SUNDAY 32

6-12 November

Matthew 25: 1-13 (Sermon 2: “Something about Virgins”)

1 Thessalonians 4: 13-18

Joshua 24: 1-3a, 14-25 (Sermon 1: “Faith for This Day”)

Psalm 78

PREPARATION

What a mixed bag we are! How diverse are the twisted strands

of our various lives that gather in this house of prayer!

Maybe some of us have arrived feeling sluggish and unfocussed after a difficult week,

or have been through household tension before the family got ready to come.

Maybe some have come wondering whether the really church needs them or they it,

or have come so filled with doubts that they wonder whether they are hypocrites.

Maybe some have entered this place desperate for some light and joy and peace,

or have arrived with hearts bulging with thankfulness and praise.

Let us offer this diversity of thought and feeling to God.

Put aside the distractions of this world’s many gods,

stand in awe before God’s love,

prepare to worship in sincerity and faithfulness.

The Lord Jesus and his God, we will serve,

and his voice we will trust and obey.

that generations to come may know their God.

Stand up and celebrate the good news this day

so that others may set their hope in the living God.

We will not hide our thanks and praise,

but tell of the glorious deeds of the Lord

and all the wonders God has done for us.

PRAYER OF APPROACH

Most holy Friend, we bring to you all that we are and all that we hope to be. With your quiet skill and strength, please take both the bright strands, together with the tattered and faded threads of our lives, and weave from them a pattern lovelier than anything we thought possible. Deal with each of us, deal with all of us, so that the one and the many may rise up with refreshed love to praise to worship you without hesitation. Through Christ Jesus our Lord.

Amen!

CONFESSION AND ASSURANCE

Most of us have a tendency to criticise others `rather than face our own faults. No here now. This is a time for confession.

Let us pray.

Whenever we try to evade our own failures and sins by becoming critical and outspoken about the wrongs done by others.

Lord have mercy. Lord have mercy.

Whenever we slip in to a state of boredom and apathy, and seem to lose the will to break free into vigour and delight.

Christ have mercy. Christ have mercy.

Whenever we get our “kicks” out of the superficial and tawdry pleasures, yet neglect the deep joys of mind and spirit that arise from aspiring for beauty, mercy and truth.

Lord have mercy. Lord have mercy.

Merciful God,

please cleanse us from the things that pollute us,

forgive us for the things that hurt others and insult you,

rescue us from the things that degrade the church,

deliver us from the things that place the world in bondage to the Evil One.

By your astringent love, please restore to us the joy of salvation.

Through Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen!

FORGIVENESS

Repentant family of God, hear again the gospel of love: “There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” “If the Son shall set you free you are free indeed!” Jesus came with “peace to those who are near and peace to those who are far off.” Your sins are forgiven!

Thanks be to God!

PRAYER FOR CHILDREN

The things you have done, loving God,

are so cool!

Trees and flowers, mountains and rivers,

platypus, bilbies, wombats and whales,

are so cool!

Our eyes and our fingers, our brains and our feelings,

games to play and things to learn,

are so very cool!

Jesus and his disciples, parables and healing lepers,

loving us to death and rising up to be always with us,

is so really, really cool!

Please help us to be worthy

of so many great ideas

and so much wonderful love.

Help us to look after your world

and to care for each other.

Through Jesus Christ our Saviour.

Amen!

PSALM 78: 1-7

Listen, my people, to the message I tell,

turn and hear what I have so say.

Maybe I will have to speak in parables

for dark is the Mystery from the beginning.

Such things you should have heard and known,

enlightenment your parents offered you.

We must not deny our children their heritage,

it belongs to the coming generations;

the stories of the glories of our Lord,

the wonderful things God has made happen.

How Jacob’s children were called to be witnesses,

and Israel received a law that led to a better life.

Our ancestors were given a high responsibility,

commanded to teach their children God’s ways,

If we want a new generation to understand,

and children yet unborn to give praise

then get moving and teach your children

to fix their hopes on the Holy One

and not neglect God’s commandments.

Ó B.D.Prewer 2004

LAMPS ?

Matt. 25:1-33

Lamps without oil make ornaments

that often are admired

but should a neighbour need some light

the lamp cannot be fired.

Lamps without oil make fine antiques

for dilettantes to hoard

they make a conversation piece,

when guests are getting bored.

Lamps without oil polish up well

and shine in borrowed light

but when you need to find your way

the path stays out of sight.

Lamps without oil are useless things

their purpose has been lost,

yet Pharisees collect them still

and pay an awful cost.

