Of course, we want to
see ourselves as wise and not silly. We
want to have reserves for when the Bridegroom arrives and the party
starts. And we recognize that the party
has been waiting for a very long time.
The party where the Prince of Peace lives among us and the Community of
Heaven is fully realized.
How do we keep prepared
when it feels like the wait for justice and peace has been going on for as long
as humanity has existed? How do we find
the energy and light to keep hoping and praying for peace for all who live on
this big, beautiful planet? How do we find resiliency when times are hard, when
people are divisive, when empathy seems to be at a new low, when politics are
based more on conspiracy than facts, when leaders and scientists don’t speak
with consensus or from self-interest rather than from what is best for us all,
when global warming is dire, but war takes up more energy than peace?
How do we keep our
lamps lit? How do we wait wisely?
Joshua did it by
setting an example of commitment to God.
“As for me and mine, we will serve God” he said, and he reminded people
how they were rescued from slavery. Most
of them were the children and grandchildren of slaves, but they remembered
their parents and grandparents telling them what slavery had been like and how
hard it had been to wander in the wilderness until they accepted the fact that
they were fully reliant on God for their survival. That acceptance was not easy, and the book of
Exodus is full of stories of Moses trying to get them to rely on God instead of
looking back to the days of slavery where everything was decided for them. They were told where to work, where to live,
when to eat and when to sleep by their overlords.
In the wilderness,
every day was a choice, and every place they stayed had hidden
temptations. Let’s build a golden calf,
let’s complain because we’re thirsty, let’s complain because we’re hungry,
let’s complain because we got bitten by snakes and so on. Every time they complained, Moses reminded
them who they were, the children of Abraham and Sarah, Jacob and Leah and
Rebecca. Then Moses reminded them of
what they had escaped. The mindless
slavery and petty abuse, the whips, the microaggressions, the racism and the
times where they lived in fear that their babies would be killed on the whims
of a power-hungry Pharaoh King.
Joshua did the same to
the people. And in this scripture, he was
about to lead the people into a new land where they would build homes, plant
crops and live more stable lives than before.
But he warned them not to forget their past. He warned them that following God had to be
more than lip service. It had to be a
total commitment to living in a covenant relationship with God. It wouldn’t be easy either. “Our God is a jealous God” he said, a God
that wanted more than a promise made one day and forgotten the next.
The parable of the 10
bridesmaids is also about commitment beyond lip service. It’s not about just accepting Jesus into our
hearts and we all live happily ever after.
The five silly bridesmaids knew the bridegroom, and even called him
Lord. That was not enough to get into
the party.
We don’t know why the
silly ones were not more prepared. Maybe
they focused on getting their dresses just right and their hair just so. Maybe they didn’t want to think about the
future. Maybe they were too busy having
a good gossip fest or maybe they were tired and apathetic. For whatever reason, they ran out of oil for
their lamps. They failed in their duty to be light bearers for the bridegroom.
God wants more than lip
service. God wants to invite us to join
in a wedding party like no other. That’s
hard to do when we feel caught up by the many gods competing for our attention. It means remembering that God rescues us
again and again from the slavery of addiction, anxiety, pessimism, worry and
fear. God feeds us again and again with
our daily bread when we trust that God is with us even when we wander in the wilderness.
Interestingly, the
commitment the bridegroom needed from the bridesmaids, and that commitment
Joshua asked from his followers is a big signpost of thriving United Churches
in Canada. Congregations that are
thriving consistently talk about the importance of being committed to God. They practice being positive about the future
and trusting that God is leading them.
They are prepared to light the way for others to find the healing that
they have experienced in their communities of faith, and they are intentional
in choosing God at the core of all they do.
May we find the courage
and conviction to turn away from the many false gods that clamor for our
allegiance, to the true God who invites us with love. May we put oil in our lamps as we wait for
the bridegroom who will bring us into the great wedding banquet that never
ends. Amen.
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