23 Pentecost, Cycle A proper 27, November 12, 2017
Wisdom of Solomon 6:12-16 Psalm 78
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 Matthew 25:1-13
Lectionary Link
The parable about the five wise bridesmaid and the five foolish bridesmaids made me think about Eliza Doolittle's song in "My Fair Lady:"
I'm getting married in the morning!
Ding dong! The bells are gonna chime.
Pull out the stopper!
Let's have a whopper!
But get me to the church on time!
The foolish bridesmaids of the parable did not stock up on enough oil for their lamps and when the great procession of the groom arrived they did not have enough oil and so they had to leave to purchase oil and they missed the ceremony. And to add insult to injury, when they came back to the wedding feast, they were locked out.
Can you imagine the Episcopal Church locking the doors of the church after the liturgy has begun? Our attendance usually triples after the processional hymn, so if the doors were locked, what would our attendance be?
I think this parable of Jesus is about the basic actuarial wisdom which is expressed in the motto of the Boy Scouts, "Be prepared."
Wisdom is about being prepared. And the entire Bible might be about the Wisdom of being prepared to welcome God into our lives.
Mimi: Father Phil, could I interrupt for a second and ask some questions?
Father Phil: Sure, we always welcome hecklers from the pew. What questions do you have?
Mimi: If wisdom involves being prepared, what do you think we are supposed to be prepared for?
Father Phil: I think we need to be prepared for the serendipity of good things happening to us. But we also need to be prepared for Murphy's Law events; we need to be prepared for what can go wrong. But what do you have in mind?
Mimi: What is the "hidden" meaning of the what the bridesmaids were supposed to be preparing for? Five were thrilled and five were very disappointed.
Father Phil: It could be that the early Christians believed that the goal of life was union with the Risen Christ. A metaphor for the mystical union with Christ was the wedding event. Since not everyone came to accept the Risen Christ, some were prepared and some were not. Some were locked out of knowing this mystical union with the Risen Christ.
Mimi: Why do you think they were locked out?
Father Phil: Probably because of their preconceived notions about who could or could not be the Messiah. Also some thought that God could only really be known by those who observed the ritual purities that they knew in their religious tradition. The parable shows that we can be blinded by even good things in our own traditions and we can prevent ourselves from receiving something new and wonderful, even the mystical union with the Risen Christ.
Mimi: Do you think that we at St. John's are living a life of being prepared for an enhanced experience of the Risen Christ?
Father Phil: Well, what do you mean? Sounds like you have an agenda?
Mimi: Well, I am the chairperson for the Stewardship Committee, so I have some very practical concerns about our parish being prepared.
Father Phil: Prepared for what?
Mimi: Prepared for finishing this year solvent. Prepared to enter 2018 with enough commitment to find and fulfill our parish mission. I want to make sure that we have purchased enough oil for our lamps to be ready. Do you think we're ready?
Father Phil: Well, you know it is said that there are lies, damnable lies, and then there are statistics. But statistics can be for us revealing truth about our state of preparedness.
Mimi: What do you mean?
Father Phil: Our attendance, like the attendance of most mainline churches has been declining. We have about the same number of people on our roles but our average attendance has gone down.
Mimi: Why do you think that is?
Father Phil: It probably involves lots of things. People are very busy with work and so their time off becomes more important. Our culture used to have fewer things to compete with Sunday attendance but now most all youth sports have Sunday games. And people with financial means have the ability to afford to travel and do other things. What do you think?
Mimi: Well, I'm worried that if we neglect something that we like and take it for granted, we might just wake up some day and find it gone because of lack of interest and support.
Father Phil: That is true, but as the parable teaches, some were wise and prepared and some were foolish and unprepared. And the message of the church is to be prepared, mainly for one's relationship with God in Christ. And no matter what kind of statistical success that we have or don't have we have to be faithful in being prepared. We cannot fall asleep on the job. So what is the stewardship committee doing to help us in preparation?
Mimi: Well, we just cannot highlight the negative statistics; we have to accentuate the positive.
Father Phil: Like what?
Mimi: Like our very active prayer chain. We have core group of people who faithfully pray for the special needs and concerns of our members.
Father Phil: It is a great ministry; I would call them Ministers of the Interior. You don't see them but you know they're at work. And what about music?
Mimi: Ginny leads three choirs and they are faithful in practice and their offerings to our liturgies. It takes a commitment to make a joyful noise unto the Lord. We also have a wonderful preschool for our community. Like the church it has up years and down years but it is good stewardship to make use of our campus five days a week and fill the playground with young children.
Father Phil: In what other ways are we being wise in our preparation?
Mimi: There is Simply Divine. For many years they have expanded our craft ministries and they have raised significant funds to be used in the support of our parish.
Father Phil: And what about the taken for granted ministries?
