A Prayer to the Keeper of My Life

This sermon was preached at Glenwood and Canoe Ridge Lutheran Churches, Decorah, Iowa as part of a service of healing on October 20, 2019. It’s based on Genesis 32:22-31, Psalm 121, and Luke 18:1-8. If you’d prefer to listen to it, find it at https://soundcloud.com/stacey-nalean-carlson.

Genesis 32:22-31

²²The same night [Jacob] got up and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. ²³He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had. ²⁴Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak.

²⁵When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket; and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. ²⁶Then he said, “Let me go, for the day is breaking.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.” ²⁷So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” ²⁸Then the man said, “You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed.” ²⁹Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. ³⁰So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved.” ³¹The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip.

Psalm 121

¹I lift up my eyes to the hills; from where is my help to come?
²My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.
³The Lord will not let your foot be moved nor will the one who watches over you fall asleep.
⁴Behold, the keeper of Israel will neither slumber nor sleep;
⁵the Lord watches over you; the Lord is your shade at your right hand;
⁶the sun will not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.
⁷The Lord will preserve you from all evil and will keep your life.
⁸The Lord will watch over your going out and your coming in,
from this time forth forevermore.

Luke 18:1-8

Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. ²He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. ³In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Grant me justice against my opponent.’ ⁴For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, ‘Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, ⁵yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.’ ”

⁶And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. ⁷And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? ⁸I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

As part of our confirmation curriculum last year, we studied this story of Jacob wrestling with God through the night. Our students were invited to act out the story, putting it in their own words. Bryss played the part of Jacob. And I will never again read this story without hearing Bryss in my ear: Give me a blessing, he shouted, as he refused to let go of God. Give me a blessing!

Today, in this healing service, we cry out to God for a blessing—for ourselves, for those we love who are struggling in body, mind or spirit, for our world, so bitterly divided. We persist in prayer, even though there are days when it’s hard to believe. We refuse to let go of God even as God refuses to let go of us.

After Jesus finishes telling his disciples this parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart, he asks them, When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?

I suppose there’s a possibly that he won’t. Maybe we’ll weary of wrestling. Maybe we’ll give up on prayer and pleading. Maybe fear and despair will win the night.

But I don’t think so.

Because we belong to a God who came to save the whole world. We belong to a God who will not rest until every lost sheep is found. We belong to a God whose love is far more persistent than our hatred and fear could ever be. We belong to a God who raised Jesus, defeating sin and death and the grave. We belong to a God who has promised that weeping may spend the night, but joy comes in the morning.

Our faith is not our own but is a gift from this God, this God who remains faithful even when we are faithless, this God who refuses to let us go, naming us Beloved.

As our readings for today ran through my head this week, a simple, little song emerged. It’s called A Prayer to the Keeper of My Life. I’ll share it with you now and then I invite you to sing it with me, to pray it with me.

On this day when we cry out to God for a healing blessing, may the keeper of our lives give us faith and help us to not lose heart. Amen.

A Prayer to the Keeper of My Life

Wrestling through the night,

Pleading, begging,

Crying for the light,

Give me a blessing.

Keeper of my life,

Help me not lose heart.

Looking to the hills,

Fear is prowling.

Shame is closing in;

Doubt is roaring.