Entrusted---That's Us*

32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

(Or RCL 23^rd Sunday After Pentecost)

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

Matthew 25:1-13

(homily preached---by proxy---St Stephen's Episcopal Church, New Harmony IN---thanks Karen;)

Does anyone really like this parable?
Not me

I DON’T like this parable

I like weddings in John’s Gospel way better

In Matthew’s weddings people get thrown out because they aren’t wearing the appropriate clothing

Or they aren’t LET IN in the first place

No…I like weddings in John…lots and lots of really good wine!

All this tells me

…This quick and heated reaction of mine

Is that I have some real work to do

And so my prayer this week has been:

GIVE ME A WORD
GIVE ME A WORD

I have challenged myself to EMBRACE this parable!!!

And my job is to bring you along…

in 12 minutes we will all LOVE this parable!

Game on!

Some of the difficulties we 21^st century folk have:

1.    the virgin/bridesmaid thing goes sideways for us…
the image doesn’t really work…
we aren’t ‘in the know’ about the role such virgin/bridesmaids played in ushering the groom to the wedding…
so it just doesn’t speak clearly to the 21^st century….
metaphors matter

2.    The ending…the shut door….
OUCH…way too harsh…
I thought we were all supposed to share???

3.    Why is being foolish worthy of eternal damnation!!! 
If so I am totally doomed! 
I am not totally foolish…
but I am often foolish in the way these virgin/bridesmaids are:
being unprepared…counting on my friends to bring a little extra food to the picnic!

 
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This is probably at the core of things…
My guess is that all of us

on any given day
are both a bit wise and a bit foolish…

Matthew’s community…the people he loved…

the people to whom he addressed his Gospel…

had come through some significant trials BECAUSE of their faith. 

Debates in the synagogues about these Jesus Jews were hot…

Boiling over really 

But they keep the faith! Worn and bruised, yes. 

They are still waiting and THEY long for a WORD. 

The parable is tough because the experiences were tough.

As we will be hearing the next couple of weeks,

Eschatological living---

that is the theological word for living in the MEANTIME

with eyes fixed on the fulfillment of all promises---

is a matter of readiness, watchfulness and preparedness. 

Now this ‘living in the meantime’ is supposedly ‘central to Christian Living’…and in theory it is!

“we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our lord Jesus Christ” etc…

Listen carefully and you will hear about it throughout the liturgy.

But in practice…

Is it really that central?

We no longer really expect anything…
We don’t wake up in the morning and wonder…will it be today?

And quite frankly…I’ll speak for myself here…

I quietly make fun of people who do.

-----

On my drive to FL this week

I noticed billboards

10 -15 of them dotting this 100 mile stretch in north FL

Billboard after billboard

ARE YOU READY!!!! Or something similar

And some of the graphics…bloody zombies and all….

I caught myself…chuckling inside…my internal voice saying

“…well I guess I’m as ready as I will ever be…how about you!”

-----

GIVE ME A WORD
I am looking to this parable in search of  ‘A WORD”

-----

I think it is a fair strategy

to engage Matthew’s Gospel

keeping The Sermon on the Mount in mind

As the centerpiece of the Gospel’s teaching

It seems totally legit

We can wear ‘sermon on the mount colored glasses’

The parable centers on those lamps

And the necessary oil for the lamps
and the purpose of lamps is to provide light

The role of the virgin/bridesmaids is to light the way for the groom
it is midnight…the text says

The darkest time of the night

No well-maintained concrete sidewalks in first century Palestine

There are rocks in the path…and maybe even sink-holes

There is a real danger of tripping or stumbling

And out of the corner of my right eye

I see Matthew’s Jesus preaching his Sermon

You are the light of the world.

A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden.

Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket;

it is set on a lampstand, where it gives light to all in the house.

Just so, your light must shine before others,

that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.

Add then out of the corner of my left eye

I see and hear a choir singing that Advent song

“keep your lamps trimmed and burning

keep your lamps trimmed and burning

for this world is almost done” (you could sing this;)

putting the two together

I heard an answer to my prayer:  GIVE ME A WORD:

By my very baptism

I became, in fact, a child of the light

As the Rite says

‘I have been entrusted to keep it burning brightly’

I may let it get covered up out of spiritual apathy or inattention

I may turn my head toward Idolatry

as other desires climb over my baptismal desire for God alone

I may allow the weight of bad news

A weight that wants me to believe that BAD NEWS is the WHOLE story

I may allow for that to creep in and suck the oil out of my lamp

But I am

in fact

a child of the light.

And like the bridesmaids
thank God I am not in this alone

Here is the thing

The groom has not yet arrived

We are living in the middle of this parable

The door is still open

Our lamps have not run out
it is the present time

We live in the MEANTIME

And in this time

I have to figure out how to wait with joyful expectation

That kind of waiting IS the disciple’s job

What I am waiting for

… everyday

Is for the Lord to show up In my WAITING!!!

And the Lord does!

Through the power of the Holy Spirit

The Lord shows up in my waiting!!!  Everyday!

Call to mind

Right now

The Lord showing up in your waiting

(pause)

It is true, isn’t it?

The Lord shows up!

When my head hits the pillow at night

That is when I try to remember

I have to practice calling to mind how the Lord shows up

I try to recall

The showings of the day

I am quite accomplished at highlighting the absences

They are so loud aren’t they?

…they practically scream,

But the presences…

they are softer and quieter…

but ever so much more powerfully light-giving

-----

My friends

We will maintain our ‘child of the light’ identity

We are the lamps

Some days we are dimmer than others

…this is after all a journey

A long one

Coming here

Placing ourselves in the midst of this hope-filled people of God

This is what changes us…

We may not notice it change us

But it does

-----

There is this large Maple outside the front door of my house

Back in August it was 100 shades of green

Vibrantly green

And then

A couple of weeks ago

A drove home from St Stephen’s

Down my gravel driveway

And it showed up

And it was bright RED…gorgeous!

It happened slowly

That changing from green to red

But it was always changing…bit by bit…

We are always changing

We are never the same person from one day to the next

We may not notice it

But it is true

Keeping our lamps trimmed and burning

Might mean that it’s best to notice

To notice the path our change is taking

Gather the light around the path

Don’t walk at midnight in the dark alone

Too many things to trip over

And if a friend’s oil is low

Let your light shine in that direction

In the MEANTIME

Is LONG-HAUL time

The urgency of the Thessalonians

And the weariness of Matthew’s beloved community

Have died down

But our task is demanding in a different way

Like a 60+ year marriage
we learn to say “Yes”

Over and over again

It is our baptismal YES.

YES!  We are waiting for you to show up in our waiting!

We keep waiting because you keep showing up as promised.

And

Here is where we come
right here

to hear and to share

The HOPE-CREATING and JOURNEY-SUSTAINING

Promises of God!

There is a wedding, 

we are invited                                                                                                                    

we have a role to play

an important one

We have been entrusted with the light!