The Lamp is Only Half Full

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 and Matthew 25:1-13 

William Blake, Wise and Foolish Virgins 1826 (PD)

I recall the first experience following my basic training that led me to the realization that the Marine Corps was not just an odd culture, but a confusing one. 

To this day, there are riddles pertaining to the Marine Corps that are nearly as deep and foreboding as any other riddle in life. 

For example, 

Why do they call the carrying handle of a rifle a carrying handle, if you aren’t allowed to carry the rifle by that handle!?

Why do they put pockets in the camouflage utility pants, if you aren’t allowed to put your hands in them?

For that matter, 

Why do they put cargo pockets in the same pants if your are not allowed to put any kind of “cargo” in them!?

The list of inconsistencies is far too long for us to consider today, but the best example of the irrationality of the Marine Corps and the Navy too, is the rules pertaining to punctuality. 

When I first reported in to my unit, I recall being told by our Company First Sergeant in formation that the formation the following morning would be held at 0700 and we should therefore be in formation at 0645. 

Following First Sergeant’s dismissal, our Platoon Sergeant then explained that since our formation time would begin at 0645, we needed to be ready for formation at 0630. 

Following our Platoon Sergeant’s dismissal, our Squad leader advised that since our Platoon Sergeant wanted us ready for formation at 0630, our squad would need to be there at 0615. 

Following our Squad Leader’s dismissal, my Fire Team Leader informed our Fire Team that since our Squad leader wanted us there at 0615 we would need to be there at 0600. 

And as if we had all had our perception of time permanently distorted, following my Fire Team Leader’s dismissal, we all swore to ourselves we would be there at 0545, 

because after all, 0600 actually meant 0545 in our own irrational Marine Corps minds! 

So there we were, sitting idly by for an hour and fifteen minutes the next morning. 

And when you have bored Marines sitting around for more than five minutes, something or someone is going to be broken.

And this is why at six o’clock in the morning, when the company commander arrived in his PJ’s with a cup of coffee, he demanded to know why 130 Marines were wreaking havoc around the Company office, 

Because every Marine Infantry Officer knows, the most destructive force on the planet is a large group of bored Marines. 

My Company of Marines in formation a few years ago.

It seems like an irrational and stupid waste of time. 

A method of encouraging punctuality, without engaging any sense of rational thought. 

All because we don’t trust one another to show up… on time. 

The first century Christian church was very much the same. 

Paul’s theology changed over time because of his own interpretation of time and punctuality. 

In our second lesson today, Paul is assuring the Thessalonians that Jesus’ return is right around the corner. 

Encouraging them to be prepared and meet the Lord on that day. 

A common practice in those days whenever a guest was visiting a host, to meet them on the way as they were entering into your village and escort them into your home. 

Rather than some mystical swooping up of bodies we seem to have accepted in the heretical rapture understanding of this passage.

This is more of a vision of Christ’s Church serving as good hosts to our returning Lord, ushering in the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of man, reunited through Christ, 

A Church that includes us all, the adopted people of God, as the Bride of Christ. 

So, Paul’s community and Paul, are anxiously awaiting to host the returning Lord. 

Sort of like my kids this past week as they ran around the house, excited to host our visiting professor, 

With their faces pressed against the window questioning “Is he here yet? Is he here yet?”

Yet, hours seemed like days to my kids, and days seemed like weeks. 

Until they gave up on the visit altogether and finally fell asleep the night I went to pick him up from the train station in Richmond. 

Much like my kids, Paul and his community have their faces pressed up against the front window, anticipating Jesus’ arrival, 

Confident that Jesus is right around the corner. 

And so they wait and wait

And we too, wait and wait

Until we begin to lose our patience with our waiting. 

Anticipating that He should have been here 15 minutes ahead of 15 minutes ahead of 15 minutes ahead of time. 

And people begin to resign themselves to the thought that he really will never come. 

Because if He doesn’t come now, in our times of need and worry, then when will He come?

And in all our waiting around, much like the Marines waiting for formation, we begin to break things. 

Adopting our own ideas about the Church, ideas like the rapture, or “God wont give you more than you can handle", or “I guess God needed one more angel”, 

Or even the temptation to assume that we are the wise bridesmaids whose lamps have all the oil they need. 

Photo by Guilherme Stecanella on Unsplash

Of course we believe we are ready, who in their right mind would claim the identity of one of these foolish bridesmaids?!

I do.

I have to be honest, I didn’t necessarily go to Seminary to become a Pastor. 

