporation – and some action!

As one of the seniors at Our Saviour’s recently told me, it’s about learning to be a bulldog. This woman is one of the nicest, sweetest persons I have ever met, but after her husband died during his retirement and his company wrongly discontinued her health insurance, this widow learned she needed to persist until they rectified her situation, and they did! She was like a bulldog. When she got a firm grip, she wouldn’t let go.

I was impressed, and I asked myself, “Could my own mom do that, if dad passed away and something like that happened to her?” And, I thought, watch out when it’s a mom! Moms have a way of bringing even the most hard-hearted people and corporations to their knees. It worked for these two moms, and it can work for you, whether you’re a mom or just a guy like me.

When it comes to prayer, persistence also pays! You may remember Jesus’ story about the unrelenting widow who finally got a fair hearing from an unjust judge – because she was so persistent, like a bulldog. That judge didn’t fear God or his fellow men, but he also didn’t want to hear from that woman for one more day. 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.” (Read Luke 18:1-8.) Jesus concluded that parable with these words, “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?”

Pray, and more than that, ask. The biblical author of James wrote, “You do not have, because you do not ask.” You and I tend to think of “prayer” as a religious word, but its original meaning is to ask – to plead, as in a court. So, be persistent in asking for the things that make for justice, kindness, love and mercy in this world. Then be ready to make them happen. As we pray, “Our Father … your will be done on earth as in heaven,” let us trust in God’s will for our lives, and in that trust, be bold not only in our asking, but in our doing. Amen!

Yours in Christ Jesus,

Pastor Mark