Have you noticed how some songs will come around and around again? Maybe not in terms of popularity, but in the way they speak to you? It can be the same with the holy texts. Somehow, a interpretation you had at 14 is still part of you when you’re 23. Yet that early-twenties experience is new and fresh. The layers build with successive readings to deepen the encounter with the text and the God to whom it points. As with scripture, so songs speak to me.
Before I enrolled in an upper level preaching class (Preaching the Parables), I’d already been fascinated with the story of the Persistent Widow and the Unjust Judge. But working through that text in preparation for a sermon, paper, and defense steeped me in a greater appreciation of what God was saying through Jesus’ parabolic teaching. Then, into the parish I went and the text became part of my survival, thriving, and ministry to those who also were trying to resurface from challenges at hand. Just as my Creator has charged me never to give up, so I urge others.
2 He said, “There was once a judge in some city who never gave God a thought and cared nothing for people. 3 A widow in that city kept after him: ‘My rights are being violated. Protect me!’ 4 “He never gave her the time of day. But after this went on and on he said to himself, ‘I care nothing what God thinks, even less what people think. 5 But because this widow won’t quit badgering me, I’d better do something and see that she gets justice – otherwise I’m going to end up beaten black and blue by her pounding.'” (Luke 18: 2-5, The Message)
It’s safe to say that I’ve had more than one person’s share of struggles. I won’t belabor the details here. They could very well be too personal for such a venue. But the Widow’s persistence, for me, became representative of God’s persistence with us. Our Creator who made us in God’s own image and endowed us with life, choice, and great love will never give up on us. Ever. Even to the very end. Why? Because God’s nature is love. So, why should I give up on myself or others?
Yes, sometimes one must walk away from a fight, but the fighter still remains. So, as I consider a song that describes me, I come to Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Boxer.” Although the metaphor breaks plainly down when he arrives at the ladies on 7th Avenue. “The Boxer” was a song that stirred me as a youth and moves me more today. That, my friends, is good music.
teach me wisdom in my secret heart 