Persistence
Vision of the Sermon (Jacob Wrestling with the Angel)
GAUGUIN, Paul
1888
National Galleries of Scotland
http://www.nationalgalleries.org/index.php/collection/online_hitlist/4:326/results/0/4940/
This painting, which dates from 1888 and was made in Pont-Aven, Brittany, is one of Gauguin's most famous works. The Breton women, dressed in distinctive regional costume, have just listened to a sermon based on a passage from the Bible. Genesis (32:22-32) relates the story of Jacob, who, after fording the river Jabbok with his family, spent a whole night wrestling with a mysterious angel.
The drops of rain make a hole in the stone not by violence but by oft falling.
~ Lucretius
Do you have the patience
to wait
till your mud settles and the water is
clear?
~ Lao Tzu
Jack (Baby Brother) and Dottie came to Colorado to celebrate our older brother’s 80th birthday!
Carolyn, Dottie, Jack, Vicki
Unfortunately, Keith (our older brother) was confined to his bed during the party,
but we were able to take turns going up to visit with him.
Lotus, his wife, also had a birthday this last week.
Keith’s five children (oldest to youngest) were all able to be there!
Keann, Kevin, Kerin, Kenton, Koreen
Four of his grandchildren were able to come!
Brandy (Koreen’s daughter), Bridget and Hunter (Kenton’s children), Brooke (Kevin’s daughter)
Our Wednesday Breakfast Group celebrated Sylvia’s 91st Birthday.
Sylvia and Gail Frasier
Sylvia still writes her weekly column for the Canyon Courier.
Vicki and I visited the Denver Art Museum on Thursday to see the King Tut exhibit.
Vicki in front of one of the sculptures in front of the Denver Art Museum;
Big Sweep by Coosje van Bruggen and Claes Oldenburg.
We also visited the interesting Charles Deas Exhibit.
The difference between perseverance and obstinacy is that one comes from a strong will, and the other from a strong won't.
~Henry Ward Beecher
October 17, 2010 Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Previous OPQs:
http://www.dotjack.com/opq.htm
Then Jesus told
them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. He said,
"In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for
people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, 'Grant
me justice against my opponent.' For a while he refused; but later 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.'" And the Lord said, "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?"
Luke 18:1-8
Agnus Day, by James Wetzstein
Agnus Day appears with the permission of www.agnusday.org
Jeremiah 31:27-34 or Genesis 32:22-31
Psalm 119:97-104
2 Timothy 3:14—4:5
Luke 18:1-8
LUKE
a. Unjust judge
represents God and widow represents ourselves pleading with God till finally he
answers our
pleas. God is not unjust but if such a wicked man will eventually
give in, how much more will God?.
b. The persistent widow represents
God who continually calls us and we are the unjust judge who neither
fears
God nor respects people. (Examples: Jonah, Paul, St. Augustine)
c. This
parable is intended to be an encouragement for us to pray continually until
Jesus comes back. When Jesus asks at the end of verse 8, "When the Son of Man
comes will he find faith on earth?" he means, "Will the Son of Man find that his
disciples have kept praying or have lost heart and given up?" So the implication
seems to be: prayer and faith stand and fall together. If we lose heart and
drift away from prayer, then the Son of Man will not find faith in us when he
comes.
The primary effect of prayer is not on God, but on us.
2 Corinthians 3:5-6 says, "Our competence is from God, who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of letter but of spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life."