Proper 27, Yr A (2023) The Rev. Karen C. Barfield

Proper 27, Yr A (2023)                                                             The Rev. Karen C. Barfield

Matthew 25:1-13                                                                St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church

In the name of the one, holy, and living God:

            Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifying Spirit.  Amen.

I called to check on someone having a procedure in the hospital,

fully expecting the surgery to be complete,

                        but instead their spouse said,

“They just took him back.  It feels like a day of ‘hurry up and wait.’”

Hurry up

and wait.

These days it seems that any business you call:

            whether a doctor’s office,

                        or the IRS,

                                    or the insurance company…

     after winding your way through a series of selecting options,

                  you still get to listen to elevator music for an interminable amount of time

before you talk to a human being

or before you hang up because you have other things to do!

Waiting….

            we do it all the time,

      but in our modern culture of instant information,

our waiting is often filled with anxiety and impatience.

It seems we are often prepared for action

            and become irritated or anxious when we have to wait.

I wonder: What if we expected to have to wait?

What if our orientation was the expectation of delay?

     How might that change the character of our living?

What if,

when we call a business on the phone,

we expect to go through many menu options

        before we get to the one we actually need?

What if,

when we go to the doctor,

       we expect to wait in the “waiting room?”

What if,

when looking for a job,

     we expect that it will take us quite a while to find the job that fits our gifts and talents?

What if,

          when our young child or older spouse or parent takes a long time to get ready to go,

     we expect them to take their time to get things all sorted out?

What if we expect traffic jams or accidents to make our trips a little longer?

If we expected all these delays,

I wonder if our anxiety might decrease.

What if,

in the midst of the delay,

       we were attentive to the world around us?

What if,

in the midst of the delay,

      we notice the people we encounter and the gifts we are given by them,

or the gifts we give to them?

All the bridesmaids in today’s gospel reading went out to meet the groom,

and when he didn’t arrive when expected,

they took a nap!

The only difference between the two sets of bridesmaids is that the five who made it to the wedding banquet were the ones who expected a delay and were prepared.

Perhaps it is in the distraction,

in the delay,

that God meets us!

If that is true,

and we are too distracted by our annoyance,

       then we might just miss God!

One time I went to the hospital to visit someone

and expected to find them all tucked away in their room.

As it turns out,

I walked right past them in the admissions waiting area,

where they had been waiting for several hours.

The possibility of waiting did not surprise him though:

he had tucked in his day bag some needlework…

and a newspaper to enjoy while he waited. 

The needlework was a project that brought him great joy during the wait.

He even commented to me,

“I’d rather leave this earth will multiple projects unfinished

        than leave this world with everything completed.”

In other words:

I’m going to keep living until I die.

That seems to me to be the message of this Gospel.

Expect the delay…

            and live until the end.

A commentator on this passage suggested that the oil for the lamps was like our spiritual disciplines and works of love and mercy on the journey.

That is why they could not be shared with the other bridesmaids…

they must be nurtured in each individual’s own life.

The kingdom of heaven is not just some future goal;

            the kingdom of heaven is also here and now in the ways we live in times of delay.

Listening to the daily news,

the world seems to be falling apart…

                        becoming ever more chaotic and dangerous.

As Christians, we live in hope for Christ’s return.

In the gospel of Matthew that return is delayed,

and here we are some 2,000 years later…

       still waiting.

We are living in the delay,

so how do we do that?

Borrowing from Richard Rohr,

let’s make it quite specific and practical:

When you get up in the morning, ask yourself,

“What aspect of God,

what aspect of Love,

       am I being called to incarnate in the world today?

How can I be Jesus today?”

How can I wait today,

being aware of the presence of the Holy in my life?

How can I wait today,

allowing the Grace and Love of God to permeate my being…

and radiate out toward everyone I meet?

If this is our orientation during our times of waiting,

            then when God shows up,

      we will recognize the bridegroom

and be ready for the banquet.

Amen.