Necessary Components

I tell you, among those born of women no one is greater than John; yet the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.” (And all the people who heard this, including the tax collectors, acknowledged the justice of God, because they had been baptized with John’s baptism. But by refusing to be baptized by him, the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected God’s purpose for themselves.) “To what then will I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like?  They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not weep.’

For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon’; the Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Nevertheless, wisdom is vindicated by all her children.”

-Luke 7:28-35 NRSV

Necessary Components

Consider these decisive and clever individuals throughout literature:

Star Trek’s Mr. Spock; Lord of the Ring’s Samwise Gamgee; Tom Sawyer’s Huckleberry Finn; Macbeth’s Banquo; Pinocchio—Jiminy Cricket; “The Walking Dead”—Darryl

There is no doubt we could also bring to mind those historical figures — the wise, the passionate, and maybe the infamous — who had an equally-matched second-in-command.  Someone who gathered information, who assessed the resources, who reached out to the volunteers and supporters.  Ultimately, someone whom the leader believed shared the vision and trusted with the details.

Enter our John the Baptist.  The crazy one, the rabid one, who ate locusts, wore hair shirts, and wandered throughout the wilderness raving about the end of days and the coming of the Son of Man. This man who shattered the notion of what a prophet should look and act like led the crowds into the desolation of wilderness and into chaotic waters of baptism.  Of singular purpose, this John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus the Christ. 

As powerful and relentless as John the Baptist moved through his work, there resides another layer beneath his seemingly erratic behavior in this gospel passage.  Jesus alludes to John as a necessary component of the road to redemption; John, the one who leapt in the womb of Elizabeth when Mary came near, was born for the sole purpose of telling the world about Jesus.  John’s words, his work, his existence, was necessary as a prophet likened to the old ways to usher in the Savior who comes to make all things new.

When I consider Star Trek’s Mr. Spock, Pinocchio’s Jiminy Cricket, and others, they had a distinct purpose.  They were keenly self-aware and lived into that awareness for the benefit of the individuals they served under and the work they engaged in.  How often are we enticed by desires and impulses and even worthy causes that we become stretched thin or burnt-out because we try to be all the things to all the people?  How often to we step away, sit still in the space of our souls, and align (or re-align) with our purposes?  And when we do take that precious time to settle into ourselves and who we are, how much more beautiful energy and focus and passion do we have to breathe and exist into our calling?

It would be easy to stop there, to leave with an inspirational message to keep grounded in the faith of our hearts with the hope that Jesus makes alive for us.  But, our passage of text does not end there, and we must perceive it all.  Jesus concludes the passage with the observable, “John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at him!  A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’”  In other words, when we align our thoughts, words, and deeds with Jesus, we will face potential discord and rejection.  We will be misunderstood, thought to be barrier breakers and chaos makers.  Might it be hard and hurtful?  Yes, indeed it could be.

Amidst the hectic schedules and endless to-do lists of the season, may we remember that this is Advent.  This is the deep breath before the plunge.  May we move about our lives with eyes open recognizing the wilderness and chaos in which we exist.  And, may we be ever renewed with peace and grace and compassion remembering that we love the One who is coming, the One who is true, the One who speaks into the darkness saying, “Come, follow me.”

The Rev. Janie Koch

Vicar

All Saints’, McAlester

Everyone Will Hate You

When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, he said, “As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.”

They asked him, “Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?” 8 And he said, “Beware that you are not led astray, for many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time is near!’ Do not go after them.

“When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified, for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately.” Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom; there will be great earthquakes and in various places famines and plagues, and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven.

“But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. This will give you an opportunity to testify. So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance, for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents and siblings, by relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your souls.

-Luke 21:5-19 NRSV

Everyone Will Hate You.

“If you’ve read this far, then you are one of the very few Tin Leg customers to review all of their policy documentation," read the text, revealing a secret contest inviting Andrews to claim a $10,000 reward. At first the Georgia school teacher thought this was a joke. But she contacted the insurance company anyways just to make sure. It was real. They were so sure people wouldn’t read the fine print they put the text in as a test.

Do we ever think of the fine print, of what it means to be a disciple?

As we sit and wait for the world to be put to rights, as NT Wright would say, is this the kind of waiting we want to do?

This is not a verse we needlepoint on pillows. This is unlikely anyone’s life verse. Forward Movement is not going to publish a pamphlet on this. When evangelizing, this is kept in the fine print.