Lamps without oil are fine by day

some bear the best hallmark,

but when your power at midnight fails

they leave you in the dark.

Lamps filled with oil are lovely things

and don’t fail expectation,

they lead the Bridegroom to the feast

and shine with celebration.

© B.D. Prewer 1993

COLLECT

Most generous God, by the light of your indwelling Spirit keep us alert from the comings of your true Christ into this present age. When we grow careless, or imagine he has been much delayed, give us the courage to go out into the darkness and meet him among the meek and the poor, the merciful and the persecuted. Let us live for him and beside him, to your eternal glory.

Amen!

NB. A brief version follows this first draft.

SERMON 1: FAITH FOR THIS DAY

Joshua 24:15

“If you are unwilling to serve the Lord, chose today whom you will serve, whether it is the gods you ancestors served in the land beyond the river, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

It is a struggle keeping the faith among people who despise or ignore your God, and who offer many exotic alternatives.

These days, when we see the multiple temptations among the glitter and boasting of contemporary life, we may imagine that things are much more difficult than they used to be. For example, our grandparents did not have to cope with poker machines and casinos, or deal with a pervasive drug sub culture, or contend with internet love affairs leading to broken marriages. This era seems a tough environment in which to try and keep the faith.

However I suspect it has always been tough. Living the faith this very day is both a joy and a challenge. A lot of diversions and temptations are always around. The outward forms certainly change but it has always been difficult to remain true to the One God in the midst of a people with other ideas.

AFTER THE EXCITEMENT IS OVER

Joshua and the people were at first on a roll. Remarkably they crossed the Jordan, which stopped flowing for a while. When they entered that promised land, and soon found the walls of Jericho falling before them, they may have thought their worries were over. That early period of occupation was exciting: plenty of cause for praising, celebrating and feasting. They had arrived!

It reminds me of new converts or folk who have recently been baptised or confirmed. They have taken the big step and wow! They have arrived! They are surrounded by family and friends, and the people of the church hug them or shake their hands, and rejoice with them.

But after the excitement is over, ordinary life must go on. Things settle down. Old temptations still exist. Battles must be fought to establish one’s Christian identity day by day. The adrenalins rush dies.

I don't think I have ever counselled a convert or new communicant member who has not felt a let down some time after that day of celebration. They ask: where has the joy gone? Or in the words of a hymn writer: Where is the blessedness I knew when first I saw the Lord?”

Those of you who know the story of the founder of Methodism in England, John Wesley, may recall how a critical turning point came to him in a house-church run by Moravian Brethren from Europe. Wesley, a religiously austere, Anglican clergyman, records that: “I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt that I did trust in Christ; Christ alone for salvation: and an assurance was given me, that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.”

As people today might describe it: Wesley was “on cloud nine,” or perhaps “he was high as a kite!” He was enraptured with an experience of the intimacy of God which would change his life and that of England.

Nevertheless if you read his dairy over the next week, you will discover that he was sometimes feeling as flat as a tiger snake run over by a road train.(Not his language of course!).A negative voice in his head kept niggling about some of the “down” moments he was experiencing.

That is the way it goes! My friends, the battle is not over when you (symbolically) cross the Jordan and set foot in the Promised Land of God.

THE SPIRITUAL STRUGGLE WAS THE HARDER ONE

It was like that for Joshua and the tribes of Israel. Crossing the Jordan was critical first step in what was to be an ongoing struggle for at two levels: One for the possession of the land, and the other for the purity of the faith.

There was much warfare and skirmishing, battles and treaties. After a time the mixed populations started to co-exist and intermarriage must have been a factor. Once land had been secured it was divided up among the twelve tribes. This did not happen quickly. Joshua was an old man before the physical conquest was anywhere near completion.

The harder task was the spiritual one. As years went by and the Jews become a part of the general scene. There were new gods, shrines and sacred objects everywhere; fertility cults and exotic rituals of worship performed before golden and silver idols. Temptations aplenty!

IDOLS AND SACRIFICES

Many of these gods were thought to demand costly sacrifices. Some groups carried out human sacrifices to placate their idols. Should that surprise us? Isn’t that always the case?

We live among many idols. Idols still demand sacrifices. What are idols? Idols are the things to which people really give their worship; the things that truly matter most to them. Like money, success, wining and dining, work promotions, power over others, fame, drugs, alcohol, gambling, sport, sexual promiscuity, travel, and so on.

