Proper 27 A
Amos
5:18-24; Psalm 70; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Matthew 25:1-13
I am so
grateful the election is over. I don’t know about you, but I cannot take even one more election
campaign ad right now. From either
side. I do not want to hear the fear and
the encouragement toward divisiveness that comes with them. I’ve had enough of us vs. them.
And here’s the thing: it seems politicians---from all parties---have
a way of making promises that they know from the get-go they cannot, or will
not, keep. They seem to think they can
say what they think we want to hear---even when they may not mean it or believe
it themselves---and we’ll be foolish enough to fall
for their pretty words and empty gestures.
Today, the
Word warns us: don’t be like your
politicians. If you’re going to talk the talk---then, you’d better walk the walk.
God doesn’t want our pretty words or our
empty gestures. The prophet Amos uses
two very strong Hebrew verbs when speaking as the voice of God. Amos tells us: shaneyti Ma-asti
God is
saying: I hate…..I despise…….
We resist
thinking the idea that God hates anything; it doesn’t seem to fit with our idea of God. But the verbs are very clear here, and
repeated……so, what is it that God
really, really, really doesn’t like?
Empty
worship. Meaningless words. No matter how lovely and beautiful, how rich and
vibrant our practices and rituals may seem from the outside----if they do not
change our hearts, if they do not move us toward becoming agents of God’s justice, then God wants nothing to do with them. Like the politicians who make promises they
have no intention of keeping, God asks us not to be a people who pray and
worship with no intent of actually doing what God desires of us. The Word warns us today that God wants
nothing to do with people’s prayers and praises, choirs
and congregations’ beautiful music, the fragrant
incense or the lovely vestments unless
they are instruments of transformation for God’s
people.
Worship
should do two things: put God in God’s rightful place as our
King---worthy of praise and obedience.
And worship should draw us closer to God and thereby, draw us closer to
our truest selves---we who are made in the image of God---all so we can be
agents of God’s Kingdom---enacting God’s justice into this world.
God’s justice, not humanity’s. God’s justice which means everyone is equally worthy of having
enough; everyone is equally worthy of God’s love and God’s abundance.
Everyone is equally made in the image of God.
The Word clearly
declares to us today: Be prepared; have your wicks trimmed and your oil jugs
full. Be ready to keep Christ’s light shining---for an eternal age.
Keep awake,
Jesus tells us, keep awake to the opportunities to shine the love of God into
the darkness; Opportunities to create systems and policies which make sure
everyone has the essentials for life: shelter, clean water, food, and
healthcare. All of God’s people are equally deserving of having the bare
necessities of living. It is our
role---as neighbors, as community members, as voters, and as the living members
of the Body of Christ---to ensure that each of God’s children has what is needed to simply live.
Jesus asks
us to keep awake for the possibilities of reconciliation in our
relationships---with whom are we to mend fences? Who have we dismissed? Who have we ignored? Who do we neglect or decide is unworthy of
our patience, our presence, or our compassion?
Jesus calls us to live differently in this divisive world. After the nastiness of an election, we are
reminded there is another way to be---another way that we, the Church, can
model for the rest of our community. As
Parker Palmer puts it: “Political civility is not about being polite to each other.
It's about reclaiming the power of "We the People" to come together,
debate the common good and call American democracy back to its highest values
amid our differences. The civility we need will come not from watching our
tongues, but from valuing our differences and the
creativity that can come when we hold them well.”[1]
Perhaps most importantly, we are to
be ready and prepared to be changed---from the inside out---willing to become
more and more of our truest self---one who is made in the image of God. As we enter these thin places of worship, these
sanctified moments when God is present with us, we must allow ourselves to be
vulnerable in order to let the Holy Spirit have her way with us, granting God
access to change our hearts of stone into hearts of flesh.
As we hear today’s
parable, we might think: Why don’t
those bridesmaids with the oil jugs simply share their oil? Because, ultimately, each person must live
with the choice that one has made. And
if we choose not to believe and trust in God’s
justice---if we demand that we know better and it’s
okay if we make compromises on this road Jesus calls us to walk---then our
disbelief, our dim light of uncertainty, will eventually run out of oil and
fail to light our way. While we’d
like to pretend it isn’t so,
Scripture does speak of a pivotal moment of judgment---not necessarily God’s
judgment against us or for us---God wants us in; God wants all of us in. The turning point is our judgment---our choice---do
we judge God worthy of trusting, of believing, of following?
Justice and righteousness are not
luxuries relegated only to the good times; they are essential elements of God’s
Kingdom, essential elements of a faithful life, key ingredients of this life of
discipleship. The Word clearly states that we are agents of God’s
Kingdom, and therefore, we are charged with manifesting God’s
justice. It is our righteous acts and
ways that truly serve as our worship to God---a living sacrifice which reveals
the Kingdom of God.
The Lord’s
Prayer is our foundational prayer; we pray it every Sunday, maybe even every
day since it is included in all the hours of the Daily Office. In this beloved prayer, given to us by Jesus,
we pray:
God, you are our God and your name deserves to
be holy----May your Kingdom be on earth as it is where you dwell…..
With
the bread we need for today, feed us.
In
the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.
In
times of temptation and testing, strengthen us.
From
trials too great to endure, spare us.
Notice that this prayer is in the
third person---no I, no me, no my or mine here.
Only we. Only our. Only us.
If we’re
going to pray the prayer, then we had better live the prayer. No empty
Worship. No words we do not mean; no
vows we do not keep. If we talk the talk, then let us walk the walk---the Way
of Jesus.
For when we do, my beloved, when we
do---when we keep the words we pray and live the faith we believe, then:
Justice rolls down like a river and righteousness like an everflowing stream. For it is God who reigns in the glory of the power
that is love,
now and for ever.
Amen.