There is a scene in one of the gospels where some disciples come to Jesus and complain because his teaching is too difficult, and so they walk away. Jesus turns to the remaining disciples and asks “Are you going to leave me too?” They respond with amazing trust for there is nowhere else to turn. They recognize Jesus, and Jesus alone, is the source of Life. But it comes at a cost. Jesus’ cost on the cross, and our daily cost when we make small and big decisions to follow Jesus, for there is nowhere else to go.

The Rev. Everett Lees, Dmin

Vicar

Christ Church, Tulsa

The Widow's House

Then he said to them, “How can they say that the Messiah is David’s son? For David himself says in the book of Psalms, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”’ David thus calls him Lord; so how can he be his son?” In the hearing of all the people he said to the disciples, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets. They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”

He looked up and saw rich people putting their gifts into the treasury; he also saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. He said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them; for all of them have contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in all she had to live on.”

-Luke 20:41-21:4 NRSV

The Widow’s House

My wife, Teresa, and I were driving to Battle Creek, Michigan, for the Thanksgiving holiday when Courtney called and asked us to meet her at a hospital in Grand Rapids. I reeled upon hearing the words, “It’s cancer.” Her husband Brian was roughly my age, in good health, and a proud dad. The markers hit close to home.

Brian was covered up when we arrived, which struck me, because the man was so infernally hot all of the time. Even in winter, he hardly wore anything more than a Carhartt sweatshirt and some ratty overalls to the job site. It was apparent that he was planning on going to work that day. His clothes showed the wear of a life out of doors, with the ever-present trappings of saw dust, subfloor adhesive, and red chalk set into the fabric. I hugged him. He smelled of pine.

In the cure of souls, you learn to steer some conversations toward the pain. But this was the first time that steering toward the pain meant steering myself toward the reality that we are never promised another day. No words were necessary at that point or warranted. Presence is what mattered. To sit in the ash next to someone is one of the deepest ways we can love one another. And I’ve learned that the silence born out of such encounters will give birth to something. In my case, that something was a promise.

Brian spoke first. “Will you promise me something?”

 “Anything,” I said.

“Promise me that when I’m gone, you will be here for my kids.”

 “Of course,” I said.

A nurse stepped between us to take his vitals. She turned to tell her counterpart something and Brian looked at me and said, “I want you to come because I don’t want my kids to hate God. I want to see them again.”  Turning back toward Brian, the nurse asked him if he needed water. That allowed me just enough time to breathe and resist the temptation to offer a counter theology. I’ve thought quite a bit about this exchange since then and about what it implies of God’s nature, death and judgement, and the afterlife.

Always, it seems, we live in that space between death and resurrection, holding on to the promise that nothing can separate us from the love of one who loved us first, even if sometimes we don’t believe it. It’s not that such a promise is untrue, but that sometimes grief renders the promise unreal.

When it came time for us to leave, I asked Brian if there was a piece of scripture that he had been holding close to his heart. He closed his eyes and quoted Romans 8:38-39. His shoulders relaxed as he spoke. Teresa and Courtney stopped to listen. I felt in awe of his conviction, which as expressed drew everyone in that room together and spoke directly to the longing of our hearts. “Will you come?” he asked. I promised.

***

My friend is the nearer presence of our Lord now. And with his death and burial came the medical bills. Courtney and the kids were forced to sell the home that Brian had built for them and the day the door closed, I heard the widow whose house had been devoured say to her kids, “I love God. I have seen His grace at work. I have faith and your father did too. I’m just done believing in miracles.”

In the face of all that, Courtney’s love for God often brings me to my knees. And her truth? Well, Courtney’s truth is perhaps that, “Faith in God is less apt to proceed from miracles than miracles from faith in God.”

For the fact that Love remains – is miracle enough sometimes.

The Rev. Nick Phares

Rector

St. Luke’s, Bartlesville

The Advent Plot Twist

Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus and asked him a question:

“Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers; the first married and died childless; then the second and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless. Finally, the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her.”

Jesus said to them, “Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage; but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. Indeed, they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.”

Then some of the scribes answered, “Teacher, you have spoken well.” For they no longer dared to ask him another question.

Luke 20:27-40 (NRSV)

The Advent Plot Twist

Don’t you just love a great story made even better by ending with an unexpected twist? Then you are in for a treat, thanks to a revelation in today’s Gospel reading from Luke.

Advent is the liturgical season in which we, as Christians, await Jesus’ earthly arrival through his miraculous birth from his mother Mary. The four-week season is penitential because this time of year, leading up to Jesus’ birth, provides us a prime opportunity to reflect on our own lives to make sure we are spiritually ready for his coming.

