Pray Without Ceasing

Luke’s three parables of finding and losing, each a metaphor for the recovery of our relationship with God, provide us with excellent models for the kind of counter-cultural living to which the Gospel calls us. In Luke 15:3-7 we hear about the sheep which has strayed. In verses 8-10 the subject is the missing coin, and in 11-32 it is the prodigal son. In every instance we rejoice over the recovery of that which was lost. The theme launched in the sheep parable, in which Jesus stresses that “there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance,” is amplified in the third parable. The eldest son seethes with resentment over the festivities for his wayward younger brother because he, always faithful to his father, never left. “Son, you are always with me,” his father reminds him. “But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.”

Psychologists tell us that anger can often be a useful emotion. It allows pent-up feelings to come to the surface and motivates us to positive action to address miscarriages of justice. For those who tend to suppress or deny their emotions, the expression of anger can bring freedom and release. Rage, on the other hand, is debilitating. The word implies a loss of control and the blind lashing out at the object of our deep scorn. Rage is responsible for the vast majority of domestic crimes. We were all reminded of the deathly power of rage in the recent murder-suicide involving Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher, who reports say was thrown “into a rage” by his girlfriend’s decision to go out with friends and leave him alone with their baby. Psalm 37 helps us get at the issue of rage and in so doing leads us more deeply into our Advent discipline. Verse 1: "Do not be provoked by evildoers;      do not be jealous of those who do wrong." Verse 8: