Reflection: Persistent Prayer - Justice for his chosen ones

by Moderator, Rev Bruce Moore

Jesus tells a story (in Luke 18) about a widow who simply refuses to give up. She keeps coming before a judge who neither fears God nor cares what people think, pleading again and again, “Grant me justice.” Eventually, the judge relents, not because he’s compassionate, but because she won’t stop showing up.

Jesus says this story is about learning to always pray and not give up.

Persistent prayer isn’t about badgering God until we get our way. It’s about letting our hearts stay open and responsive to God’s heart, refusing to grow numb or indifferent in the face of injustice. It’s about holding on to hope, even when change feels painfully slow.

This week is Anti-Poverty Week (12–18 October), and it reminds us that poverty isn’t abstract. It has faces and names - neighbours, families, older Australians, young people, and children whose potential is stifled by the weight of disadvantage. Poverty exists not because God is absent, but because our world has learned to look away.

Persistent prayer is not passive. It is active, courageous, and hopeful. It is the kind of prayer that fuels action, sustains advocacy, and strengthens our resolve to stand with those who are marginalised. It is prayer that refuses to be silenced by indifference or delay, it is how we refuse to look away. It keeps us awake to God’s vision of justice, mercy, and restoration. It’s the spiritual posture that fuels our compassion and sustains our advocacy. When we pray persistently for justice, we’re not escaping the world’s pain, we’re standing in it with God.

As the Uniting Church, we are called to embody this persistence - not only in our prayers, but in our mission. Let us be a community that listens deeply, speaks boldly, and acts justly. Let us be like the widow - unrelenting in our hope, unwavering in our faith, and unafraid to demand justice. Across our Church, I see communities quietly embodying this kind of prayer - through food banks and community meals, through financial counselling, housing support, pastoral care, and friendship. These are prayers in action, small glimpses of God’s kingdom breaking in.

So as we observe Anti-Poverty Week, let’s not grow weary. Let’s keep praying. Let’s keep showing up for those who are doing it tough and rough. Let’s trust that the God who hears the cries of the poor is still at work - transforming hearts, reforming systems, and bringing justice to life.

“And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night?” [Luke 18:7]