And talk about a tremendous real life(-saving) story! Jesus, the only-begotten Son of God, volunteered to descend from his heavenly home to Earth to live and teach among us – and ultimately die for us – before his resurrection and eventual ascension back to heaven, changing everything for humankind. That is why, every year during Advent, we await and celebrate Jesus’ promised coming to Earth and all that it means.

But here’s the twist: the anticipation that defines Advent is a two-way street. Thanks to the hope of resurrection, Christ joyfully awaits our arrival in heaven – in due time, of course – as we celebrate his coming to Earth.

Our earthly life is an immeasurable blessing. As long as we “belong to this age,” people marry, are given in marriage and/or do a myriad of other things, enjoying them on Earth to the glory of God. But when we die, our earthly habits and concerns die, too, much to the relief of the seven-time widow in Jesus’ parable!

Better yet, Jesus assures that we will awaken to new life as God’s children of the resurrection. We cannot die again because Jesus vanquished death’s final say by means of his sacrifice. This new life is what awaits us and Jesus, along with angels and the communion of saints in heaven, anticipates our arrival. In due time, of course.

So happy Advent, friends. Let us:

·      Enjoy the season, reflecting on our readiness for Christ’s arrival as we also eagerly anticipate it.

·      Rejoice in our assurance of heavenly resurrection that the men who questioned Jesus in our reading did not believe. That’s why members of their sect were widely known as sad, you see. (Sadducees, get it?)

·      Remember and be grateful for the great Advent plot twist, that Jesus anticipates our rebirth in heaven as eagerly as we celebrate his birth on Earth.

Amen.

The Rev. James S. Tyree

Deacon

St. John’s Episcopal Church, Norman

The City of God

The scribes and the chief priests tried to lay hands on him at that very hour, but they feared the people; for they perceived that he had told this parable against them. So they watched him, and sent spies, who pretended to be sincere, that they might take hold of what he said, so as to deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor. They asked him, “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach rightly, and show no partiality, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar, or not?” But he perceived their craftiness, and said to them, “Show me a coin. Whose likeness and inscription has it?” They said, “Caesar’s.” He said to them, “Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they were not able in the presence of the people to catch him by what he said; but marveling at his answer they were silent.

-Luke 20:19-26 RSV                

The City of God

Today’s scripture touches on the often-described tension between Jesus and those in authority. The scribes and priests aren’t as concerned about learning the way of God as they are about making sure they remain in power and influence over society. They are threatened by Jesus’ teachings that it is God who rules over all.

While the scribes and priests ask Jesus if God’s law or Caesar’s law (the governmental rules of the day) is to be followed, the truth is that God’s law and the government share many of the same goals and don’t have to exist in conflict with each other. Government services – roads, trash pick-up, water service, fire protection – keep us safe and healthy while criminal laws protect us from harm. At their best, government laws can promote equal justice for all, especially the vulnerable and defenseless, and maintain order in society. So, too, does God’s law insist on the never-ending pursuit of justice and peace. As Jesus points out, we all have a duty to submit to government authority but this can’t be – and doesn’t have to be - at the expense of our obligation to serve our God.

With constant news of violence, political strife, and economic turmoil, it’s often difficult to remember that God’s law calls us to strive for a society that is just and peaceful for all, one that is full of love and respect and one that doesn’t leave anyone out.  The musical Godspell termed this society “a beautiful city” in the song of the same name. The song reminds us that even in hard times, we can start to build God’s beautiful city piece by piece, brick by brick, heart by heart.  It doesn’t matter where we start, as long as we have faith in God’s vision for our future, and take the necessary steps to make it a reality.

This Advent, may we anticipate not only Christ’s birth and second coming, but also God’s beautiful city.  Let us pray with fervent hope about what we can do, individually and collectively, to build God’s beautiful city.  As the song implores, “Yes, we can!”

The Rev. Lisa Chronister

Deacon

St. John’s Episcopal Church, OKC

Be Found in Him

He went on to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard, rented it to some farmers and went away for a long time. At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants so they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. He sent another servant, but that one also they beat and treated shamefully and sent away empty-handed. He sent still a third, and they wounded him and threw him out.

“Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my son, whom I love; perhaps they will respect him.’

“But when the tenants saw him, they talked the matter over. ‘This is the heir,’ they said. ‘Let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

“What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others.”

When the people heard this, they said, “God forbid!”

