Sermon - November 12th, 2023 - The Rev. Jack Alvey

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight,

O Lord, our strength and our redeemer.

Amen.

Truly, I tell you, I do not know you.

On reading these words this week, I could almost feel a dagger pierce my soul.

What do you mean, God?

What do you mean when you say, I don't know you?

I thought you were a God who says, I have called you by name.

You are mine.

Truly, I tell you, I do not know you.

Today we see Jesus start to paint a pretty clear and scary picture on what to expect

when judgment day comes.

That's what Matthew 25 is really all about.

You know, once you get to Matthew 25 things start getting serious.

In a few weeks you will hear Jesus tell the ultimate parable on judgment, the one where

the sheep are separated from the goats.

Today's parable shows Jesus separate the wise from the foolish.

The wise will gain entrance into the kingdom or into this banquet hall because they have

enough oil.

The foolish, however, are left scrambling because they have no oil for their lamps and they

end up getting shut out.

Like any parable, we can't take it too literally or we'll get lost in the weeds.

We must ask ourselves, what is the ultimate truth that Jesus is trying to convey here?

In other words, we don't need to chase any rabbits down holes that the parable does not

intend to lead us down, but there are consequences for any story.

For example, you can't say that, well, there are five wise and five foolish, therefore 50%

of us are getting into the kingdom.

That's just a consequence of how the story is told.

So we don't need to take that too literally.

But you know, chase Jesus down as many rabbit holes as you need to before you find him.

In my reading of the scriptures this week, the ultimate truth invites us to consider

the nature of our faith.

What is faith?

What does faith do?

Where do we get it?

How do we sustain our faith?

Is faith gained because we believe a certain doctrine?

Is faith about enduring difficult times?

Is faith about identifying with a community who gathers around the word of God, the sacrament

of Christ?

That's faith consists of all of the above.

Faith is about what some have come to call the three B's, B's and boy.

Believe, behave, belong.

Faith is about believing, behaving, and belonging.

Now traditionally the church has taught the three B's in this order, believe, behave,

belong.

And if we apply the three B's to today's parable, we might say that the lamp represents our

belief system, our religion.

The oil in the lamp represents our behavior or our faith, putting our faith into action,

our religion into action, you like the lamp.

Finally, the wedding banquet represents the belonging part, the faith in community.

Now as I alluded to earlier, I'm not sure the believe, behave, belong paradigm works

in our 21st century setting.

I'm ready to argue that it's actually flipped.

Today I think it's more about belonging first, which leads to a type of behavior, which leads

to what we believe.

And I actually think that's what Jesus is doing today.

He's doing belong, believe, behave.

In fact, his whole ministry is really like that, belong, believe, behave.

Jesus meets us where we are, right?

Before the bridesmaids even go to their dress fitting, before they even kindly reply with

their RSVP card, their name is on the invitation list.

Before they do anything, they belong.

You're mine, says the Lord.

At the wedding rehearsal, the wedding planner gives the bridesmaids a detailed itinerary

that is planned to the very last minute.

They know exactly what to expect and when to expect it.

They have their catechism, their rubrics, so to say, in front of them.

They have their religion, their belief system.

In Houston, we have a problem, the groom, aka Jesus, doesn't follow the wedding planner's

itinerary.

The groom is delayed for hours.

We're not told why, hopefully for good reasons.

But finally, shortly after midnight, when all have fallen asleep, the groom arrives.

And this is where the foolish are separated from the wise.

Those who brought extra oil for their lamps find their way to the party.

The foolish, however, are shut out.

Finally, the bridesmaids are given reason to use their religion in the real world.

They have oil for their lamps.

They put their faith into action.

The foolish are shut out because they are not prepared.

Initially, they belong.

They have been given the religion, but they don't put it to use, which leaves them ultimately

shut out.

Now, before we move on, I want to visit a part of this terrible that's always bothered

me, the part where the wise refuse to share their oil with the foolish.

That's not very Christian, right?

But as one commentator notes, it's not that they don't want to share, but they can't.

They can't share because you can't borrow someone else's life of faith, which is what

the oil represents.

Yes, our faith is something that we do together as a Christian community.

We come together and we are nurtured by this community here, but you can't take up someone

else's cross for them.

They have to take up their own cross.

Now, I'd say my own experience with the church more or less matches up with this paradigm,

belong, believe, behave.

I want to have best friends invited me to be a part of the youth group growing up.

At first, it wasn't really about what I believed or how I behaved.

It was really just about being a part of that group.

Eventually I started paying attention to what the youth minister was talking about.

Eventually I started hearing about this Jesus person and I said, okay, Jesus might be worth

following.

After a while, I started to put my faith into action.

I started to act out what I believed, but they're all started with belonging and it

went from there.

Now, obviously the process of embracing the faith isn't as neat and tidy as that paradigm

suggests.

Our faith is messy and it's rarely linear, but I find it edifying to see the pattern

of how God works in our lives, how God even works in the scriptures.

We see this with Jesus.

He meets us where we are.

He doesn't demand that we come here.

Jesus meets us wherever we find ourselves in our faith journey.

Jesus engages a conversation with us, asks us questions, learns about our default religions,

and then he tells us about his way, the way of the cross, the way of life and peace.

At some point we make a decision to follow.

Some of us will say no.

Some of us will say yes.

Some are wise and some are foolish, but it starts with belonging.

At Ascension, this is more or less how we function as a parish community.

Our newcomer and our parish life ministries offer a way to belong.

Newcomer coffees, new member dinners, peer groups, four year groups, parish retreats,

parish picnics, pastoral visits, and the list goes on.

Holy hikes, we had one yesterday even though we canceled it, which was great.

These are just a few ways that we make space to belong.

Ultimately, we find our belonging here around this altar where you are all invited.

As for belief, we often Christian education classes for all ages.

Our youth and children are not just told about the basics of our faith, but they're given

freedom to wonder and ask questions about life with God.

We have small groups for adults during the week and on Sunday mornings.

We encourage households to study and pray in their own way.

And finally, because we are fundamentally changed by this community that's gathered

around Christ, we act differently.

We become less concerned about what people think about us and grow more concerned with

the people no one thinks about, the least and the last and the lost.

We serve food to the hungry in Abendale at First Light, or in the children in the local

school system.

In a few verses here in Matthew 25, we are going to hear that ultimate parable on judgment,

where Jesus will tell his followers, if you've served the least of these, you've served

me.

If you've served the homeless, the hungry, the imprisoned, the sick, the stranger, then

you have found me.

So if you hear Jesus say, truly I do not know you, as I heard this week, we must not be,

then we must not be considered the least, the last or the lost, or we must not be found

in their company.

That's how I'm reading it this week.

But the good news is that Jesus wants to be known and Jesus wants to know you, because

you belong.

You matter.

You have a seat with your name on it at Christ's banquet table.

That table might be at the bedside of a neighbor who is sick, or at the doorstep of a neighbor

who is lonely.

You might show up to the banquet table at a laundry mat with $10 of quarters in your

pocket.

That table might be at a local prison ministry through something like Cairo's.

That table might be at First Light Shelter on a Friday night, or at the Abbey in Abendale

on Thursday morning.

The list goes on and on and on.

How are we visiting Christ and the sick, the stranger, the imprisoned, the homeless, the

hungry, those who are lonely, those who are needing to know that there is hope in this

dim and often dark world?

So now trust me, there is room for you around the tables that Jesus is preparing in this

world, tables that are gathering around the least and the last and the lost.

The invitation to the banquet table has been issued.

You belong.

Now are you ready to go and find a seat with your name on it?

Jesus Christ is waiting.

Amen.