It was part of the reason I followed the path I did, because I wanted to know. 

I wanted to know where God was in the midst of so much suffering

I wanted to know why I had spent so many days calling out to God, awaiting Christ to swoop down into my world and heal so much pain and suffering. 

I was tired of sitting around with my face pressed up against the window, calling out and waiting. 

So, in the meantime, I decided to start filling my own lamp. 

Demanding to know the answers to questions that no one was all that willing to ask or answer. 

And I honestly cannot claim that my lamp has yet been filled, much less a flask to hold all the answers to my questions.

I don’t even believe that I have even gone beyond the tip of the iceberg when it comes to all the questions that I should be asking. 

Because no matter how many lamps or flasks are available, we can never be completely filled with the fuel that keeps our lamps lit. 

Faith is the flame that provides the light for ourselves and others along the way. 

And faith is the flame that is fueled by our questions, our doubts, our frustration in our waiting and waiting and waiting. 

Faith is also being honest with ourselves that in Christ, there is an unlimited amount of fuel to light our way, but we are called to be honest with ourselves, that we can only ever hope to be half full at best. 

~

Today’s Gospel is read by a community that has become discouraged in their waiting. 

The way has grown dark. 

The Romans had destroyed the Temple and crushed all the people who had looked to the Temple for hope. 

They longed for the promised return of Jesus Christ, but by the time Mathew’s Gospel was written, 

The way had grown so dark, that many members of that early church began to seek out their own way. 

Matthew’s portrayal of five wise bridesmaids and five foolish bridesmaids is more than a story about a wedding, 

But a church that is splitting into factions, a church meant to be united and called together as one Body of Christ in Paul’s letter today. 

So for Matthew’s audience, it seems apparent that some have lost hope of that return. 

And when we lose hope we lose our stamina, our determination, even our confidence. 

We give up our drive to be filled by the questions, the conversations, our study of the doctrines and the scripture of the Church. 

But the most tragic part of this parable for me is not the lack of preparation, it is the resignation of the foolish bridesmaids. 

They are described as foolish, dull, absurd, even downright stupid. 

But I don’t think it is because they failed to stock up on oil for their lamps. 

The foolishness in their action is not in their failure to stock up on oil, it is in their failure to take what they had on hand, whether they thought it was enough or not, and just go!

Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash

~

A man I knew went to his father one day as he was considering his own call to ministry. 

He went to his father and said, “I think God has called me to serve as a pastor”

His father looked him square in the eye and said “Well son, if God could find a purpose for Balaam’s ass, I’m sure God can find a purpose for you”

It isn’t about how full our lamp is, 

How well we know scripture

How well we understand the doctrines, confessions, and theology of the church

or even how righteous, worthy, or “good” we are

It doesn’t mean we don’t seek out every drop of oil we can find for the journey ahead. 

But when Christ comes to meet us along the way, we are called to go to him. 

Regardless of how much oil we have to light our way. 

What made these bridesmaids foolish is that they didn’t go while the gettin’ was good. 

When Christ calls out to us in our lives to light the way for others, are we supposed to ask for just a few more minutes to get all the necessary supplies or are we called to GO!?

We are called and sent to be the people of God, going out into the dark places to light a dark world. 

Because light will never shine brightest in a bright place, usually that light cannot even be recognized

But a light in a dark place will always shine brightest of all, especially when we have the courage to seek out those in the darkest of all places. 

Amen. 

Photo by Rohan Makhecha on Unsplash

Day of the Dead

A sermon for Hallowmas

Saints of Mount Athos Icon in Vatoped, Unknown Artist 1810 (PD)

A little over a week ago, my phone rang while I was in my office. 

It was a someone from our congregation who wanted me to speak with a family member who had been sent home from school. 

Now, one would think that a student would be sent home from school because they had been misbehaving, distracting others, or just being a general troublemaker

Not this one. 

They had merely shared some feelings regarding the death and loss of a very close loved one many years ago, 7 years ago to be honest. 

Friends, teachers, and the school’s guidance counselor thought it best that the student head home for the day, so they came by the office and we had a talk. 

Initially I was truly concerned, until we began talking and then I was completely mystified. 

I asked what happened.

“Did you get in a fight?”

“Did you yell at someone or start sobbing uncontrollably?”

“Did you ask to leave?”

On all accounts the answer was no, what they did was share with their class what they were feeling, still today, about the loss of this member of their family. 

That’s it!

Now that was just the start of the week!

