Our Diocesan Convention took place in Augusta, which for those who don't know the geography of this region is basically on the other end of the earth from Tallahassee. OK, not really...but it is...no matter how you slice it...a long five to six hour drive. 

I could not get myself to write my sermon before convention. During convention, I was staying with our delegates in an Airbnb; hence I really didn't have a moment to myself to do my usual "write. pause. wander. write. snack. wander. write." 

So Saturday night, when I finally got home and spent the demanded time with Ernest the cat, petting him and talking to him, and explaining why I had to be away and apologizing for the absence of "the other one," I sat my butt down in front of my laptop and began writing. 

Thanks be to God for the Gospel...my time in choir...and a very long drive through some rain to help me formulate my thoughts!

Text: Matthew 25:1-13

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Y’know that feeling of when you hear a song and then it gets stuck in your head? It just plays on and on like somebody hit the repeat button on the stereo in your brain.

Well this week…I’ve had one of those endless loops playing…thanks to this morning’s Gospel reading about the ten bridesmaids and their Lamps in need of oil and fire.

The tune in my head is a spiritual that we sang when I was in the choir at St. Thomas in Thomasville. The song is called “Keep Your Lamps!” with a musical arrangement by Dr. Andre Thomas. Dr. Thomas was the director of the choral music program at Florida State University for many years…and he gifted Tallahassee with some great concerts during his tenure. This particular arrangement uses a djembe as the only accompanying instrument to the choir…as they sing, “Keep your Lamps Trimmed and burning…keep your lamps trimmed and burning. Keep your lamps trimmed and burning….the time is drawing nigh.”

It goes on to warn the children not to grow weary ‘til their work is done and that the Christian journey soon be over.

Like so many spirituals…these words were not only ones of encouragement and hope; they were likely a secret message spread from one slave to another on the plantations to be ready for their escape from the sin of bondage.

It’s a really beautiful and haunting tune…which I posted to our St. Barnabas Facebook page if you’re interested in hearing it.

So this song has been in my head all week.

Even at our diocesan convention as I sang other songs with our delegation and a large gymnasium of devout…dedicated Episcopalians…my own private soundtrack was still playing in the background.

Keep your lamps trimmed and burning.

When that happens…when a song gets that much air time in my brain…I figure that might be telling me what I should be paying attention to as I consider this Scripture about the 10 bridesmaids at a wedding.

I couldn’t help but think about what’s going on with the five who brought extra oil. Did they really lug along an extra canister with them to a wedding? And what about the five who brought just enough to sustain them for the processional…the vows…and up until the reception?

Of course…this is a parable. And a parable’s purpose is to give us an image to make a bigger point.

For the original hearers of this Gospel in Matthew’s community… that point was an important one about not losing hope.

The people who heard this Gospel originally are all post-Pentecost people.

Jesus has ascended.

The Holy Spirit has made that flaming dramatic wind-swept entrance into the Upper Room.

The apostles have been sent out.

Matthew’s Gospel is for that community of people who thought for sure Jesus was going to return any minute now.

When he doesn’t…their faith begins to falter. 

That spirit that was warming their hearts…putting the fire in their bellies…was starting to die down…just like the lamps of the five bridesmaids that started to dim before the bridegroom arrives.

This parable…in the same way that slaves used spirituals to communicate a message of hopeful encouragement…was meant to remind that Matthean community to not lose hope in the face of disappointment and despair. They had to feed that fire within. Keep going. They needed to do some rearranging of their mental furniture to live into a new reality of believing that God was present still…even if God had not yet come.

This is classic moment of “the more things change, the more they stay the same.”

Because we still can struggle with that feeling of “Where is God?”

In those times when feel a disconnect between us and God…we might feel our fires starting to die down to just glowing embers.

The diocesan convention theme was “Kindle our hearts and awaken hope.” It’s a line found in the Collect for the Presence of Christ found from the Evening Prayer service.

As part of the work of the convention, our keynote speaker…Dr. Lisa Kimball…professor-extraordinaire and head of the Lifelong Learning Center at Virginia Theological Seminary…asked us to choose a word or phrase about something troubling us. As we logged onto our phones to enter the information… a huge word cloud appeared on the screen…displaying what was foremost on everyone’s minds. Not surprisingly…war and violence were the biggies.  We acknowledged our fears…and the things which loom large in our collective minds…the thick cloud of despair that was hanging over us.

But then she led us in another exercise where we were to examine photographs…mostly of nature and scenes from around Georgia…taken by Bishop Logue and other members of the diocesan staff. We took some time to silently study what was in front of us…sharing at our tables about what we saw in the images.

There were scenes from country roads…sunrises…flowers.

And there was a mood shift.

Seeing beauty…finding words to describe the photos we held in our hands…was the reminder that even as things seem as if they are spinning out of control in the world…God shows up to point us back to life…love…and light. And the words we used to talk about these photos became our prayer and answer to the world’s troubles.

There are plants…flowers… that sensation of casting a fishing line…all sorts of things in our every day experience that remind us that God is present with us…even when everything feels like it’s draped in a dark cloth of heaviness.

These are the reminders of the hope of God’s promise to not leave us comfortless in times of trouble.

What those five so-called foolish bridesmaids got wrong was that they left for the local Wal-Mart to get more oil rather than wait for the bridesgroom to come and see what he might do to get their fires roaring again…more vibrant.

Perhaps another rush of wind from the Holy Spirit might’ve got those fires going stronger again.

It’s not the size of the flame in our lamps that matters: it’s that there is a flame burning at all that is the most important thing. That flame is the light of Christ that we bring out into those places where people are struggling to keep hope for the future alive.

Hear the Words of the prayers and scripture and let them light a spark in you.

Come to this table and become re-membered into the Body of Christ.

Dip your fingers into the baptismal font and remind yourself that you are one of God’s beloved children…meant to bring Love back out into the world.

Keep your lamps trimmed and burning!

In the name of God…F/S/HS.