For me, this story is about judgment and perseverance. It's a strange pairing at first thought, and I have to admit, I don't often think about the two together; judgment and perseverance.

Timothy, in the Epistle for today (2 Tim 3:14-4:5), says, "In the presence of God and of Jesus Christ, who is to judge the living and the dead, I solemnly urge you: proclaim the message; be persistent whether time is favorable or unfavorable; convince, rebuke, encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching."

Then in Luke, Jesus says, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. "Because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming." Will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry out to him day and night? Will he delay in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them." ...And then he says, "When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the Earth?"

Judgment and perseverance. Tethered together.

In the story there are two kinds of judgment: judgment by people, and judgment by God. Judgment by people is an obstacle to overcome, an argument to make, some conflict so necessary to win that it elevates persistence to perseverance. There's also the other kind of judgment, judgment by God. Judgment by God is given in when prayer is sincere, and faith is true. And comes quickly. Perseverance isn't necessary except for grace and integrity.

But isn't it interesting that the Gospel begins saying, "Jesus told his disciples a parable about...." 1) "...their need to pray..." and 2) "...to not lose heart." For me, the first part is about God, and Jesus and saying: Pray and justice is given. Faith is a shortcut to grace, but faith is the hard part. For me the second part, to not lose heart, could mean two things. It could mean to not give up; to continue, to persevere. Or, it could mean when you lose, don't lose yourself. And that part's about people.

* * *

Now another story...

What is the most impossible thing you can imagine?

Think about it. I don't know about you but for me, I think maybe the idea of climbing Mount Everest is.. It's a bit cliche, climbing the tallest mountain, but what if you were blind? And what if you were a blind kid? What would you say? If you and I were judges and it was up to us to let a blind kid go climb Mount Everest or not, what would we say? I would say, "It's impossible. It is not, possible." I'd say, "It's dangerous, it's reckless, they don't have a prayer in hell of making it alive." I'd say, "It's suicide."

If I were the judge, I'd say no.

But, what if he persisted in his need to do it, one that transcended a want to do it. What if it had purpose in it? What would we say if he simply didn't stop persisting until he was allowed to show the world that he can do what we can do.? What if he got a blind guide to help him, and equipment, and state of the art technology and what if he had all the means and only needed the permission? Then what would we say?

See there's a difference here between saying and doing. Saying is judging and doing is faith. I would say no. I'd say it's too risky. I'd go even further than that and say if he died trying, it would destroy the faith of every other blind person on the planet who clutched onto the enduring belief that they can do what we can do; that there is no inequity between us.

And that risk is greater than dying.

But maybe, if there was enough pressure and persistence, and convincing and rebuking and encouraging and educating me on the merits of the safety precautions, I might bend. I might change my mind and let him do it, but it wouldn't be justice. It would be the submission of my judgment to his Will. Right or wrong, the only judgment I'd make would be in favor of his faith over mine.

The blind boy would have done exactly as Jesus instructed him to: to 1) pray always, and 2) to not lose heart. It's a kind of formula for accomplishing the impossible if you think about it. Jesus is kind of giving us the secret recipe for how to achieve the impossible.

I don't believe in impossibility. Nothing is impossible. Not if you have the heart. People who say something is impossible are judging a situation without knowing the purpose that drives the heart of the person trying to do it. You have to be brave, sure, and fight and lose and get back up, over and over again, until you finally start to wear down indifference or cynicism until all that's left is the fresh polished hard core of hope...but it's possible. It exhausts, and sometimes takes a tremendous toll, but wouldn't doing something impossible be worth it?

The story about the boy is true. It's a real-life modern-era parable! In fact they're were six... Six blind Tibetan teenagers climbed Lhakpi-Ri on the north face of Mount Everest in 2004 with no prior climbing training whatsoever. They were impoverished and outcasts, spit on in their village for being blind, and did what none of us could do; they couldn't see a rock in front of them but they climbed up the 23,000ft tall mountain, taller than any mountain in the world outside the Himalayas. This is extraordinary. It's unbelievable! There was a documentary made about it called "Blindsight." And I watched it a few months ago and sat on the edge of my couch just in awe of what they did. A blind German woman named Sabrinye Tenberken set up the first school for blind kids in Lhasa, and after getting to know the kids and their dreams, she contacted the only-ever blind climber to make it to the top of Everest, Eric Weihenmayer, and the two became their guides and put together the expedition.

It's an amazing story, it just shouldn't be possible. Except that it is possible. It's possible because it's about faith and it's about purpose. It's about judgment and it's about not giving up.

Getting to the top was never the kid's goal. They said they could imagine what the view would look like before they even left their village. They stopped just short of the summit. Not because they couldn't but because they didn't have to. The documentary ends with the kids playing in an ice formation at the base of the summit, feeling it with their hands and being kids and imaging what the ice shapes looked like.

They congealed their own unbreakable faith together. And as the rest of the world watched in awe, for a moment, they congealed ours. What we do matters. And when we do the impossible we do it only because of a purpose driven heart. Full of faith and perseverance. And when we do, we change the world.

If the Son of Man came to me tomorrow and ask me, "Where can I find faith on the Earth?" I'd say in the mountains and tell him this story.

And then I'd say here. That there's faith in St Thomas. Faith in action and not just words. That's why I come here, because it's real. For me as the architect, it's slowly become about struggling to build a sanctuary in this city against great odds and a lot of people who are saying it's impossible. That, "There's no money. It's too modern. Only a big corporate firms could do it." And no one is more aware than I am that there's a lot at risk, a lot more than just failing, so a lot of people are praying and a lot of people are persevering; praying to God and persevering in hard and deliberate and focused work. And when you think about it, that's not a bad recipe for doing the impossible: "praying to God and persevering in hard and deliberate and focused work."

Thanks be to God.