I am proud to say that for most of the weddings I have officiated, they have started on time. If the wedding invitation says that the wedding will begin at 4:30, it will begin at 4:30, or within a minute or two.
This all works great when weddings are
held here in our church, but all bets are off when weddings are held off sight.
Try as I might, it’s really difficult to start on time when I’m leading the
show off site.
For example, I’ll go looking for the
mothers and remind them that they need to be ready to be seated about five
minutes before the service. Once they are in place, I tell them, “It’s super important you stay right here so
please don’t wander off.” Two minutes later, the mothers are nowhere to be
found.
I conducted an outdoor wedding on an
island along the Pacific Coast a couple of years ago. It was a very beautiful
setting. It was in the afternoon and it was beginning to get uncomfortably hot.
I am standing next to the DJ who is
supposed to begin playing the processional music. It’s time for the wedding to
begin, and this DJ is still plugging in his sound equipment.
The
people who had already been seated were looking back at me wondering what was
causing the delay.
I politely asked the DJ when he would be
ready and without a care in the world, he says, “I’m getting there. Just a few more things to plug in.” I said, “What? The wedding was supposed to begin several minutes ago! We’re
waiting on you!”
So we stand there for another
ten minutes. I could feel the sweat dripping down my back from the heat of the
pounding sun. Heads are still turned toward me wondering what’s going on.
Finally, the DJ finished plugging in the last cord and he begins the processional
music.
After the bridesmaids process forward, I
motion for the people to be seated and I attempt to speak into the microphone.
It wasn’t working. Since I really didn’t want to lead the whole service by shouting
at the top of my lungs, I tried to get the DJ’s attention to let him know that
he needed to do something.
He didn’t notice me because he was too
busy rolling up an incredibly long extension cord for some reason. Finally, he
realizes that I’m trying to get his attention and he waves me on to just go
ahead with the service.
And so I scream out the opening words of the
greeting and then invite one of the family members to read a poem.
Just when she started to read the poem
which nobody could hear since she didn’t have a microphone, the DJ awkwardly sneaks
up behind me and hands me a different microphone. I feel relieved that I won’t
have to keep shouting for people to hear me.
After the poem I speak into the microphone
and it has that echo effect, kind of like when baseball great Lou Gehrig gave
his famous “I’m the luckiest man” speech at Yankee Stadium.
As I was trying to say the next sentence,
I was hearing my previous sentence because of the echo. This was turning out to
be a very memorable wedding.
As I was reading the scripture lesson and
sounding like Lou Gerhig, a big gust of wind came out of nowhere, knocking the
microphone stand to the ground and making a very unpleasant popping sound. I
stopped reading the scripture and picked up the stand and continued.
“OK,
nothing else can go wrong, can it?” I thought to myself. When it came time in the service for the
couple to share their vows, I realized that because of all of the commotion, I
had forgotten to have the father give away the bride which should have happened
near the beginning of the ceremony.
That poor father of the bride was forced
to stand with his daughter for at least fifteen minutes longer than he should
have. In football language, we call it, “icing the kicker.”
But that’s not the most interesting part
of this memorable wedding. The most interesting thing was that I was conducting
this wedding for my nephew and my whole family got to watch me in action. I
assured them that things go much smoother back in Ohio.
In our Gospel reading this morning Jesus
tells a story about another wedding that didn’t go so smoothly. Jesus tells us that half of the wedding party
missed out on the long awaited wedding celebration because they didn’t bring
enough oil for their lamps.
In Jesus’ day, it wasn’t uncommon for the
wedding reception to be held in the middle of the night. There was a custom for
the bridesmaids to carry lamps that would provide a beautiful torchlight
processional for the wedding couple. The problem was that you never knew when
the groom might arrive for the wedding to begin.
In the case of this wedding, half of the
wedding party didn’t bring enough oil for their lamps. While they were at the
nearest Wal Mart to buy some more oil, the bridegroom arrived to begin the
wedding. When they made it back, it was too late. The wedding had already begun
and the door was closed to them.
This story is actually a parable that
Jesus told to help his followers think about a future heavenly wedding when
Jesus, the bridegroom will return to take his bride, the church and set up God’s
kingdom here on earth.
This is a story that is meant for us. We
are the wedding party waiting for that great day of celebration when Christ
will come again and will make all things new.
We are the ones who are patiently holding
our burning lamps in our darkened world. And since we do not know the exact
time this heavenly wedding will begin, we will need to always have enough oil
so that are lights will be shining throughout the night.
This is a parable about lighting the way.
In what ways can we offer the light of Christ in a world that is often in
darkness?
Robert
Lewis Stevenson, best known for his adventure story, Treasure Island was in poor health during much of his
childhood and youth. One night his nurse found him with his nose pressed
against the frosty pane of his bedroom window. "Child, come away from there. You'll catch your death of
cold," she fussed.
But
young Robert wouldn't budge. He sat, mesmerized, as he watched an old
lamplighter slowly working his way through the black night, lighting each
street lamp along his route. Pointing, Robert exclaimed, "See; look there; there's a man poking holes in the
darkness."
