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NOVEMBER 8, 2008 - YEAR A |
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Joshua 24:1-  3a,14-25
Psalm 78:1-7
1 Thess. 4:13-18
Matthew 25:1-13
Hymn: Rejoice, Rejoice, Believers (599)
Homilist: Halcyon Wilson As a little girl, I loved weddings. Most little girls love weddings and dream about being a bride. I’m sure most little boys do not dream about being a bridegroom! When I heard the parable of the 10 bridesmaids, (or some versions say “virgins”) I felt the bridegroom was unfair. Certainly not very gentlemanly. Why would a girl have to wait for the bridegroom? Why couldn’t the other girls share their oil? Then they would all be together and the bridegroom would see that he was being unfair to be so late. And when they were waiting so long, of course they were going to fall asleep. Poor girls . . . I can smile at those thoughts now. My mother told me at the time that I didn’t understand the story very well. She said I was too young . . . Today, in my maturity, I see that the bridegroom is actually very compassionate in the waiting! Today we live in such a different culture than the one in the Bible, it is a wonder we understand this parable at all.
As in most of Jesus’ parables, this one has an immediate and local meaning, and also a wider and universal meaning, and does not stand on all four legs... |
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SEPTEMBER 6, 2008 - YEAR A |
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Exodus 12:1-14
Psalm 149
Romans 13:8-14
Matthew 18:15-20
Hymn: Love Divine (191)
Homilist: Halcyon Wilson Each one of us, at one time or another, has had the experience of someone disapproving of what we have done or said or who we are. Or maybe we have been the one who does not approve of someone else. In some way we have been misjudged or hurt, or we have done so to others. We are told in Matthew 18:15-20 to confront that individual when we are alone, and if we listen to each other, we will have won the friendship, or acceptance, of that person. If this does not work, then we are to involve others in the process. If this still does not work, we are to treat that person as a tax collector, or a heathen. In Christ’s day, that meant exclusion from Jewish community worship and maybe even business. That person was to be despised. Today we would excommunicate him or her from our community of friends or church. In other words, cross him/her off our list of friends! Maybe even tell others so they will do the same! After all, if we are correct in our beliefs, and if the other person disagrees with us, the other person must be in incorrect! Could we ever be incorrect in our opinions or beliefs? I personally am not comfortable with this concept. Having been a church member in the pews and then on a pastoral staff, I don’t like the idea that I should judge someone else. Or get others involved.
As I read the Bible commentaries on this passage, I learn the point is reconciliation. Not only with each other, but with God. That I like! When I read the passage as reconcile with each other, it sounds so much better than judge. Yet, the word judge isn’t even in the passage. We find ourselves reading into it. I’m afraid it is easier to judge than to reconcile. |
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Exodus 20:1-20
Psalm 19
Philippians 3: 4b-14
Matthew 21:33-46
Hymn: Be Thou My Vision (547)
Homilist: Doug Clark
To say that we live today in uncertain times would be an understatement. If your home mortgage has not been affected by recent events on Wall Street, then maybe your retirement accounts have. If you don’t know anyone who has served in the military in Iraq or Afghanistan, maybe you know someone who has stood in unemployment lines. Whether or not you feel climate degradation has been caused by humans, you have to be aware of alarming changes in global temperatures and their affects worldwide. If you have not suffered any kind of setback, you must know someone who has. While I am not an alarmist by nature and don’t want to add to fears already pumped into your head by political campaign speeches, too many of which are constructed on the platform of anxiety and fear, I would observe that we really do face a rising crescendo of concerns about everything around and affecting us. So what, then, do God’s ten words have to tell us, in times like these? |
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Exodus 3:1-15
Ps. 105:1-6, 23-26, 45c
Romans 12:9-21
Matthew 16:21-28
Hymn: The Church Has One Foundation (348)
Homilist: John Duge “Then said Jesus to his disciples: If anyone will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever would save his life will lose it: and whoever will lose his life for My sake shall find it.” There is a well-known comment on this passage by Dietrich Bonheoffer, in his book The Cost of Discipleship. “When Christ bids a man to follow Him,” Bonheoffer says, “He bids him come and die.”
There is a comfortable Christian convention that “bearing one’s cross” means taking a long-suffering attitude toward the various tragedies and illnesses that attack our lives. How often have you heard something like: “I have a tyrannical boss: that’s my cross to bear…” “I have elderly and confused parents to care for: that’s my cross to bear.” |
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