Readings for the Day:
Sermon:
Original Manuscript:
It was so helpful a tool that when I returned from the retreat, I continued to use this tool on hikes. I'd stop, listen, and figure out which path I should be on. Sometimes it was easier. Sometimes it was harder. But overtime it got to the point that the difficult times got less difficult for me.
And this tool for listening started seeping into other parts of my life. Once you develop a tool like this, you find it becomes helpful in your normal, everyday life. Should I make this choice or that choice? Should I do this thing or that thing today? The more and more you listen to the Holy Spirit on something simple like a walk or hike, the easier it is to hear what the Spirit has to say when it comes to even more important things. It gets to the point that the Spirit permeates throughout every part of your life.
It takes time and growth and formation. Like any good relationship, our relationship with God takes time to develop. It takes effort on our part. And that's what we see in the Gospel this morning.
What makes the wise bridesmaids wise is that they have extra oil for their lamps. But in Jesus' day, this would've been seen as silly. They would've been lugging around a huge jar of oil, a jar they might not actually need.
But the bridesmaids knew that the bridegroom, Jesus, would appear when they least expected it. They would not know the day or hour, as Jesus tells us. In this story, the least expected arrival of Jesus refers to what we speak of in the Creed with Christ coming again in glory. It's part of what Advent originally was meant to celebrate, Jesus' return to this world. Now we commemorate Jesus' originally coming, His birth, along with his coming again during the Advent season.
And just as we know neither the time nor day that Jesus will return, we do not know the time or day when, or how even, God will come into our hearts and call us to new or deeper service to Him.
We are called like the wise bridesmaids to put in the work, to be prepared, and to continue to form ourselves as followers of Christ Jesus.
And that does mean putting in the extra time and effort to work on our relationship with Jesus. And it means giving up some control.
Like the bridesmaid in our stained glass window by the altar, we are at a crossroads. We can be with her stayed foot, pointed away from Jesus. Some of my colleagues have mentioned something I haven't heard here at St. Paul's yet, that some of their parishioners are afraid after the church shooting in Texas last week. We can choose to let fear rule us, forgetting that the church has been persecuted, sometimes violently, long before us.
We can also choose to stay on our own path. To remain in control. We can choose to come to worship out of duty and nothing more. We can choose to leave God here in this sanctuary after we leave here today and go on with our own lives as we see fit. We can chose to be like the foolish bridesmaids who didn't bring extra oil with them. Who weren't prepared in their faith and relationship with God for when they needed the light to guide them towards following Jesus' will for them.
Or, we can move our step forwards up to Jesus. We can be like the wise bridesmaids. We can prepare ourselves through heart felt worship and Christian Formation. We can continue working to listen to what it is that God is saying to us. We can take the time needed to retreat from everything else and be with Jesus Christ, even if we just do it by curling up with our Bible, our journal, or just a cup of tea in our own homes.
It's not that we will find ourselves immediately at a spiritual awakening. That's the point of the wise handmaidens carrying extra oil. It's a process. It takes time, effort, and continual formation. It takes continually refueling ourselves through the word, through worship, through learning, and through just quietly being with God.
In Paul's words in Philippians 3:12, it is "not that I am already perfect, but I press forward to make it[, the goal of the Resurrection,] my own, because Christ Jesus has made me His own." We continue to strive forward with Paul, and with our bridesmaids by the altar. We continue to form ourselves in faith. We continue to listen that with our bridesmaid we too can make that step forward when Jesus calls us, so that we too can go to the goal Jesus is pointing us towards, the goal of the heavenly kingdom where we and all God's saints can finally be truly present with our Lord Jesus Christ.