This is who we are called to be, people
who poke holes in the darkness. We are to keep our lamps burning until Christ
comes again. Like the candles on our altar, we are to keep on lighting the way.
Many of us have stories to share of when
God helped to light our way along our faith journey.
A church member told me of a time when his
wife was at OSU Medical Center and was facing surgery. It was during the week
of her birthday.
During the day of her birthday, she told
her husband that the pastor from church had stopped by to visit her. She said
that this young lady came with a portable organ and played happy birthday for
her along with some other spiritual songs. She said that it was so wonderful
that the music calmed her down and renewed her spirit.
After she shared this with her husband, he
went to the nurse who was assigned to her and asked if anybody had visited his
wife that day. The nurse said that as far as she knew, nobody had been by to
visit his wife that day.
To this day, he still doesn’t know who
stopped by to visit her that day in the hospital on her birthday. What is the
Lord? Was it an angel? He will never know for sure.
He still thinks about that time in the
hospital when God sent someone to sing happy birthday to his wife. God’s light
poked a hole in the darkness that day. It was a day he will never forget.
Someone else has shared with me about a
time of spiritual darkness that he was going through in his life. He had always
viewed God as someone you could never please and so he always felt distant from
God.
He attended a spiritual retreat and a kind
nun offered him words he will never forget. She told him, “Be gentle with yourself.” She invited him to look in his bible and
write down all of the verses where it referred to God being gentle and loving.
After he found several of these verses, he
slowly came to a new understanding of who God is. God is a God of gentleness
and compassion.
Whenever he has the opportunity, he likes
to share his new understanding of God with others. He offers the words from a
Charles Wesley hymn which is based on Matthew 5:15. Jesus says, “No one after lighting a lamp puts it under
the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the
house.”
Here are the words from this
Charles Wesley hymn:
Not
for ourselves the light of grace
Didst Thou
on us bestow,
But for the
whole benighted race
Thy
darken’d house below:
The
candlesticks Thy churches are,
The Spirit
in them design’d
Thy truth
and goodness to declare,
To lighten
all mankind.
And then this person goes on to share that
all churches are God’s candlesticks designed by the Spirit to declare God’s
goodness and to lighten all humankind.
Someone helped to light the
way for this man’s darkness and now he is seeking to light the way for others.
Weddings are too important to miss. That’s
why Jesus offers us this wedding parable from our Gospel reading this morning.
We are to be ready for when Jesus, the bridegroom arrives so that we will be
able to greet him and share in the great celebration of God’s kingdom.
So let’s plan ahead for this future
heavenly wedding. Let’s keep our lamps burning brightly so that we can light
the way for the coming of Jesus, the King. Let’s bring plenty of oil for our
lamps so that we will always be ready.
We
need to keep our lamps burning, not only because we want to be ready for the
wedding. We keep our lamps burning because we are called to light the way for
people who are facing darkness in our community and world.
We are called to be an eternal flame for
others until Christ comes again. Our burning lamp might be the only opportunity
for someone to find their way out of a dark time in their life.
I got to talking with someone who had just
started attending church. I asked him what he liked about our church. In my
mind I was hoping he would say something about the carefully crafted and
inspiring sermons that are delivered with amazing eloquence week after week
after week.
I was taken off guard by his answer. He
said, “Do you know what I like most about
worship here? I love when the acolyte goes to the altar and takes the light out
of the sanctuary. That always reminds me that I am to take the light of Christ
with me and share it with people outside the church.”
Wow. That’s an interesting perspective
from someone who is new to the church.
I think this is what Jesus is saying to us
in this wedding parable. Don’t ever leave this place without taking the light of
Christ with you. We are called to light the way.
You just never know when the bridegroom
might return.
Lighting the Way
Small Group Questions
Matthew 25:1-13
November 12, 2017
Jesus' parable of the bridesmaids who missed out on a wedding because they ran out of oil for their lamps is to encourage us to keep holding the light of Christ for a world that is in darkness.
Share a recent time where you were able to shine Christ's light for someone who was experiencing a time of darkness.
Pastor Robert shared these words from a Charles Wesley hymn that refers to the church as a lighted candlestick. Read these words and share what they mean for you.
Not for ourselves the light of grace
Didst Thou on us bestow,
But for the whole benighted race
Thy darken’d house below:
The candlesticks Thy churches are,
The Spirit in them design’d
Thy truth and goodness to declare,
To lighten all mankind.
The bible often uses the metaphor of a wedding to describe how heaven and earth are meant to be joined together to become one. In the context of Jesus' wedding parable, we are to keep our lamps lighted so that we don't miss out on that future hope.
What helps you to not lose hope and keep holding your lamp of God's light?
A new person to the church commented that his favorite part of the worship service is watching the acolyte take the light from the altar out of the sanctuary because it reminds him to take Christ's light with him after worship.
List some ways that you might shine Christ's light this week?
No comments:
Post a Comment