You do not have to look far to see these idols demanding monstrous sacrifices. People’s health, their children, their marriages, their personal dignity and integrity are sacrificed to the contemporary idols. Idols still call for human sacrifices. The wreckage caused by worshipping false gods is littered around us in this society in which we live. Make no mistake: idols damage people!

There are some Christians who get “het up” about the threats of unbelief; the danger of question-asking agnostics, or the aggressive disbelief of atheists. I am convinced that the bigger threat is always from the lure of the idols in the world around us. These are what seduce us. These are what cause havoc among individuals, families and communities.

Sometimes the switch to idol worship happens by deliberate choice, in a moment of acute temptation. There can be a spiritual arm wrestle for a few hours or days, before faith in the One invisible God is jettisoned in favour of an idol.

But more often. it takes place slowly, almost imperceptibly like the growing dusk in a Hobart summer. The idols seduce us little by little. We make a small compromise here, and look the other way there. We come up with superb rational arguments for our small side steps and back flips. We are very sophisticated in the way we give God’s ground away to the many lesser gods of the community. The gods are seductive, and we are too cunning and slippery for our own good.

More people lose their love of God by surreptitious dilution rather than by open and dramatic conversion to the idols. Spiritual adultery leads inexorably to idolatry. Many folk could not put a date on when their first faith lapsed, and when the worship of many gods took over. It just happened by insidious adulteration.

THEY HAD TO CHOOSE

I reckon that is how it was with the people who with Joshua entered the promised land. As time went by and they settled down in their new home, millimetre by millimetre some surrendered their soul to the gods of the land, and some even returned to the idols they had once worshipped in the land of Egypt.

They either wilfully made bad choices, or allowed bad ones to happen.

Joshua would have been heartbroken to see it happen. Therefore the white haired old man summoned a gathering of the leaders of the clans to Shechem. There he put the hard word on them: Was it to be happiness and well being with God, or corruption and chaos with the many gods? Choose, Joshua demanded; choose!

I don’t know whether he drew a line in the sand and asked to clans to stand one side or the other, but certainly he made them make a choice. Choice is one of the hardest things in life. We would rather no choose; far rather put off the hard decisions; wait until we have more facts, wait until we have thought more about it, wait until we are in the right frame of mind, wait until we are older and wiser, wait until we see which way the majority wind is blowing, wait until things are not like a hard choice but more like a dead certainty.

But Joshua demanded: “Choose now.”

Will it be the new gods of Canaan, among the people the Bible calls the Amorites, or the old gods of Egypt and the Sinai, or will it be the one, holy Yahweh who had delivered them from slavery and given them the land flowing with milk and honey?

If you are unwilling to serve the Lord, chose today whom you will serve,

whether it is the gods you ancestors served in the land beyond the River,

or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live. But as for me

and my household, we will serve the Lord

Choice goes on and on: It is not something done and never revisited. It is a daily affair because all around us are the alternatives that whittle away at our first allegiance

They may have chosen sometimes in the past, when the crossed the Jordan and set up a memorial cairn in the Promised Land. That was not enough. Choice had to be up to date. Now. Where did they stand now!

As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.

We are told that the heads of the clans crossed the line and stood with old Joshua. They chose the Lord God, their Saviour. Joshua could do no more. He then sent them back to their people with a warning that they had better keep their word and bring their followers into line. For Jahweh would not be fooled. To slip sideways or backwards would mean an inevitable plunge into disasters.

OUR CHOICE NEEDS UPDATING

Choice was and in a habitual requirement for those who would live by faith. This choice must be current. We cannot live on memories of choices made in the past. It must be now. Not even yesterday’s choices are sufficient. We must all choose this very day whom we will serve. A choice that is not up to date puts us profoundly at risk. We cannot live in the past. Now is the crucial event.

John Wesley, from his own experience, knew how important this was. The members of his Society (not a church as far as John was concerned, but a society) were asked to meet in groups each week. An extremely sound strategy. This was called the “class meeting” and as well as prayer and instruction, each member was probed with question like this: “How has it been with your soul since we last met?”

Wesley knew that each day was one when Joshua’s question had to be answered. A conversion at one of his mass, open air meetings, was not enough. That first choice was a critical turning point, but not enough. The choice went on, and on, and on.

A ‘decision for Christ’ is a life long project. Not what happened ten years ago, or three months ago, but today.

WHAT PLEASES GOD?

This is no Methodist class meeting here this morning (For which some of you may be thankful!). Yet I put it to you, and to myself, that the issue that Joshua made the tribes of Israel face over three thousands years ago, and Wesley in the 18th century, is the same issue we confront. Whom or what do we serve, really? How is it with your soul?