For the rest of the week, I got a phone call about a family friend from one of my father’s previous congregations who had died unexpectedly, and then discovered that one of the Marines I had served with in Iraq had also died under tragic circumstances. 

Much like this parishioner I spent the afternoon with, I found very few people comfortable talking with me about these situations. 

Most often, personal loss due to death and tragedy is dealt with by using the magical combination; 

"Thoughts and prayers!"

On top of that, we don’t even like to use the term dead or death at all.

We much prefer the term “passed on” or “passed away” as if those who’ve died are some kind of dust bunnies blowing around in the wind. 

We don’t like death as a society. 

We’ve distanced ourselves from death so completely that ambulance services can no longer transport the bodies of those who’ve died, only a funeral service can do that. 

This was always an issue I faced as a police officer on the street when we had a homicide or a “DOA” “Dead on arrival”.

We always had to wait for a funeral service following our investigations, even if it took hours. 

Even in the hospital, bodies are transported by funeral services, all because we want the reality of death tucked neatly away from us. 

Denying the reality of our own mortality and compartmentalizing our own grief. 

Long gone are the days of watching grandparents die in our homes, while instead, we as parents try to hide and replace pets for fear of the trauma death will take on our children. 

Here is the reality of it all.

Death is something we deny, we avoid it, and we fear it. 

Regardless of the number of times we proclaim in worship that death has “lost its sting”

in song,

in prayer,

and in our very actions at the railing and the font. 

Even though the church claims authority over death, that authority has been surrendered to mortuary services and funeral homes. 

Any remnants of the questions or concerns are swept into a closet of denial, and locked tightly with wishes of “thoughts and prayers”.

But not today. 

Today is All Saints Sunday.

Today is the day when we as the Church are called to face the reality of death in its rightful place, alongside of this life we live. 

New Orleans "Second Line" Parade, traditional funeral procession
celebrating the assurance of Christ's promise they leave the tomb.
Photo by Infrogmation of New Orleans 2010 (CC)

We are called to face the reality of the grief it brings, along with the joy that has flavored such grief. 

We are called to face the natural fear we have of death, with the confidence of the promise received in Christ. 

We are called to face the need to grasp tightly to the memories of the dead, while looking forward to the reunion with them right in front of us. 

It is the bittersweet reality of death, two opposing tastes that should never go together, like saltiness and sweet. 

This is the reality of the Church, what made the Church a new and different kind of religion. 

We were once a people who fully embraced the joy and grief of death together, in spite of a world that would only acknowledge death as sadness. 

Much of this has come from the ministry, life, and death of Jesus the Christ. 

A resurrection that promised us hope in new life, a life following death. 

This is why All Saints Day once fell on May 13th in close association with Easter. 

The date connected the death of loved ones with the death and the promise we receive in The Christ. 

Until the 8th century, when Pope Gregory began to adapt practices from outside the Church, a practice that Gregory the Great had rightfully envisioned drawing more people to the Christian faith. 

It worked too, by adopting dates and practices into Christianity that came from outside the Church, Gregory was not only able to adapt the Christian story to pagan understandings, but the symbols provided a richer understanding for Christians as well. 

Decorated evergreen trees at Christmas came to symbolize everlasting life. 

Painted eggs came to symbolize resurrection. 

And the time of harvest, came to symbolize a bridge between this life and the lives of those who’ve died. 

As autumn marks the harvest and death of crops, the falling leaves mark the hibernation of both plants and animals, we are reminded of the cycle we are all caught in. 

A cycle of this life and the next. 

It was a time of year known to the Celts as Samhain. 

They believed that at that time, as the seasons teetered between warm and cold, life and death, so too did the lives of those who had died. 

This time of year symbolized a bridge between the living and the dead. 

Many would leave treats out for the the dead who, they believed, would return to visit the living, 

In some countries still today, they visit the graves of their loved ones to share their favorite foods on Dia de los Muertos or “The Day of the Dead”.

Celebrating Dia De Los Muertas in Mexico
Photo by Cristian Newman on Unsplash

The line between the Celtic practices and the Church’s adaptation of those practices became blurred.

Regardless, there was a clear purpose in the celebration of this time of year; All Hallows Eve, All Hallows Day, and All Souls Day, together known as Hallowmas.

The purpose was to proclaim that we not only do not fear death, but we celebrate our continued connection to those who’ve died with Jesus the Christ serving as the bridge between those who’ve died and those longing for the day in which we are reunited together. 