Mimi: What do you mean?
Father Phil: I mean like the altar guild, the flower guild, the parish life guild of people who provide refreshments and clean up. There are people who do Outreach work. I mean the people who fix broken faucets and trim trees and maintain the property. There are real significant people who regularly do all of these things. And they are important. Even when attendance is down, there remains significant ministries that are being fulfilled. But being prepared means that after we take inventory of what is good, we also look at areas where we need to improve, especially if we want to survive into the future. What about our youth? We say that the young are our future, but if they are going to be our future, they also have to be our present.
Mimi: We need improvement in the opportunities of learning and fellowship for our youth. We have great Youth Sundays, we have wonderful young liturgists and we have youth in our handbell choir. But we need inspiration and support in attracting youth to be coming to faith development together in our parish. And if there is competition for adults to be active in church and Christian education, there is also competition for youth.
Father Phil: It is hard to discover the mystery of the youth biorhythms and to develop the kind of peer experience that invites and attracts participation. Youth need to know that someone is interested in them and their social and spiritual development.
Mimi: It can sometimes be discouraging to be a "small" parish, particularly if we are lacking critical mass in an area that is important to us and to our family at crucial ages of our children.
Father Phil: On the other hand, as small as we are, and when we have lacked youth programs, I can say that I am quite proud of the youth who have gone on from St. John's parish. And I think that it is because no matter how good youth programs are or teachers or pastors are, parents are and have been the main ministers in the lives of their children. And we need to support this crucial ministry role that parents have in their lives of their children.
Mimi: So, we can always be working at being prepared. That this will be our stewardship mission for this fall and next year.
Father Phil: We also need to remember the most important teaching of the parable of Jesus.
Mimi: What is that?
Father Phil: The most important thing is the mystical union of each person with the Risen Christ. Missing out on that is what is truly sad. In fact, a couple can have a very wonderful marriage ceremony, but a terrible marriage. And we need to remember that the purpose of all church programs and our liturgy is to assist in in our mystical union with Christ, a union that is offer to us all, no matter our age or circumstances. And I have witnessed the effects of people at St. John's who know this mystical union with Christ, even a pleasant heckler like yourself.
Mimi: Well, look out, because Stewardship season is here and St. John's wants and needs everyone to find their ministry as we prepare for 2018.
Father Phil: Thank you Mimi, and thank you Jesus Christ who invites us all again into this wonderful mystical union. Amen.
Wisdom of Solomon 6:12-16 Psalm 78
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 Matthew 25:1-13
Lectionary Link
The parable about the five wise bridesmaid and the five foolish bridesmaids made me think about Eliza Doolittle's song in "My Fair Lady:"
I'm getting married in the morning!
Ding dong! The bells are gonna chime.
Pull out the stopper!
Let's have a whopper!
But get me to the church on time!
The foolish bridesmaids of the parable did not stock up on enough oil for their lamps and when the great procession of the groom arrived they did not have enough oil and so they had to leave to purchase oil and they missed the ceremony. And to add insult to injury, when they came back to the wedding feast, they were locked out.
Can you imagine the Episcopal Church locking the doors of the church after the liturgy has begun? Our attendance usually triples after the processional hymn, so if the doors were locked, what would our attendance be?
I think this parable of Jesus is about the basic actuarial wisdom which is expressed in the motto of the Boy Scouts, "Be prepared."
Wisdom is about being prepared. And the entire Bible might be about the Wisdom of being prepared to welcome God into our lives.
Mimi: Father Phil, could I interrupt for a second and ask some questions?
Father Phil: Sure, we always welcome hecklers from the pew. What questions do you have?
Mimi: If wisdom involves being prepared, what do you think we are supposed to be prepared for?
Father Phil: I think we need to be prepared for the serendipity of good things happening to us. But we also need to be prepared for Murphy's Law events; we need to be prepared for what can go wrong. But what do you have in mind?
Mimi: What is the "hidden" meaning of the what the bridesmaids were supposed to be preparing for? Five were thrilled and five were very disappointed.
Father Phil: It could be that the early Christians believed that the goal of life was union with the Risen Christ. A metaphor for the mystical union with Christ was the wedding event. Since not everyone came to accept the Risen Christ, some were prepared and some were not. Some were locked out of knowing this mystical union with the Risen Christ.
Mimi: Why do you think they were locked out?
Father Phil: Probably because of their preconceived notions about who could or could not be the Messiah. Also some thought that God could only really be known by those who observed the ritual purities that they knew in their religious tradition. The parable shows that we can be blinded by even good things in our own traditions and we can prevent ourselves from receiving something new and wonderful, even the mystical union with the Risen Christ.
Mimi: Do you think that we at St. John's are living a life of being prepared for an enhanced experience of the Risen Christ?
