Jacob and the widow represent God's surprising response to us: God gives us what we need, perhaps not what we want, but what we need. And to live into the mystery, to accept God's answer to our prayers, we must necessarily live into faith, live into the mystery and walk the journey with Jesus toward Jerusalem and beyond. This journey, this leap of faith, is like Jacob's wrestling match and the widow's persistence. This journey into the mystery is an action like lighting a beacon of hope to those who are in need of seeing something that can bring hope.

St. Thomas' is just such a beacon of hope for so many. This faith-filled place of prayer is a progressive voice of what Christianity can look like when it is inclusive and welcoming to all that come in our doors. This holy ground is a light in the darkness to those who have been cast out for being nothing more then themselves. So many of us here have found this bright and safe place because we have been cast aside for having chosen to live honestly, to live with integrity, living into who we are as God has made us. Others of us are here because they have been cast aside for their views that LGBT people deserve nothing less then full equality and inclusion not only in the life of the church but in the world, and because of those views, they are not welcome elsewhere. Others are here because they want to raise their children in a place where radical hospitality is a true manner of life worthy of honoring and being a part of. I find God's grace in this progressive outreach and radical hospitality. Both of these are prayers about which this place is persistent. Both of these represent a faith of living into the mystery that God has gifted to us. In this persistence on our part, to be radically hospitable and a progressive voice to those cast aside, God can be found walking with us, answering not only our prayers in surprising ways but those of the same individuals we welcome as they come in our doors. And we do this because we know that God's love knows no bounds. We know that God's love for us is unquenchable, undeniable and is right here with us. And that faith is found here, felt here, is palpably tangible here. We may be gifted a limp, but we are on the journey, in prayer and in faith together. And a good journey it is. Perhaps not an easy journey, but a good one.