Jesus looked directly at them and asked, “Then what is the meaning of that which is written:

“‘The stone the builders rejected
    has become the cornerstone’?

Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.”

-Luke 20:9-18 NRSV

Be Found in Him

I love the Bible.  I love the Bible’s stories, its sacred message, its unembarrassed references to immortality.  But more than that, I love its shocking singularity of Gospel message (amidst its great diversity of authorship and genre).   

The Bible is especially fun when one author references another author.  Today, Luke, quoting the Son of David, has that same Jesus, quoting David himself in Psalm 118.  That stuff will preach, friends. 

But first, let us listen to the man of the sixteenth century himself, Dr. Luther, reminding us of the purpose of the Old Testament: 

They think of it as a book that was given to the Jewish people only and is now out of date, containing only stories of past times…But Christ says in John 5, “Search the Scriptures, for it is they that bear witness to me”….The Scriptures of the Old Testament are not to be despised but diligently read….Therefore dismiss your own opinions and feelings and think of the Scriptures as the loftiest and noblest of holy things, as the richest of mines which can never be sufficiently explored, in order that you may find that divine wisdom which God here lays before you in such simple guise as to quench all pride.  Here you will find the swaddling cloths and the manger in which Christ lies…Simple and lowly are these swaddling cloths, but dear is the treasure, Christ, who lies in them. 

“…the richest of mines which can never be sufficiently explored” OH, HOW I LOVE THIS:  “Here you will find the swaddling cloths and the manger in which Christ lies” 

If in fact that is true; if your Old Testament is, in fact, a more reliable guide to Jesus than Time magazine or the Interpreter’s Bible Commentary; and in fact comes with a helpful little guide—the Holy Spirit’s illuminating work—then let us sit awhile with the Psalms and the Prophets.  And let us further suppose that its subject—Jesus Christ—is co-eternal with the Father, as suggested in the Creeds; then let’s take a bath in the Bible already!   

Either way, David’s Psalm—a clear reminisce of all that it took to get him this throne—is one steeped in love for God.  Despair and victory both are detailed throughout, and Jesus’ quote falls right out of the middle (humorously, everyone’s favorite wedding verse is the one that follows in verse 23, and a key part of our weekly liturgy falls out of verse 26).   

So, given David’s clear devotion to expanding on the love of God a thousand years prior,  how is love stirred afresh in Luke 20?  And what has this to do with Advent—a season of present apocalypse? 

Well, the passage is sandwiched between two challenges—one of Jesus’ authority, and one of his homage to Caesar.  Here we find our answer.  If the world- system is your reference point, Jesus will never make sense.  Take him out, beat him, and kill him in hopes of manipulating your inheritance already (like the evil tenants in the story). 

But if instead we read the world as Blessed Mary did, for example, then we draw a very different conclusion:  If God the Son is instead the one who first sides with the lowly handmaiden, the humble and meek, the hungry, and the poor; and if that same God the Son—the stone the builders rejected—is the one upon whom we break our pride-dripping lives, so that we, too, are lowly of heart; we too are hungry and thirsty for a righteousness-not-of-our-own, and find ourselves identifying with the poor more than power; then the undulating love of God shall break fresh into our hearts. 

I admit--Advent makes some immediate sense to my need for instant justice.  I’m ready for white-horse Jesus to ride in with a sword in his teeth to restore Mary’s vision immediately.  My heart might even be ready to beat a few servants up in the process.  Let’s take no names and clean house.  Stay awake, says Matthew 24!  Let’s do this! 

But Jesus’ first coming is remarkably shocking.  Lord have mercy, let me not reject that precious stone.  

The one who comes to judge WILL FIRST BE JUDGED.  Be found in him.  

The one who comes to rectify WILL FIRST BE REJECTED.  Be found in him.  

The one who comes on a white horse WILL FIRST BE TRAMPLED. Be found in him. 

For me, the tenant.  Be found in him.  

Advent is the rock upon which my self-righteousness, impatience, and hatred of people will be dashed to pieces, and Jesus is the rock upon which the entire thing shall be rebuilt. 

Praise God for the Old Testament. 

The Rev. Nathan Carr

Vicar

St. John’s, OKC

A Slow Illumination

“One day as he was teaching the people in the temple and proclaiming the good news, the chief priests and the scribes came with the elders and said to him, ‘Tell us, by what authority are you doing these things? Who is it who gave you this authority?’ He answered them, ‘I will also ask you a question, and you tell me: Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?’ They discussed it with one another, saying, ‘If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ all the people will stone us, for they are convinced that John was a prophet.’ So they answered that they did not know where it came from. Then Jesus said to them, ‘Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.’

