24A Pentecost, Proper 27
12 Nov 2023
During Covid, my daughter and I decided a backpacking trip to Minnesota would be a great idea. Avoid people, for the most part, get out in the wilds, and have great adventures together. The trip involved a lot of preparation, including making our own pre-packaged meals. We spent an entire day cooking, drying, packing, and labeling. We made lists of what we thought we would need, and then some. Everything was carefully packed in our bags, along with everything we needed if we car camped. We set off on the trail, knowing that with only one car and two people we would need to make an out and back trip. I hoisted up the pack and said a silent prayer that I had bought a new very light weight pack because the contents were overwhelmingly heavy.
As it turned out, we only camped on the trail one night (that is another story) and car camped the rest of the trip. When I put up the base camp tent I discovered the fly was missing. Not a very good thing to be missing, so I went to the local hardware store and bought a giant tarp that we somehow rigged over the tent. Thankfully it did not rain.
Yes, we were prepared!! Or so I thought.
Think about preparing to bring a baby into your household and deciding to wait to get anything until the baby is there. Not a good plan in my estimation.
Over prepare, under prepare. Unprepare.
“Prepare’s” cousin, or maybe sibling, is “plan”. Some plans are great. The noun has a lot to recommend it. I wouldn’t want to have a builder show up on my lot with material but no house plan. But the verb is a tricky thing. I may plan to do this or that, go to church or to the movies at some point. Those verb turned noun plans are the fickle ones; change your mind, feel too tired, weather is bad, and so on. Prepare but don’t count on your plans. God expects the former but not the latter.
And so it goes with our life in faith. Advent is approaching with its most persistent theme of preparation. Prepare the way, O Zion. Yet there is another theme: waiting. Come Thou Long Expected Jesus. The two themes are intertwined and the lines can be blurred.
It becomes easy, doesn’t it, to accuse the “foolish” bridesmaids of a failure to prepare for the wedding. (Now you need to understand how weddings worked in Jesus’ culture. The event lasted several days, with the ceremony itself taking place at the home of the groom and the festivities at the home of the bride, starting late in the day. There was a lot of work and coordination involved. [It makes me wonder if there were wedding planners in Palestine who worked to create a great customer experience.] The role of the bridesmaids was to light the way to the bride’s house, making sure the newlywed couple could see in the night as they walked from the groom’s house to the bride’s. Functional bridesmaids. Who knew!!)
All the women knew their role and brought the needed oil. What they didn’t expect was the wait. (They had apparently never gone to the doctor. Why do you think the place you sit is called a waiting room?)
The difference between the two groups of bridesmaids is not that they did not know their role nor even that they did not know what they needed to have on hand. It was understanding what they were to do as they waited. You fill your own “oil reserves” by all the things you do as you wait. Prayer and study of scripture, worship and fellowship. Time spent with family and friends; time spent creating; time spent working for justice; even time spent is leisure and rest. All of these things are holy times.
When you have a close relationship with someone, be it spouse or child or friend, you must spend the time and effort to maintain that relationship. It is not something that can be maintained without effort. No one can do it for you; no one can give you that kind of oil. Someone can pray for your needs, but they cannot pray for (instead of) you.
I am not one to go to a lot of parties, but there are some I don’t want to miss. The wedding banquet Jesus describes is the ultimate I-want-to-be-there party.
Joshua phrased it differently, or rather gave a different take on the story. He is reminding the people how God had been with them and led them and made of them a great nation and asked that the people serve the God of Israel and only the God of Israel. He warned them what would happen if they served other gods. Perhaps for us that means the gods of money or power, being seduced by pleasure, power, or profit. Be prepared and wait.
Bishop Monnot has stressed the importance of time spent in deepening our connection to God. That is, in truth, one of our purposes as human beings. We are born to love and connect with God. We can both prepare and wait by engaging in daily prayer, including each other in those prayers. We can take deep dives into scripture and into those issues which keep us from becoming the true children of God. Sometimes that means we will be taking risks; sometimes it means we stretch ourselves; sometimes it means we must understand how to wait for the Lord. Not passively, for that is the same as postponing, but actively as we go about our days. Active waiting, that is what prayer and worship and love are all about. That is how we are sure we have enough oil.
Wait for the Lord, whose day is near Wait for the Lord, keep watch take heart (Psalm 27:14)
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