December 17, 2015

‘Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a shout, “Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.” Then all those bridesmaids* got up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish said to the wise, “Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.” But the wise replied, “No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.” And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut. Later the other bridesmaids* came also, saying, “Lord, lord, open to us.” But he replied, “Truly I tell you, I do not know you.” Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” Matthew 25:1 – 13

“It may be that G-d speaks to us most clearly and is closest to us simply in the awareness of his absence…For isn’t it so? The only time we can know that his “grace” is “sufficient” is precisely when he’s not at our beck and call? I suspect that if we in the church are going to be heard by those outside the church, we’d better make it crystal clear that our faith includes our experiences of G-d absent as well as present; that we know, as they do, what it means to live in a world which gives precious little evidence of the presence or reality of G-d. Maybe then they’ll listen to us for a change.”

…The Advent season…is a season of expectation, full of hints and intimations of “comings”, and we are reminded of the necessity of being “ready” for G-d’s breaking into the world, to “watch” for his visitation. All well and good. I suppose it all adds up to whether in the face of the question, “Are you in heaven, Father?” we can take the reply, “Address not known” and hang in there and wait.” (From Death to Birth, Edmund A. Steimle (1907 – 1988), “For All The Saints”, volume III, p. 88)

Advent is the season of waiting. Many in the secular world might be wondering what we are waiting for other than Christmas Day. But Christmas is more than Christmas Day – yes, it is anticipating the coming of Christ, the birth of Christ, and it is the anticipation of Christ coming again. So the weeks leading up to Christmas are important. We need to reflect how G-d works in our lives when we are most aware, and when we have forgotten to pay attention. There are moments of divine awareness, and moments of divine absence – or so it seems. Is G-d’s absence divine sagacity, or are we being taught something about “waiting”?

We live in this world aware that G-d is present, and G-d is absent, according to the divine mystery of the universe. When we tell the stories about both, we have stories to tell about how we persevere with divine presence and divine promise of presence.

Pastor Dave