Distractions

Charlotte Collins Reed

Christ Church Episcopal

November 12, 2017

27 Proper A

          Caldwell, Don’s and my younger son, is getting married on Saturday so the past year has been filled with talk of the bride and groom, bridesmaids and groomsmen.  There have been dress fittings, tuxedo rentals, hotel reservations, the selection of wedding and reception venues, food and wine tastings, invitation lists, and on and on.  I am quite sure that the preparation for a wedding can take exactly as long as one has, so this one has taken exactly 13 months.  I trust, and keep telling the bride, that all of the preparations will pay off.  Their big day will come and all of the details will have been tended to.  Nothing will distract them as family and friends arrive from all over the country to help celebrate their marriage and their new life together. 

          A new life together is really what all the wedding preparations are about, after all.  Whether simple, elaborate, or somewhere in between, all of the attention to detail ultimately creates an experience that points to the love two people have for each other, and their commitment to build a new life together.  In the case of Christian marriage, the commitment is also to make the world a better place together and to be a sign of God’s love for the world.

          So, I already had weddings on the mind when I read the parable of the wise and foolish bridesmaids this week.  I have all kinds of problems with this parable.  For starters, didn’t Jesus say, just a few chapters back, “Take no bag for the journey, or extra shirt, or sandals or a staff?”  Wouldn’t extra oil also go on this list?  Perhaps the bridesmaids who took no oil with them trusted that the bridegroom would show up on time and were trying to travel light, like Jesus instructed.  And what about the so-called wise bridesmaids who would not share what they had with those without enough oil?   Are they to be commended for their selfish behavior?  I recall a story that occurs 6 times in the four gospels where a few fish and loaves were turned into food for a great crowd of people. There is also the story in 1^st and 2^nd Maccabees where one day’s worth of oil lasted for 8 days.  So, wouldn’t there be reason to believe that if the 5 bridesmaids with oil shared, there would be enough for all?  All of these parables or stories are about abundance and this morning’s parable seems to be about scarcity.  Then, of course there is the rude behavior of the bridegroom who shut out those who arrived late, and the admonition to keep awake, as if all 10 bridesmaids had not been asleep when the bridegroom was announced.

          So, what on earth is this parable trying to tell us?  What is the real difference between the wise and the foolish bridesmaids?

          A pressing concern for the church in the mid to late first century was the delay in Jesus’ return.  The early Christians expected Jesus to return immediately as he seemed to have promised.  In the reading from 1 Thessalonians, the oldest writing in the New Testament, the Christians are deeply concerned about what will happen to those who die before Jesus’ return.  Will they, too, be among those who are gathered up by Jesus or will they have missed the boat?  Paul’s answer is that the faithful who have died will be raised when Jesus returns.  When Matthew was written some 30 or 40 years later, the waiting was growing old and Christians were getting complacent.  The urgency to watch and wait for Jesus was dying.  On the one hand, Matthew writes to encourage the weary Christians that Jesus really will come.  On the other hand, Matthew’s encouragement is wrapped in a package that is a bit hard to swallow, as Jesus will reject those who are not ready.

          So here we are two millennia later and Jesus has still not returned. What are we to do with this parable in 2017?  The message to keep awake and maintain constant vigilance wears thin 2000 years later.   But the real question that the parable addresses is how to live in the time between Jesus’ resurrection and ascension, and Jesus’ return.   The answer for the first century Christians was to keep awake, because Jesus would return any day now.  I think our question as 21^st century Christians is the same, although the answer might be different.  How are we to live in the post-resurrection, pre-return world?

I wonder what would have happened if the bridesmaids without oil for their lamps had stayed rather than leaving to go off in search of oil.  Suppose the five had trusted that oil would be provided, or that the oil would not be needed, or that the other five would be convinced to share.  Had all 10 bridesmaids trusted in God’s abundance and the 5 without oil had stayed, all 10 would have been present when the bridegroom arrived, and might well have been admitted to the wedding banquet before the doors closed.

          Who knows why Jesus’ return has been delayed?  I certainly do not.  But what I do know is that our baptismal covenant calls us to seek and serve Christ in all people now.  We are called to keep ourselves from being distracted by scarcity and running off after whatever we think we need because that distraction keeps us from recognizing Christ’s presence in our midst here and now.  We are called to treat all people as honored guests at the wedding banquet that celebrates the new life God provides for all of us, the hope for the future, and God’s love poured out for all.  The world is starving for that banquet.  Perhaps staying focused on the work of seeking and serving Christ in all people is our way of keeping awake with our lamps full of oil so we are ready whenever and however Christ arrives.  For all that I do not know, I am convinced that if we cannot recognize and serve Jesus in our fellow humans now, we will never be ready to recognize Jesus in the fullness of time when he does return.