-Luke 20:1-8, NRSV

A Slow Illumination

In this scripture from Luke’s Gospel, Jesus leaves us in the dark grasping at mystery. I really appreciate this as an invitation to humility in knowing our place in the order of things. God is all-knowing and we aren’t. I find great comfort in not knowing sometimes. Sometimes I find it hard, of course. In today’s world of instant gratification and the ability to google any question, certainty seems to be at our fingertips at all times.

But there is great spiritual wisdom and freedom in mystery that Christ brings into our awareness during this season of Advent. As I sit next to a fire I’ve made at 4am to settle in for a long morning of smoking the Thanksgiving Day turkey, my dog-son Boulder and I watch and wait for morning to come up over the landscape. That space between night and day is my favorite. And that space is very much like Advent as we wait and watch for the mystery of Christ’s loving action to break through into our lives and our history.

It’s a slow illumination of what’s to come and what could be over the earth. As we watch and wait, we never know what we are really watching or waiting for. Sometimes my brother the owl starts whooing. Sometimes the sister geese start honking and splashing in the pond that backs up to my house. Sometimes cousin coyote sprints across the prairie to find breakfast. Sometimes clouds roll in and it starts to rain. How God breaks into the morning is always magical, mystical and a total mystery. All I know for sure is that morning will happen.

At some point, “the dawn from on high will break upon us.” God’s energy lights up all of creation and we can see more clearly what lays ahead for our day. But the time in waiting and watching is an invaluable gift of stillness that all creation needs to prepare ourselves for what’s to come and to rest in the moment of unknowing.

Because life will be—and is—full of unknowing. 

So today friends, take a moment to sit in adoration of Mystery. Hang out in the unknowing. Thank God that we don’t have to know all the time for it is too great a burden to bear. Be thankful for our place in Creation and let us do what we are called to do to care for our land, our people and our planet. Amen.

The Rev. Sarah E. Smith

Curate

St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral, OKC

Outside, Looking In

“Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’ And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”

-Matthew 25:1-13, ESV

Outside, Looking In

One of my favorite axioms is “If you wait until the last minute, it only takes a minute.”  I’ve shared that with friends over the years to lighten their spirit when they talk stressfully about being behind when an important deadline is approaching.  Of course, the reality is that waiting until the last minute only ensures one of two things: the work will be subpar, at best, or will likely be incomplete.  In either case, waiting until the last-minute leaves us unready to meet the challenge we had plenty of time to prepare for.

Five of the ten young women were woefully unprepared to meet the bridegroom.  All of us can likely relate to forgetting something important, leaving it behind.  Even if the five had only taken the time to double-check once they arrived at their destination, they would at least have had an opportunity to find oil at a merchant.  Not only were they unprepared to begin with, they also didn’t take the time to check at any point during their journey.

When the last minute arrived and they found themselves without oil, we can sense in them the same anxiety that we might have had.  The panic when they realize they had no oil.  The bargaining with the other five to use theirs.  The rush against time to find a shop open at midnight (if only this parable were happening two thousand years later, they might have found a Galilee 7-Eleven around the corner).  And finally, the anguish they must have felt when they finally returned only to find an empty street.

I feel regret for the five when they finally arrive to locked doors at the banquet hall.  There’s nothing worse than feeling left out.  The pain must have been compounded when hearing the joyful festivities just beyond the door.  Try as they might, even begging does not open the doors once the celebration begins.

On this first day of Advent, we recall this parable of Jesus telling of a yet unknown time when the Son of Man will return to bring the fulfillment of the Kingdom of Heaven.  Those of us who watch faithfully will be prepared for the wedding feast as five of the young women were.  Until then, we have plenty of oil to sustain our lamps and fuel our faith.  The Church has provided us this fuel through the ancient three-fold practice of prayer - our regular celebration of Holy Eucharist, praying the Daily Office, and our third practice of personal devotion.  The five who were prepared couldn't share their oil with the others.  We can’t share in that same excuse.  The oil that the Church provides for us is enough for all.  We only have to be willing to share it with others.  It’s oil that cannot run out. 

We still don’t know when, but the wedding feast is coming.  Christ, the bridegroom, will return to fulfill the Kingdom.  Prepare your torches, send out the invitations to your friends, share with them the oil that the Church can offer, and get ready for the celebration.  Don’t wait until the last minute and be on the outside of the party looking in.

The Rev. Dion Crider

Deacon

Resurrection, OKC