Loading...What’s up with these bridesmaids?What’s up with these bridesmaids? their judgment: “I do not know you”! and their NOT sharing? These characters in Jesus’ parable need to go back to kindergarten to learn “Share”.
Matthew’s Gospel has steered us into an uncomfortable place
the wedding banquet and the problem of the wedding robe
watching out for authority figures
and now these bridesmaids and their oil lamps.
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This is a parable about the kingdom of heaven
(also called, in Mark’s and Luke’s Gospel, the kingdom of God; and what I often call “God’s vision or dream for the world”)
It calls us to care for what we’ve been given, to steward it.
This parable also instructs us to always pay attention to what’s going on and to keep alert; to watch for how God shows up NOW
in your life,
in your community,
in the world.
Last Sunday, as we were in worship (or, about the time we were finishing), there was the mass shooting at the church in Sugarland, Texas. It was one of the most recent mass shootings in the US (with “mass shooting" meaning “four or more people were killed by a gun”).
Before last Sunday, there were 307 mass shootings in the 309 days of 2017.
It’s almost “as if someone fled from a lion and was met by a bear,or went into the house and rested a hand against the wall and was bitten by a snake.” (Amos 5:19)
Is the prophet telling us that we’re just stuck with it and the bad stuff is going to happen so let’s just be fatalistic and quit trying to make anything better?
No, not at all!
But, maybe our “go-to” way of dealing with brokenness and foolishness falls short.
Amos goes on to say: “I hate, I despise your festivals” all your offerings and your fancy worship."
He could be saying, “I hate all your pious songs, your ‘thoughts and prayers’”
Amos –
God hates all of that filler and busy-ness
instead of action,
instead of “justice rolling down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream”.
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God, our creator, the one who gives us life and hope,
the One who loves you so completely and unconditionally
looks for us to watch,
-to keep awake,
-to pay attention to the people around us
-to look for Christ in the other and how we might serve
-to share the “oil for our lamps” that we have stewarded faithfully
-to work together for the justice – the sharing of God’s abundance – that is so needed in our world, our country, and our neighborhoods
-to be the righteous – that is faithful and God-trusting – people whom we have been created and washed in Baptism to be.
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Commitment Sunday is today.You have, hopefully, a green card – the unsigned side -- in an envelope (or not).There are extras available if you forgot yours.
We are not pledging this morning, at least not in the “traditional” way. You will still receive your giving statements on a quarterly basis. Instead, we are making a commitment to God and a promise to St. David’s of what you’ll give.
Today, you’re making a commitment of your stewardship, your sharing, your helping of others:
• your “lamp oil”?
• ministry and service
• witness and evangelism
• formation and worship
• proclaiming God’s justice and righteousness as this community of faithful disciples gathered here, in this time and place.
We make this promise and this commitment as the people of God watching for Christ all around us with the gifts of the Holy Spirit to recognize in our brothers and sisters the opportunity to be a part of God’s dream of abundance and shalom for all.
Amen