What gods or god has the first priority in our lives? Indeed, what are our priorities, our real goals, that for which we live? Where does the God of Joshua and his namesake, Jesus, come into our priorities?

The choice is about whom we will serve, not what will serve us or please us best. Worship is not about pleasing us but about pleasing God with the best we have to offer!

An Australian writer (memory lapse: which one?) had a description of the then (in the 1950’s) respectable Melbourne on a Sunday morning. He wrote a sentence which went like this: “The clock on the town hall struck twelve midday, and well dressed people emerged out of their Gothic churches from worshipping the god with whom they were well pleased.” If that was even partly true, I find it a damning indictment on what some of us have done with our religion, turning it into “consumer goods,” a god who is there to please us. The choice must always be about the One whom we will serve. The One whom we set out to please.

Paradoxically the secondary thing (i.e. what will serve us best) happens to flow from putting God first; from making the choice to put our own needs second to that of loving and serving God. It is that foundational paradox central to Jesus; that in losing your life for Christ’s sake you will indeed find your life in authentic fullness.

In my book More Australian Psalms, I wrote this about choice and struggle.

It was never easy!

This life of faith

lived freely and lovingly

despite contemporary pride

and age-old enigmas,

has always been tough;

for Abraham, Sarah, Job,

Thomas, Mary, Augustine,

Luther, McKillop, Flynn.

Lord we believe.

Save us from unbelief!

Pity the overt arrogance

of modern culture

drunk on small achievements

thinking that our era

has put paid to faith;

throwing away God

as a superstition

clutched by the ignorant.

It was never easy!

Choice, commitment;

whether to gamble one’s all

on current self-adulation

or plunge into the Under-Swell

of hope and faith, spirit and truth,

flowing with creative love,

rampant with celebration

and the glory of Christ.

It was never easy!

Lord, we believe.

Save us from unbelief.

“More Australian Psalms” (page 86

© B D Prewer & Open Book Publishers

SERMON 1: FAITH FOR THIS DAY

Joshua 24:15

It is a struggle to keep the faith among when you live among people who despise or ignore your God, and who offer many exotic alternatives.

AFTER THE EXCITEMENT IS OVER

Joshua and the people of Israel were at first on a roll. Remarkably they crossed the Jordan, which stopped flowing for a while. When they entered that promised land, and soon found the walls of Jericho falling before them, they may have thought their worries were over. That early period of occupation was exciting: plenty of cause for praising, celebrating and feasting. They had arrived!

That is the way it goes! My friends, the battle is not over when you (symbolically) cross the Jordan and set foot in the Promised Land of God.

THE SPIRITUAL STRUGGLE WAS THE HARDER ONE

But more often. it takes place slowly, almost imperceptibly like the slowly, growing dusk in a Hobart summer. More people lose their love of God by surreptitious dilution rather than by open and dramatic conversion to the idols. Spiritual adultery leads inexorably to idolatry. Many folk could not put a date on when their first faith lapsed, and when the worship of many gods took over. It just happened by insidious adulteration.

THEY HAD TO CHOOSE

They either wilfully made bad choices, or allowed bad ones to happen.

Choice is one of the hardest things in life. We would rather no choose; far rather put off the hard decisions; wait until we have more facts, wait until we have thought more about it, wait until we are in the right frame of mind, wait until we are older and wiser, wait until we see which way the majority wind is blowing, wait until things are not like a hard choice but more like a dead certainty.

But Joshua demanded: “Choose now.”

If you are unwilling to serve the Lord, chose today whom you will serve,

whether it is the gods you ancestors served in the land beyond the River,

or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live. But as for me

and my household, we will serve the Lord

Choice goes on and on: It is not something done and never revisited. It is a daily affair because all around us are the alternatives that whittle away at our first allegiance

WHAT PLEASES GOD?

I put it to you, and to myself, that the issue that Joshua made the tribes of Israel face over three thousands years ago, and Wesley in the 18th century, is the same issue we confront. Whom or what do we serve, really? How is it with your soul?

The choice is about whom we will serve, not what will serve us or please us best. Worship is not about pleasing us but about pleasing God with the best we have to offer!

In my book More Australian Psalms, I wrote this about choice and struggle.

It was never easy!

This life of faith

lived freely and lovingly

despite contemporary pride

and age-old enigmas,

has always been tough;

for Abraham, Sarah, Job,

Thomas, Mary, Augustine,

Luther, McKillop, Flynn.

