November 12, 2023

 I don't think anyone is wise in this Gospel reading!  The bridegroom isn't wise in taking so long to show up.  The bridesmaids aren't wise not knowing how any of this works, to be ready.  And certainly the bridesmaids aren't wise who send the others off to the store in the middle of the night instead of sharing.

I like to pretend to be wise, but I am in fact foolish, something I confessed the moment worship started this morning.  If I say I am not foolish, I deceive myself and the truth is not in me, but if I confess my foolishness, God who is faithful and merciful will forgive my foolishness and cleanse me from all disconnect with God and my neighbor.  I am unprepared, I am overprepared, I am self-centered, I am arrogant, I have a hard heart.  I am foolish.

The truth is everyone is foolish.

The bridegroom is foolish.  I don’t think Jesus would be mad that I said that.  He is delayed and we don't know why.  Maybe he has a perfectly good reason.  Maybe he's partying with his homeys.  Maybe he's got cold feet or he's nervous or his suit got something spilled on it and has to be changed or he lost the ring (which actually happened at a wedding I did, but was found thankfully in time).  We don't know why he is delayed.  That is the same with the coming of the Kingdom of God.  It is delayed and we are waiting.  We can't change that circumstance, but we do have control over our response.

Maybe we fall asleep.  No one can stay awake forever.  No one is expected to, wise or foolish.  But then a shout comes, a heads up, a hint that things are about to change.  In that moment, some of the bridesmaids find they are not prepared.  They don't want anyone to know they weren't ready.  They could have asked to walk with the other bridesmaids.  Certainly one lamp is sufficient for two people, but then everyone would know they were unprepared and they don't want to look foolish, so they ask to use some oil. Are we prepared for change or do we dig in and try to keep everything the same?

I worry about people with ADHD or who are neurodivergent.  Our brains don't all work alike.  Some of us get overwhelmed trying to organize and prepare.  This Gospel story doesn't seem fair to people whose brains are wired differently.  

What is the oil and what is it they don't have enough of?  What don't we have enough of as we wait for Jesus?  Oil sometimes symbolized good works.  You'll be wanting to store up some good works while waiting for Jesus.  If it is good works then we don't have to worry that someone didn't have enough oil because they didn't have access to resources, because they were poor.  Anyone can do good works.  

Maybe oil is energy for making the light shine.  Do we have energy for the waiting?  Do we have the energy to sustain us through all the long waiting?  The truth is we all have to gas up now and then.  No matter how big our jug of oil we bring, this waiting is going on for thousands of years and maybe sometimes we give up on waiting, on expecting the bridegroom to knock at any moment.  What would it be like to hear the trumpet blast right then or what a restart would mean for humanity?  Do we expect Jesus to come back?  Do we expect war to cease as the wars seem to intensify and we feel helpless to respond?  Do we expect every tear to be dried?  Do we expect everyone to have a place or enough to eat or the earth to be healed?  I don't.  I'm in for the long haul.  I don't have any expectation of being rescued.  So I am storing up my energy, working day in and day out to bring people relief and a little light and taking my days off so I have a little oil when the voice calls from the gate.

And these wise bridesmaids, wise and selfish--they knew that the arrival of the bridegroom was imminent, but instead of offering to walk with these others, they send them off to 7-11 or whatever place you can get oil at midnight.  They will be admonished on the last day by Jesus, I was thirsty and you did not give me a drink, I was naked and you did not clothe me, I had no oil and you did not share your light.  These bridesmaids are why I would prefer to officiate a funeral than a wedding any day.  All too often weddings are a show of wealth and power and arrogance, whereas a funeral can be a time of real reflection about what really matters, a time of compassion and a coming together to support someone who is grieving.

We come here today and we do not have what we need to get through the night to get to the party.  But there is plenty of good news.  It is good news that we are all invited.  It is good news that whether we are wise or foolish (and we are foolish), the bridegroom Jesus is coming.  It is good news that there is enough oil, enough energy to keep us going, if we can humble ourselves not to take from others but to walk with others until we do have the energy.  There is grace in community when we help each other.  There are many times I am out of oil.  I am out of faith.  I am out of energy and ideas and patience.  It is in those moments that I know I can stand next to my brothers and sisters and their light shining is enough.  And there have been many times when I have been out of whatever resource, in my grief and pain and someone has come and stood next to me and shone that light, sang that song, prayed that prayer that lifted me up and filled my lamp.  

Last week, my friend Janell made a labyrinth on the beach as she and my friend Shelley had done shortly before Shelley died.  Janell invited me to walk the labyrinth together and then in the last leg of it, two sets of bald eagles appeared on the beach.  There was a source of food nearby.  So I was feeling empty, missing my friend I see every year at Convo.  But Janell shone that light for me and I accepted her holding it for me and together we saw some extraordinary signs of hope and life.

For all of us, we are waiting a long time.  We try to be prepared, but we can't be awake all the time.  We can't stay awake forever or have forever stores of oil.  We can look for the signs of the nearness of Christ.  It might not be a trumpet blast.  It might be a thirsty person, a hungry person, a naked person, or a person whose oil has run out.  In those moments the bridegroom surprises us and shows up unannounced.  We can wake up to the Kingdom coming near and breaking into our world.  We might see Jesus and we might be transformed.  And even if we aren't ready, he will come into our midst and give us new life.  If we miss it, there will be other weddings where we will get another chance.

I hope you will sit with me in the dark a little while and wait with me.  I hope you will be foolish with me.  I hope you will ask to share some of my light if you run out of oil and not run off on a foolish errand to do everything yourself.  I hope if I run out of oil, you will let me walk with you a little while on this journey.  

Wise or foolish, Jesus is the light of the world, and he is the one who will light our way to new life and love.