Lit for Jesus

 11-8-20

Grace to you and peace from God our creator and our lord and savior Jesus the Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, amen.

No one likes waiting. But we certainly did a lot of it this week – waiting in lines, waiting for news, waiting for colors on a map. Emotions were – and are – high. Some of us spent this week stress-eating or binging on Netflix shows. While I waited with everyone else, I read book called “Embodied: Clergy Women and the Solidarity of a Mothering God” written by an ELCA clergy mom. She had no idea that anyone would be reading her book during such a waiting moment when I read some of her wise advice: “Conventional wisdom invites us to count silently to ten before responding in emotionally fraught scenarios.” Perhaps waiting can be an opportunity for growth and self-examination, no matter how uncomfortable is feels.

Both wise and foolish bridesmaids were waiting ….waiting for the arrival of the bridegroom and the coming wedding celebration. Both wise and foolish bridesmaids fell asleep, since the bridegroom was taking SO LONG.

I wonder if the “wise” bridesmaids had been in this position before. Perhaps this was familiar to them, and they knew what to expect. They might have known that the night might be long, they might have known what it’s like to run out of oil. Perhaps they had been foolish bridesmaids in the past, and this time were ready for the long dark night ahead.

But shouldn’t this elicit some compassion toward the foolish bridesmaids on the part of the wise? Maybe not, given that the foolish bridesmaids demanded – “GIVE US some of your oil!”

The foolish bridesmaids are foolish not just because they didn’t come ready for a long night, but also because they DEMANDED that their more prepared sisters cough up some of their hard-earned and hard -won wisdom, I mean, oil. The foolish wanted a quick fix, and easy solution, with no work or suffering or accountability on their part.

The foolish bridesmaids were foolish because they didn’t stay in the dark. They didn’t trust the light of the other bridesmaids to carry them all through the night. They didn’t acknowledge their lack and ask for grace, but instead gave up, seeking a fast cure rather than trust in the other’s light, and in the love of the approaching bridegroom.

It’s been a tough week as well, tougher than most… and that’s saying something for 2020, after more than eight months of a pandemic. Today you might feel like ready and prepared to face whatever is next. Or you might feel foolish and unprepared, like your lamp is flickering and about to go out, and you too are panicking and wondering, why won’t Jesus just come and rescue us already????

We’re in the “in-between time,” waiting in a twilight world between two dawns. The world as we knew it is over, but we don’t quite know what the new world will be like.

Listen to the wise bridesmaids. We are not giving up. We won’t be distracted. We are not searching for a quick fix. We are in this for the long haul, folks, and we are in this TOGETHER. The going might be tough. The way might be hard to see. Our lamps might threaten to go out on us. And Jesus might take his sweet time showing up.

However. It seems that the kingdom of God is not a group project. If another “so called” member of the body of Christ demands your oil just because they couldn’t be bothered to do the work themselves… do not share. You have these words from Jesus himself – never ever bring half of your blazing, amazing self to the party.

Likewise, if you have not done the work… if you are not actually ready to show up for our siblings in Christ who are on fire doing God’s work of justice right now… DO NOT DEMAND FOR THEIR OIL. Do not challenge or argue the basic, human, God-given rights of others, when your rights have never been challenged, argued, or called into question. When we demand that are siblings show up as half of themselves for our comfort, we are no better than the foolish bridesmaids, shut out of the party.

To make it through this waiting time in one piece, together, as the body of Christ, we’re going to need all-hands-on-deck, and honor every single gift that God has given us. And that might mean, rather than diminishing others for our own needs and desires, to instead embrace basking in the blazing, beautiful light of others as they lead the way into God’s amazing party for all.

We’re still sitting in the night, but we can see and trust that the dawn is coming. Our siblings in Christ are lighting the way – Our black, native, latine, trans, immigrant, queer, women, no-binary members of our family. They are lit with the flames of justice, and our job is to let them show us the way to the fulfillment of God’s kingdom here on earth. A party where we are ALL invited. Thanks be to God, amen.