Rev. Tara Barber
The Community Church of Sebastopol
November 10, 2002
Matthew 25: 1-13
As the beginning credits roll for the movie, My Best Friend’s Wedding, dancing across a Pepto-Bismol pink background are four women. One, a bride, the other three, are obviously bridesmaids. They’re wearing poofy dresses, with pearls and perfect hairdo’s. And they’re singing, “waiting, and hoping, and praying, and thinking, dreaming, and wishing,” complete with do-wops and everything.
It’s what came to mind when I read this morning’s scripture text. All of the nerves and excitement that fill the hours and moments just before a wedding. All the hopes and prayers that fill the hearts and minds of those preparing for a wedding.
The image is potent. And though we may not be relying on oil lamps to light our wedding banquets, we do fret about fitting into the formal wear, remembering the rings, signing the license, and having all the things prepared so this will be the memorable day of our dreams.
Waiting and hoping. And being prepared for what comes next. What happens at a wedding? The time of engagement, of connection, culminates in a celebration that brings two lives, two families together to create something new.
What happens here – in this church? Folks come together, risk engagement, in hopes of creating something new – or at least keeping together what we once had. And at weddings, and in this place, we are reminded that God is present. Loving, cradling, calling - engaged with us in life. One of my favorite church pray-ers and writers is Ted Loder. In his newest book, The Haunt of Grace, he has a chapter on engagement. “Engagement,” he writes, “takes courage, which is half of what faith is. It involves taking risks. By daring to engage each other, we make something different possible between us, and within ourselves…Engagement is what Jesus was about. That’s why he was harder on hypocrites than on prostitutes, thieves, and tax collectors…Do not be afraid (is) the basis for the new rules of engagement. Don’t be afraid to take risks. Do not be afraid. Life isn’t about innocence, it’s about engagement, and Jesus lived by those new rules of engagement. Listen to your deepest longing for love, for meaning, for relationships that are deep, trusting, satisfying, challenging, and joyful, for a world of justice and peace and beauty… Do not be afraid.”
Ted Loder continues by sharing the words of another poet, Oriah Mountain Dreamer, whose writing, The Invitation, touches on “part of what engagement and grace are all about.” Oriah Mountain Dreamer writes, “I want to know if you can be with joy, mine and your own, if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, to be realistic…
It doesn’t interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up, after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done to feed the children. It doesn’t interest me who you know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back.”
This is what engagement is all about. And I want to know – this is me talking now, I want to know, will you bring the oil? Will you choose the wedding? Will you be ready for the wedding banquet that God has prepared for you, for us?
What are you waiting for? What is it that you wait for?
I think it’s time for a confession. After praying over this morning’s scripture text, and coming up with the sermon title, “Waiting and Hoping,” I went to my computer to see if I could find the words to the song from the movie about waiting and hoping. Much to my dismay, the title of the song isn’t really “Waiting and Hoping”, instead it’s “Wishing and Hoping.” A little thing maybe, but I think it bears a closer look. Those bridesmaids were indeed waiting. And I’m sure that they were doing a whole lot of hoping as well. But maybe even more importantly, they were wishing. Wishing that the bridegroom would show up, wishing that the wedding would happen, wishing that they themselves would feel connected, and be engaged to someone. And the truth of the matter is that some were ready for this night, and some were not. Some of us are prepared to engage, and some are not. Some of us are ready and wishing that we could be engaged, right here, right now, in ways that we’ve only just dreamed about.
Having oil in your lamp is more than simply having gas in your car, or money in your checking account. It’s being ready to engage. Ready to involve yourself in the world around you, in the lives around you, in this very moment. Ready to live as Jesus taught; ready to engage with the sacred in and around you.
Maybe having oil for your lamp looks more like having a casserole in your freezer, ready to share with someone who is grieving, or struggling to keep all the pieces together. Maybe having oil for your lamp looks like getting enough sleep or taking care of yourself so that you can come to church, and be of service to others. Maybe it looks like faith. Having oil for your lamp might just look like trusting in God’s future enough to risk, to dream, to act. To stop grumbling, and to start living.
What’s the alternative? Jesus is quite clear. The feast has been prepared, now is the time, and if we are not ready to engage, we will get left behind, shut out of the banquet. If we are not prepared to greet the new day, to celebrate in the feast of this day, we will be left behind. God hasn’t stopped moving, acting, dreaming, calling. God is alive in this moment, abundantly spinning life anew. What are you waiting for? This is the day that the Lord has made. What are you wishing for?