October 2008; November 2008; March 9, 2009, May 3, 2009, June 2009

October 2008- Marianne Morlan

The lessons today seem to be a little backwards.  They remind me of our loss of the Silvis’   The phone rang, months ago now and right away our minds went to preparing to give Art solace and to celebrate Audrey being released into the kingdom of heaven.  It turned out that things had occurred in the opposite sequence of what we had anticipated.  The same pattern can be seen several times in the lessons today.
1 Thessalonians speaks about the loss of our loved ones and exhorts us not to dwell on our sorrow at our losses.  To dwell too much on our heartbreak denies that we have the hope of the resurrection.  It denies the power of the best promise that has ever been given to us, the most loving sacrifice ever made.  They are lost to us on this earth, but we are reminded of how we will come together again and never be separated from each other or God again.
1 Thessalonians is full of this kind of good news.   The apostle Paul wrote this letter and other uplifting messages to the people of Thessalonica, which was the capital of Macedonia.  Originally Paul, Timothy and Silas had traveled to Thessalonica to preach in a synagogue. Having been prevented from going back there himself, Paul asked Timothy and Silas to return.  Timothy reported to Paul that the Thessalonians had continued in their steadfastness and told of how they continued to mold their hearts to will of the Lord.  Paul  wrote on behalf of himself,  Timothy and Silas  with words of encouragement, telling of how the disciples  continued to pray for those who had previously been Jews as well as Gentiles  and gave them practical advice on issues that could arise for them in keeping the faith  and how to keep holy in their daily lives.
Here is where the lessons seem to be in the wrong order today.  We first learn of the letters from Paul regarding how the kingdom of God will come to us on earth and then we go back to Matthew and talk about preparedness for the second coming of Christ in ourselves.
In Matthew, The Parable of the Ten Virgins seems to be an admonishment against foolhardiness. “Five of them were wise and five of them were foolish.” The ten Virgins set out to meet the bridegroom with lamps to light their way. When we think of a lamp, we would typically think of the oil being contained in a vessel with a wick, which needed to be trimmed to shine the brightest light.  However in that time, these lanterns would have been more like oil-soaked rags wrapped around a pole and the oil would have dissipated readily.  The wrappings would have had burned and peeling edges which would have shed.    In re-envisioning the lamps being carried by the bridesmaids, we can now see how very foolish the women were who did not carry additional oil with them.  What were they thinking, Since they had been selected to escort the bridegroom, they may have been overconfident; they had already made the cut after all and been deemed worthy to make this journey, just as we can get the idea that as the children of God we have been selected in spite of our foolishness to gain the kingdom of God and to have entrance to the feast which is to be in His company.
As with many of the bibles’ parables, however, there is more and deeper symbolism in this story.  The reference to the bridegroom is actually to Jesus Christ and he will not be coming at a time of our own scheduling, but will tarry as the parable states.  Waiting to come again when His time is right. 
As with the Bridesmaid, we will need enough oil to make it through our own trials and tribulations to assure that we are prepared as we “know not the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man comes.”  The message is not only for us individually, but also for Christ Church.  The message is one of preparedness, sincerity and integrity.  If what we do in the name of the Lord in helping our neighbors, or bring the word of God to the community or in coming to church is to impress others, then it is actually hypocrisy. We are warned in Amos that the second coming will be no better for those who do acts of kindness in  hypocrisy than it would be for those who do no good in the world. Now, hypocrite as a label for an individual is a nasty word.  Your computer thesaurus will tell you that these folks are charlatans and frauds.  Now I guess I don’t think of myself as either one of those, but I don’t always do good things for a good reason.  Sometimes I set right out to impress others in the first place.  Often I catch myself being proud and acting in an artificial way when dealing with different people. Once in a while I will embellish a story if I think it will get a better laugh or be attention-getting.  Now this concerns me, because what if I have just told a tall tale or been showing off or made a joke at the expense of someone else that makes me not right with God and I do not get a chance to atone for these actions, whether my intentions were good or not.      It is so easy to do these things, and they really don’t seem all that bad, but since in doing all of these things, I am concentrating on the here and now instead of the hereafter, I am being a hypocrite, and in the eyes of God, I am not doing these things for the good of others, I am not sincere in my relationship to others or to God.  As Paul states, it is more important for us to know that God comes than to know when and we must be prepared at all times.
After my last sermon about anger, more than one person told me that they were waiting for me to tell them what to do about unreasonable anger.  It seems that there are others who battle their own impatience.  I am going to go out on a limb here and assume that there are also others who are not infallible here and do good things, but are not always right with God.  I am also going to lean further on the symbolism of the parable of the virgins and the writings of Paul to help answer the question of what we do about our fallibility, our fear of being unprepared for the second coming of Jesus and of coming to the end of our lives without getting it right.
Paul advises the Thessalonians and all the people of Gods church to pay attention to the “State of your heart” to assure that you are right with God at all times and in all ways. That should do it, if I just make sure I am pure of heart in my dealings, I will be right with God.  Take a moment to think about that.  If you don’t take too long thinking, it may seem like the solution and that would be encouraging and give us a sense of direction, if being pure of heart was something that was easily done.  The problem, however, is that it isn’t so easy to make sure that we are not wrong-headed in the things we are doing and saying and feeling.  It is a slippery slope that can begin with a small, childish action or selfish mood and builds on itself until where we end up is at the bottom of a heap of petty, un-Christ-like actions.  As they say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.  Believe me, I am speaking out of experience.  I have caught myself in situations where I thought I was giving freely, only to find that my real heart was acting out of pity or I was giving advice out of a feeling of superiority.  It is reassuring to know that Paul, human that he was, recognized this and further reminds the Thessalonians that they, and we, can turn to the Holy Spirit for the strength of our convictions and ask that the Spirit of God be the influence in our lives to be the lamp that lights our way.

