Plan on Being Lucky for Christ's Arrivals

23 Pentecost, Cycle A proper 27, November 8, 2020
Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25 Psalm 78
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 Matthew 25:1-13

Lectionary Link

The kingdom of heaven will be like this. Be ready for it at all times.

You may have heard it said, that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have. Also, the more I pray, the more luck I seem to have.

How can this "folk knowledge" be correct? Whether we're scouts or whether we do emergency planning, we often think of being prepared for things to go wrong.
I would like for us to look at the parable of the bridesmaids in a "glass half full" type of way. What do the bridesmaids get to do if they are prepared?  They get to fulfill their wedding role when the bridegroom arrives.

This is what the kingdom of heaven is like. Be prepared for the in-breaking events.
God, for a long time, wanted to bring the people of Israel into their new home. But they weren't prepared. They are presented as those who were grumblers about the terrible conditions of the journey, and indeed the journey lasted forty years.

And when the successor of Moses, Joshua brought them to the door step of the Promised Land, he asked the people to renew their covenant with God, the one they often forgot during the journey.   Joshua asked them to be loyal to God as they entered the  homeland of their new kingdom.

Paul wrote to some worried people in Thessalonica who believed in the resurrection and they believed in a coming kingdom of the return of Jesus to this earth. But they were worried about their friends who had died before the return of the Lord. And Paul wrote as a comforting parent.  And he encouraged them to do their preparation of being faithful and he gave a comforting scenario of how he believed that God would unite the dead with the living in the future kingdom of heaven.

In our community, we try to presents some recommendations for a rule of life for people to adapt to their own life rhythms.  It involves a holistic program, prayer, Bible study, corporate worship occasion, take care of your physical body as a temple of the Holy Spirit, and opportunity for mission and giving as we identify with those who are poor.  And why do we do it?  Because we need to pay the bills and maintain the institution?  No.  We want people to be prepared for the arising of the God-events in their lives.

You have the seeming experience of more events of grace and favor, if you actually have been preparing your life to see and process them when they happen.  

Jesus said, "The kingdom of heaven will be like this."  And the sad thing is that many people miss the experiences of the kingdom because they are not prepared.  They are like the sleeping bridesmaids who did not have enough oil for their lamps and when the bridegroom arrived, they did not have their lamps ready to be the needed luminarias for the honored guest.

The metaphor of a wedding bespeaks of union.  The kingdom of heaven is about union, union with God and each other.  And such unions offers many occasions of climactic events, if we are prepared and practiced to be able to recognize them.

Today, as we live in earthquake and wildfire country, we are encouraged to be prepared for threatening events.  But the life of faith is not just about being prepared for what can go wrong.

Jesus said, "The kingdom of heaven will be like this...."  Like what?  An arrival of an event of union and joy.

The Gospel program of the church is a program of preparation for the arrival of the Christ-events each day in our lives.  And for these, I say, be prepared.  Amen