Father Phil: Well, what do you mean? Sounds like you have an agenda?
Mimi: Well, I am the chairperson for the Stewardship Committee, so I have some very practical concerns about our parish being prepared.
Father Phil: Prepared for what?
Mimi: Prepared for finishing this year solvent. Prepared to enter 2018 with enough commitment to find and fulfill our parish mission. I want to make sure that we have purchased enough oil for our lamps to be ready. Do you think we're ready?
Father Phil: Well, you know it is said that there are lies, damnable lies, and then there are statistics. But statistics can be for us revealing truth about our state of preparedness.
Mimi: What do you mean?
Father Phil: Our attendance, like the attendance of most mainline churches has been declining. We have about the same number of people on our roles but our average attendance has gone down.
Mimi: Why do you think that is?
Father Phil: It probably involves lots of things. People are very busy with work and so their time off becomes more important. Our culture used to have fewer things to compete with Sunday attendance but now most all youth sports have Sunday games. And people with financial means have the ability to afford to travel and do other things. What do you think?
Mimi: Well, I'm worried that if we neglect something that we like and take it for granted, we might just wake up some day and find it gone because of lack of interest and support.
Father Phil: That is true, but as the parable teaches, some were wise and prepared and some were foolish and unprepared. And the message of the church is to be prepared, mainly for one's relationship with God in Christ. And no matter what kind of statistical success that we have or don't have we have to be faithful in being prepared. We cannot fall asleep on the job. So what is the stewardship committee doing to help us in preparation?
Mimi: Well, we just cannot highlight the negative statistics; we have to accentuate the positive.
Father Phil: Like what?
Mimi: Like our very active prayer chain. We have core group of people who faithfully pray for the special needs and concerns of our members.
Father Phil: It is a great ministry; I would call them Ministers of the Interior. You don't see them but you know they're at work. And what about music?
Mimi: Ginny leads three choirs and they are faithful in practice and their offerings to our liturgies. It takes a commitment to make a joyful noise unto the Lord. We also have a wonderful preschool for our community. Like the church it has up years and down years but it is good stewardship to make use of our campus five days a week and fill the playground with young children.
Father Phil: In what other ways are we being wise in our preparation?
Mimi: There is Simply Divine. For many years they have expanded our craft ministries and they have raised significant funds to be used in the support of our parish.
Father Phil: And what about the taken for granted ministries?
Mimi: What do you mean?
Father Phil: I mean like the altar guild, the flower guild, the parish life guild of people who provide refreshments and clean up. There are people who do Outreach work. I mean the people who fix broken faucets and trim trees and maintain the property. There are real significant people who regularly do all of these things. And they are important. Even when attendance is down, there remains significant ministries that are being fulfilled. But being prepared means that after we take inventory of what is good, we also look at areas where we need to improve, especially if we want to survive into the future. What about our youth? We say that the young are our future, but if they are going to be our future, they also have to be our present.
Mimi: We need improvement in the opportunities of learning and fellowship for our youth. We have great Youth Sundays, we have wonderful young liturgists and we have youth in our handbell choir. But we need inspiration and support in attracting youth to be coming to faith development together in our parish. And if there is competition for adults to be active in church and Christian education, there is also competition for youth.
Father Phil: It is hard to discover the mystery of the youth biorhythms and to develop the kind of peer experience that invites and attracts participation. Youth need to know that someone is interested in them and their social and spiritual development.
Mimi: It can sometimes be discouraging to be a "small" parish, particularly if we are lacking critical mass in an area that is important to us and to our family at crucial ages of our children.
Father Phil: On the other hand, as small as we are, and when we have lacked youth programs, I can say that I am quite proud of the youth who have gone on from St. John's parish. And I think that it is because no matter how good youth programs are or teachers or pastors are, parents are and have been the main ministers in the lives of their children. And we need to support this crucial ministry role that parents have in their lives of their children.
Mimi: So, we can always be working at being prepared. That this will be our stewardship mission for this fall and next year.
Father Phil: We also need to remember the most important teaching of the parable of Jesus.
Mimi: What is that?
Father Phil: The most important thing is the mystical union of each person with the Risen Christ. Missing out on that is what is truly sad. In fact, a couple can have a very wonderful marriage ceremony, but a terrible marriage. And we need to remember that the purpose of all church programs and our liturgy is to assist in in our mystical union with Christ, a union that is offer to us all, no matter our age or circumstances. And I have witnessed the effects of people at St. John's who know this mystical union with Christ, even a pleasant heckler like yourself.
Mimi: Well, look out, because Stewardship season is here and St. John's wants and needs everyone to find their ministry as we prepare for 2018.
Father Phil: Thank you Mimi, and thank you Jesus Christ who invites us all again into this wonderful mystical union. Amen.