November 2008

When I first read the text for today, weeks ago now, I said.  “Oh Lord, help me”. Cindy Emerson, who was at my house at the time says that I said that with the proper reverence, but I can’t guarantee that, because I was not feeling very reverent at the time.

From the feedback the Total Ministry group is getting, the congregation is enjoying  the weeks that those of us who are studying to be preachers and priest are doing their first few sermons and you are  learning and growing right along  with us.    The sermons have been received with affection and honest respect.  Each of us has the desire to be a good preacher, to bring the word of the Lord here.  It is difficult for Paula to just swallow her doubts and wait for God to break in, for Rhonda to find the courage to share the eagles of her dreams with you and of course Jeanne the love and loss of her father.  God does break through and not only our affection for those preaching, but God’s truth is working here. 

My concern with the subject of today’s text fell in line with others of the team; it just didn’t speak to me.  Jonah and the whale was never my favorite childhood bible story, but it was Jonah, or the anger-filled text of Exodus between which I had to chose.  After all, the last sermon I was assigned dealt with anger over the lack of water, now it was  the lack of bread and meat that was the cause of the resentment.  So, without even reading it,  I committed myself to Jonah.
Here is my advice: DO NOT try to avoid God.  There is, apparently, no where to hide.  The first sentence in Jonah   “But this was very displeasing to Jonah and he became angry”  Hey, this is Jonah – I wanted to know -  what happened to the whale?  In what has to be one of the shortest books in the bible, there it was, “Is it right for you to be angry?”  And in case I didn’t get it the first time, its there twice.
Hadn’t I just said to Rhonda that I was frustrated with my own impatience and that I am so quick to anger; that it keeps me from my deepest desire, to pray without ceasing?  I so want to get to the point where everything I think, say and do is devoted to God,  but you can’t see God’s grace through anger. 
The first part of this sermon was written several weeks ago and then I went dry.  I read, and thought, prayed a bit, and read some more – nothing.  I had no idea how that could happen.  I know I have enough anger in me, even though I pour plenty of it out, to go on for not only minutes, but hours – probably days if I was honest.  With all of the anger that boils so quickly out of me, I am intimately familiar with the subject and yet, the text seemed to have nothing to say to me.

So I put away the sermon for longer than I probably should have.  I prayed about it once in a while and I read the daily office and Day by Day and ignored the subject too.  Then it happened.  In the Founder’s Room, a conversation was going on beside me and I did not hear anything until I heard Ken say – “the text is talking to you – it always does, but sometimes we just aren’t listening, we are blocking it out because it’s too hard to hear.”  How true,  I just did not want to hear about anger – WAY too close to home.  I did not want to hear God tell me that I was rejecting his grace by being ungrateful like Jonah  but I could hear myself saying “sorry isn’t good enough”  when I wanted to hold on to my anger at my family.  I was forced to relive the evenings when I didn’t drop the subject when my husband said that we had been through this already and I felt the drive to recite the sins that I felt that he had committed against me.  My anger when I think I am getting a raw deal is  much like the wage earners in Matthew who had worked the entire day and had sufficient manna for themselves and still held resentment for others.  How in the world did I think the text was not speaking to me.
As you listen to the words of the Total ministry group, acknowledge the affection you hold for those who are giving their sermons, but truly, truly listen because they are working very hard and whether we want to hear it or not the text is speaking to us.
Amen