The Church of St. Paul and Incarnation, Jersey City NJ
November 8, 2020
Year A, Proper 27: The 23rd Sunday after Pentecost
Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25
Psalm 78:1-7
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
Matthew 25:1-13
The Need for Renewal
Back about nine or ten months ago, just before the pandemic began to shut down so much of our everyday life, I met for the first time with my new spiritual director.
In case you don’t know, a spiritual director functions as a kind of guide, as someone who listens to you and reports back what they’re hearing, and, perhaps, gives a gentle nudge in the right direction.
Don’t tell anyone, but I hadn’t had a spiritual director in a long time – it’s not easy to find a good one. And, it could be that I wasn’t exactly in a rush to find a spiritual director since, like with most people, my relationship with God is deeply personal, and not easy to talk about.
Anyway, at our first meeting, after we had gotten the usual pleasantries out of the way, she asked me to describe my prayer life.
I began by telling her about all the praying that you and I did together, the weekday and Sunday services, and the daily devotion I’ve been posting on Facebook for many years.
My spiritual director nodded along kindly and when I was done listing all of this public praying there was a slightly longer than comfortable pause.
Then she looked at me and asked,
“But, what about your prayer life?”
It was in that moment – just before Covid turned our world upside-down – just before we entered our long in-between time - it was then that I was forced to realize that my own prayer life had mostly dried up – that, yes, sure, I was doing a lot of praying “at work,” but that was pretty much it.
Just in time, I realized that I needed renewal.
And if you’ve been tuning in and listening to me these past months, you have a good idea what my renewal has looked like:
At first, my long walks in Lincoln Park had been about my physical health and my competitive desire to get more steps than my FitBit competitors. But, after I realized I needed spiritual renewal I began to pay more attention, seeing God’s presence in nature’s beauty and in the people around me, spending at last some of my walking time time opening my heart to God in prayer.
And, I set aside a little more early morning time for quiet reading and prayer, making space for God before the rest of the world wakes up, before the busyness of the day begins.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I still get tired and anxious like everybody else – especially during this rollercoaster of a week – but I’ll always be grateful for the gentle nudge from my spiritual director – her simple question that made me realize that I needed renewal – a renewal that has helped me get through this difficult time.
The need for renewal.
As you probably remember, for much of the fall we retold the exodus story, the tale of Israel’s forty-year long journey from slavery in Egypt to the Promised Land.
Two weeks ago, we heard about the death of Moses. God gave him the chance to see the Promised Land off in the distance, but he was not allowed to enter. After Moses’ death, leadership passed to Joshua who will bring the people on the last leg of their journey home.
And now today, in our reading from the Book of Joshua, we heard the story of Joshua assembling all the leaders of Israel for a ceremony – a ceremony of renewal.
Joshua reminds them that their ancestor Abraham had worshiped other gods before God made a covenant with Abraham, promising to guide him to a new land, promising that this old man and his old wife Sarah would be the father and mother of countless descendants – a promise so ridiculous that Sarah could only laugh.
And, Joshua reminds the Israelites that in more recent times they had worshiped other gods in Egypt. And, Joshua doesn’t even mention the business about worshiping the golden calf, probably because nobody needed to be reminded of that shameful event.
And, if you read today’s lesson carefully, it sure sounds like that even though the Israelites are back home – even though God had done so much for them – there were still some foreign gods among them.
Maybe some people were hedging their bets – worshiping God, yes, but also worshiping some of the idols of the world, too, just in case.
Maybe that sounds familiar.
So, Joshua calls his people to renewal – calls the people to renew their ancient covenant with God.
God’s promise had never been – will never be – canceled, but the people of Israel who had been unfaithful needed to renew their vow.
That long ago day in Shechem they made a big promise, saying, “The Lord our God we will serve, and him we will obey.”
The need for renewal.
Here in church we are still in a kind of in-between time, but we are beginning to turn our attention to Advent, that quick but beautiful season of waiting and preparation – waiting for the birth of Christ – and preparing for the return of Christ, for the day of judgment, and the end of time.
Today’s gospel lesson, the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Bridesmaids, certainly has a real Advent feel to it.
This parable gives us a little glimpse into the wedding customs in first century Israel, especially the tradition of the groom taking his bride from her father’s house and bringing her into his own house.
The job of the bridesmaids was to welcome the bride and the groom into the house.
But, as has been known to happen at weddings even to this day, things fell a little behind schedule, and the groom and his bride arrived quite late, after the ten bridesmaids had dozed off.
Despite their sleepiness, five of the bridesmaids were prepared – they had extra oil for their lamps.
But, the five other bridesmaids – the foolish bridesmaids – hadn’t thought ahead. They didn’t have oil left to relight their lamps. Naturally enough, their first thought was to ask the five wise bridesmaids for some of their oil. But, the five wise bridesmaids are unsympathetic and don’t want to share. Instead, they send the foolish bridesmaids off to the merchants, though it seems unlikely that any oil sellers would be open for business in the middle of the night.
The whole story is like an anxiety dream come to life, isn’t it?
It reminds me of the kinds of dreams I used to have before the start of the school year – I can’t find my classroom or I can’t figure out my schedule or I can’t make sense of the words printed on the page.
Well, for the foolish bridesmaids, the worst is yet to come.
Eventually they come back – with or without oil we don’t know – but the door has already been shut.
The groom hears them knocking but says coldly, “Truly I tell you, I do not know you.”
The five bridesmaids had foolishly let their oil run out, leaving them unprepared to welcome the Lord – who, let’s face it, usually shows up at what seems to be the most unexpected, least convenient times.
So, the lesson here is that the need for renewal is serious business.
Almost a year ago, I was spiritually depleted without even realizing it, praying a lot for work, yes, but not so much for me and my own closeness to God.
Now, I have to say that, no matter how depleted we might be, I trust that the Lord will always know us.
The issue is: will we be ready to truly recognize and welcome the Lord?
For many months we have been through an ordeal.
We have journeyed through sickness and a collapsed economy and distance learning.
We have journeyed through bitter political partisanship and an election that didn’t have the clear and immediate ending that we all wanted, though yesterday we finally learned that we have elected a new President and Vice President – and let us pray that God will give them the wisdom and strength to begin the work of renewal that is so desperately needed in our country.
But, meanwhile, Covid is on the rise again, and we are looking ahead to Thanksgiving and Christmas without our usual gatherings.
It’s a difficult time.
And so, like the people of Israel after their exodus from slavery to freedom, just like the foolish bridesmaids who had run out of oil, we are all in need of renewal.
For some of us, maybe that renewal will begin this afternoon when we finally receive Communion after such a long time without the Bread of Life.
Maybe renewal means dedicating ourselves to daily prayer – even just a minute or two, or the twelve or so minutes of our “Church By Phone” services.
Maybe renewal means keeping our eyes open for signs of God at work in the beauty of the world around us, in the people around us.
Maybe renewal means turning off the TV – especially cable news – at least sometimes, and opening a book, or picking up the phone to call a friend or someone we know could use a good word, or maybe just sitting quietly for a little while.
Maybe renewal means sharing a little of what we have with those in need, and with the church we love so much.
Most of all, renewal is echoing the promise of Israel – echoing the promise of our own baptism:
“The Lord our God we will serve, and him we will obey.”
Amen.
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