Lord we believe.

Save us from unbelief!

Pity the overt arrogance

of modern culture

drunk on small achievements

thinking that our era

has put paid to faith;

throwing away God

as a superstition

clutched by the ignorant.

It was never easy!

Choice, commitment;

whether to gamble one’s all

on current self-adulation

or plunge into the Under-Swell

of hope and faith, spirit and truth,

flowing with creative love,

rampant with celebration

and the glory of Christ.

It was never easy!

Lord, we believe.

Save us from unbelief.

“More Australian Psalms” (page 86

SERMON 2: SOMETHING ABOUT VIRGINS

Matthew 25: 1-13

Ten virgins. Five wise. Five foolish.

It has been cynically said that these days, one would be hard put to find 10 virgins to carry their lamps at a wedding celebration.

Maybe, maybe not.

It is true that those insatiable opinion pollsters have come up with a figure (for Australia) of 40% young people “sexually active” by the age of 15 years. Whether the figures would differ across the population of previous eras, I do not know. One thing is certain: our young people today are under far more overt pressure to experiment sexually.

Most of us in the church think that is very sad. Growing up has been a difficult process in any era. If we have made it harder today, then some repentance from the adult world would be in order. And I would hope that those who love Christ will stand by our young folk, no matter what occurs. They need our love and understanding, respect and support, more than ever.

But........................

That is not the key theme of this parable about the wise and foolish virgins.

Let me start with a general word about Chapter 25 in Matthew’s Gospel.

Jesus at this stage of his final week is not speaking to opponents, and not even to the general crowd, but to all who are disciples or who want to be. There are three parables, one for each of the last three weeks of this church year before the New Year arrives with Advent.

Matthew sets these 3 parables in the context of the future comings of the Son of man. The holy One who comes to consummate the kingdom of God on earth.

Today’s parable is about being alert and ready for those opportunities.

Next Sunday takes up the theme of being diligent and trustworthy servants, or stewards, of the kingdom. Be ready to give account.

The third Sunday will feature the King who comes incognito, as we show practical love to the needy folk around us.

Let’s now concentrate on today’s parable: the 5 wise and 5 foolish young women.

It is a story which has become the subject for countless sermons, some classic music and poems, and even a ballet.

In the parable as Jesus told it we are in a different culture. The marriage customs were exceedingly different from ours today. To we expect bridesmaids to attend the bride, not ten maids attending the bridegroom. What is more we announce a set date and time for a wedding. (Or we are supposed to, as long as some selfish bride does not overstep the limits of propriety and deliberately arrive extremely late for her wedding. Upsetting all the arrangements for subsequent weddings that are booked to be celebrated in that church on that day!)

Evidently in the culture where Jesus lived, the time was not specified. Some Bible commentators have suggested that it was actually considered smart to trick the guests by arriving at an unexpected hour. Hence in this parable, the bridegroom’s party chooses to arrive at midnight and catch some folk ill prepared.

That is one cultural custom we should never adopt! The nerves of a bride’s parents can become stretched taught enough as it is. That might really go past breaking point.

These days, the maidens wait for the arrival of the bride and escort her. In Jesus’ time the bridegroom was to be met by the maidens with their lamps shining, to escort the bridegroom into the wedding ceremony and feast.

In Jesus’ parable, five girls neglected to have a reserve supply of oil. They waited a long time. Their lamps burned low, began to smoulder. They tried to borrow from the other five. No deal. At that critical moment the bridegroom arrived. The wise maidens who had back-up oil went into to the feast with the bridegroom. The other five, after rushing out to buy more, arrived back at the reception centre to find the door firmly shut against them

In a panic they knocked at the closed door and cried: “Sir, sir, please open the door for us.’ However, the voice inside replied. “Go away. I do not know you.”

They had missed their opportunity.

It sounds somewhat hard-hearted. All very final. Jesus meant it to be so. I think he is telling us that we must make the most of our opportunities and be always ready welcome him. If we miss the moment we may well miss out altogether.

It seems that God’s time table is not ours.

We would like to have God who fits in with our wants. One who is always on time for us.

Some tetchy churchgoers complain: “Where is God in today’s affairs? What is he doing? We need the help of the Son of Man right now. Why doesn’t he show his love? Why won’t he give us a hand when we most want it? Why keep us waiting. “

It is easy enough to get weary. The absence of God may seem prolonged indeed. It is an easy thing to grow careless and allow our lamp of faith grow dim. We give up supplementing our supply with new reserves. We may become negligent, apathetic, even faithless.