                                                                             Amen.

Children

Charlotte Collins Reed

Christ Church Episcopal

November 5, 2017

All Saints 2017

          Some years ago, the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio and the Liberian Episcopal Church were looking to establish a companion relationship.  My husband Don was chosen as part of a 5 person team to travel to Liberia for two weeks to build relationships and see what gospel work two very different dioceses might do together.

          The story of the trip is Don’s story to tell, not mine.  But one of the things he did while he was in Liberia was take many, many photos of the children he met.   He has photos of individual children, and photos of groups of children.   Once the photos were taken, the children loved looking at their faces on the back of Don’s camera.  These children had never seen their image because all mirrors and glass were destroyed in the decades of civil war in Liberia.  They had never seen themselves!

          Once Don got home and downloaded his photos so I could look at them, what I saw astounded me.  These children live in abject poverty.  They go to school in buildings and live in homes that we would consider uninhabitable.  Dirt floors, windows with no glass, and doorways with no doors are the norm.  Their toys are sticks, rocks, and whatever else they find to play with.  Shoes are rare.  And yet, in photo after photo, the children are happy.  I don’t mean “smile for the camera” happy, but deep down joyful happy.  Their smiles are huge, and their faces are bright.  The photos of these children are stunningly joyful.

          On this All Saints Sunday, we hear Jesus say “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth,” and “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”  Jesus says “Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called children of God.”  The Greek word that is translated “Blessed” can also be translate “Happy.”  The word does not mean “smile for the camera” happy.  The happiness meant by the Greek word “makarioi” is a deep down, rooted, lasting happiness that is not circumstantial. 

          In the beatitudes, whether we translate the word as blessed or happy, Jesus is not telling us that we should be meek so we can inherit the earth, or that we should be merciful, even though we should, so that we will receive mercy.  Jesus is describing the kingdom of heaven.  Our world tells us things like "Blessed are those who have resources for they will have more," or "Blessed are the educated, for they will get ahead," or "Blessed are those who have health care, for they will live longer," all of which are true.  Education, resources, and health care are all good things and the beatitudes do not glorify poverty, illiteracy, or poor health.  But Jesus is describing a different reality, similar to the one we heard about in the reading from Revelation. "For they will hunger no more, and thirst no more; the sun will not strike them, nor any scorching heat; for the lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd and will guide them to the springs of the water of life."  In this new reality, which is the Kingdom of God, the poor in spirit, the meek, those who mourn, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be satisfied.  Because they will be blessed in God's new reality, they are blessed now.

          Every year we hear the beatitudes on All Saints Sunday.  Why is that? When I think about the children Don met in Liberia and their deep down happiness that is clearly not based on anything material, I am also reminded of our reading from 1 John.  “See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are.” And “Beloved, we are God's children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed.”  On All Saints, we remember those who have gone before us, both the named saints of the church and the saints of our own hearts.  I believe we remember those people because, in some way large or small, they have demonstrated for us the love God has for all God’s children.  They remind us that we are loved unconditionally simply for who we are.  I think of my grandparents, my mother, and dear friends who have died, none of whom tolerated poor manners or bad behavior, but all of whom who loved me unconditionally.  Their love is how I know the love of God.  The children in Liberia teach us this as well.  Their great happiness, their great joy, comes from knowing they are loved because love is all they have. 

          But there is more to All Saint than the joy that comes from knowing that we are God’s beloved children because of the love we have experienced from those who have gone before us.  All Saints calls us to be that love for others, and not just each other.  All Saints calls us to touch the lives of all those we encounter with the love of God.  At Christ Church, we practice how to be that love for each other so that we can be that love for the world.  How do people know that they are beloved of God if we do not show them with our lives? 

          On All Saints Sunday, we sing the great hymns, we light the candles, and we pray with and for those who have gone before us.  But our music, candles and prayers are not an end in themselves.  All Saints Day sends us out into the world to radiate the love of God with our lives so that people in Hudson and everywhere we go can know the same happiness, the same blessedness, as the children Don met in Liberia.

                                                                                   Amen.