It’s really a beautiful tradition, and despite what so many say about it, an incredibly and uniquely Christian one. 

But we don’t know how to deal with death in any context but darkness and grief, so it somehow became more about death than life, more about bitter than sweet. 

All because death somehow became more about fear than victory, except in the places where people either cannot insulate themselves from death or choose not to insulate themselves from it. 

~

A few days ago, during the women’s bible study on Thursday morning, we were reading Luther’s sermons on John 9. 

Upon reading one particular quote, some truly beautiful stories were shared about death, life, grief, and joy. 

Stories of how all those things should be connected, personal stories. 

At one point in his sermon Luther says “Now, the most precious thing God has is death and dying; and Christ accepted it in love, joyfully and voluntarily”

(Yet) “We flee it and consider life more precious than death.”

He goes on to describe the cross and suffering as a “holy relic,” then claiming that “For this relic God himself hallowed and blessed with his most precious will and with the approval of his Father. But now— God save the mark! — we see our bishops and leaders fleeing from this relic.”

Sisters and Brothers, grief is not an anchor to drag us down or hold us back from moving ahead in life. 

Grief is not meant to be an anchor that is cut free from our lives either. 

Grief is the bittersweet joy and sadness that carries us throughout our lives, as we await the reunion that is promised in Christ. 

It should never be denied, and there is no shelf life on grief. 

Death is not a topic to be avoided or feared, but a new birth into the true and certain hope we receive in Christ. 

A death that takes place at two points in life, in our final breath and in the death we share with Christ at the font. 

An adoption through Christ’s death that _________ will share with us today as she becomes our sister in Christ, drawing back the curtain between those we’ve lost this past year and those still being welcomed into the Church’s womb as its newly adopted saints. 

In John’s letter today, there is an odd connection between John’s community and Paul’s community. 

Both these communities thought about death and the afterlife differently, yet John and Paul both seem to agree on one thing; 

Everything comes back together again. 

John claims that as God’s children, adopted in baptism, we will become like the one revealed to us. 

Connected intimately, inseparably in fact. 

Paul claims the same thing (Romans 11:36) when Paul ends the 11th chapter of Romans with the proclamation of 

“For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen.”

And this would be where I would leave it, if I had not met another saint who helped me understand this more deeply. 

And I bet our brother __________ never dreamed I would refer to him as a saint!

This past summer, Pastor Stephen and I spent many days with our brother, ____, as he was dying. 

At one point he became so weak, we had to put our ear directly next to his mouth to hear him speak. 

One day, while holding his hand I asked _____ how he was doing and he told me he was scared. 

We had talked extensively about the promise he had received in baptism, so of course, in my arrogance I thought this was just another theological review for him. 

I assured him of the promise we’ve received in Christ one more time, then folded my hands contently, as if I was some theological powerhouse. 

He then proceeded to explain that he wasn’t afraid of what was ahead, he was afraid of what was behind him. 

Naively again, I assured him that he was forgiven of his sins. 

Frustrated with my stupidity, he pointed to a picture of his wife and daughters. 

Embarrassed, ashamed, and stumped, I was at a loss. 

Then John and Paul’s letters reminded me as I leaned down to him and whispered into his ear; 

“What if I told you it all comes back together as One? No past, no future, no there, no here, no time, no space. Because it all comes back together as one thing, all of us. All things. Reunited and reconciled through Christ.”

Those were the last words I spoke to my friend, and if not for him I would never have the confidence in the promise I found in that moment this past year. 

So I leave you on this All Saints Sunday with that truth, assured by Christ, explained by John, Paul, and ___. 

A promise that invites us to hold to the simultaneous joy and sadness of grief for those who’ve died, while looking towards a certain hope of that joyful reunion, when all things come back together in God through Christ. 

Amen. 

© José Luiz Bernardes Ribeiro / CC BY-SA 3.0

Sources

Anselmus. Basic Writings: Proslogium. Monologium. Cur Deus Homo. Gaunilo’s In Behalf of the Fool. 2. ed. Open Court Classics. LaSalle, Ill: Open Court Publ, 1962.

Davies, J. G., ed. The New Westminster Dictionary of Liturgy and Worship. 1st American ed. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1986.

Luther, Martin, Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, and Helmut T. Lehmann. Luther’s Works. 51: Sermons: 1. American ed. Saint Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publ. House [u.a.], 1959.

More Days for Praise: Festivals and Commemorations in Evangelical Lutheran Worship. Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Fortress, 2016.