Pastors meet many who complain about God’s tardiness.

Some will tell us: “Well that’s it! I gave him some of the best years of my life and what has he done for me? Where was he when I desperately waited for him to come to my side?”

We notice the light of such people growing dim. They are prone to start complaining about a lot of things in the church. Nothing seems right in their eyes. Before long they are just a smouldering wick, giving off a nasty disgruntled odour. Or they fall asleep and miss out on the moments when the bridegroom comes with abundant blessings at the marriage feast.

It’s an all too familiar story to many church elders and ministers. Some cannot tolerate God having a different time table to theirs.

Keep awake then. for you never know the day or the hour.

How do we top up our oil supply?

How can we become numbered among the wise who are ready whenever the Son of Man comes to us?

One thing is not on: We cannot borrow it from our fellow Christians. We can be encouraged by others, we may be inspired by the example of others, but we cannot borrow their faith.

We need to seek for ourselves all the opportunities we can to keep our faith alert and growing. There are some time-honoured ways of doing this.

The good oil can be found in worship and in the reading of the Scripture. Some will be found in Bible study and prayer groups. Our stock will be replenished in our private devotional life; the prayer and meditation of those who love the Lord. Other oil will come our way as we serve Christ in the rough and tumble of daily life.

Yet there are less recognised sources of oil for the lamp of faith. Some of us have received oil from most unexpected quarters.

It may flow from critics and unbelievers. Such unlikely folk can contribute to the resources of our faith. Sometimes our oil is replenished in the giving of ourselves to those in need, without any thought of reward. We unselfishly care for them and to our great surprise, discover the oil of happiness rising up within our own souls.

It is in giving that we receive. We find ourselves spiritually enriched by those whom we set out to serve with no thought of a reward.

And take note of this. For I know it is true. On occasions, your oil will be replenished when you undertake some task which you strongly dislike. Those times when you loyally, yet reluctantly, perform some service for Christ which you find personally frustrating or distasteful!

An example comes to mind (from years ago) from the writings of Joy Davidman, who married the English scholar and author C.S. Lewis. (remember the film “Shadowland?”)

Davidson was at her typewriter busy at writing an article about loving one’s neighbour. The telephone rang. Muttering words that were censorable, she broke off in mid sentence. The caller was the neighbourhood nuisance. A bitter women who had driven away her husband, children, friends and neighbours. Joy was the only person who had not cut herself totally off.

She later wrote:

“You think of all the times you’ve tried in vain to tell her of God and repentance and love, only to be jeered at as a credulous fool. You know all you will get this time is a denunciation of other people........ and a series of small digs at yourself.”

But Joy went and visited the sour neighbour. She came back “with the old lady’s poisoned darts sticking to your hide.” Yet, “nevertheless, deep inside you, there is small, bright glow.” If you “take a good look at the brightness you will recognise it for the love of God. Your love for him and his for you...sweeter than wine and brighter than the sun. For one moment you forget self and its desires and rights; you gave a scrap of your life away, and in return, you get this incredible candle in the heart.”

So unexpected love! Such a strange source for the good oil.

“Give me oil in my lamp, keep me burning, keep me burning.”

[I guess that story from Davidman can also hint at the guise of bridegroom in Jesus’ parable. Perhaps sometimes the bridegroom (Son of Man) comes to us in the form of a cantankerous neighbour or work colleague? But we will leave that though for a couple of week.]

The glory belongs to God.

Focus on the main frame.

Oil. Let’s stick with oil and the wise and the foolish virgins, and most of all on the Bridegroom. When the oil tank is regularly topped up, the lamps warmly glow. They glow not just for our own satisfaction, but for the sake of those around us, and to the glory of the bridegroom.

Then it is that we can indeed recognise the privilege and honour that is ours. Jesus once expressed it this way: “Let your light so shine before all people, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

That is what is it all about.

Not our glory but God’s.

That is brilliant!

It is truly awesome!

But be alert and ready. It is God’s timetable not ours.

Keep awake then. for you never know the day or the hour.

PRAYERS FOR OTHERS

We pray for the people around us in this world, and then for ourselves.

Holy Friend, in theory we know you love each one of us. Teach our hearts how much you really do love every other sinner on this planet; not just the believers but also the unbelievers, not just good folk but also the very bad.

Receive our prayers for the many kindly people we meet each week: At work and in the street, at sport and at the theatre, in service organisations, committees, and agencies that fight for the rights of the needy and exploited.