[Propertalk] Fwd: Sermon Resources for November 6 - Part 1

[Joe Parrish]

Sermons for Proper 27 
 
Matthew 25: 1-13 - "The Tragedy of the Unprepared Life" 
Matthew 25: 1-13 - "Life Is Yours" by Leonard Sweet
 
Matthew 25 - the sermon title “The Tragedy of the Unprepared Life”  

 
There's a true story that comes from the sinking of the Titanic. A frightened woman found her place in a lifeboat that was about to be lowered into the raging North Atlantic. She suddenly thought of something she needed, so she asked permission to return to her stateroom before they cast off. She was granted three minutes or they would leave without her.

She ran across the deck that was already slanted at a dangerous angle. She raced through the gambling room with all the money that had rolled to one side, ankle deep. She came to her stateroom and quickly pushed aside her diamond rings and expensive bracelets and necklaces as she reached to the shelf above her bed and grabbed three small oranges. She quickly found her way back to the lifeboat and got in.

Now that seems incredible because thirty minutes earlier she would not have chosen a crate of oranges over the smallest diamond. But death had boarded the Titanic. One blast of its awful breath had transformed all values. Instantaneously, priceless things had become worthless. Worthless things had become priceless. And in that moment she preferred three small oranges to a crate of diamonds.
 
There are events in life, which have the power to transform the way we look at the world. Jesus' parable about the ten virgins offers one of these types of events, for the parable is about the Second Coming of Christ. But Jesus doesn't come right out and say this. Rather, he lets the story describe it for him. The woman on the sinking Titanic understood, in the light of her current circumstances, that she must make preparations for living on a lifeboat. Diamonds would not suffice, only the precious resources of an orange were good enough. Likewise, in this world where Christ may return at any moment, the parable warns, we must be ready.

Weddings are one of these kinds of events. And every time I have a wedding, I admonish those in the wedding to be ready, to make a special effort to be ready on the day of the ceremony. I plead with them to arrive early and be dressed and ready to go. Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn’t. 
 
Jesus’ parable about a wedding, is told not from the vantage point of the bride and groom, but of the ten young maidens who had been invited to the happy occasion, five of them were foolish, said Jesus, five of them were wise. What was the measure of their wisdom? In a word, their readiness to be a part of the event. All of the young women had oil in their lamps, but five had an additional supply.
 
This is, of course, foreign to our concepts of weddings today. Weddings in our society are announced for a specific time and place, and if things are late in getting started, those invited guests begin to fidget a bit. But in first century Palestine, a wedding could happen anytime within several days. The uncertainty was considered a part of the excitement of the wedding. The bridegroom hoped to catch some of the bridal party napping. But fairness required that some announcement be made, so just before the big event a messenger was sent through the streets shouting: Behold the bridegroom commeth.” The alert ones in the wedding party would respond, and the others would be left behind.
 
In Jesus parable, the cry came at midnight. This was often the case; most bridegrooms chose to come late at night. The sleeping attendants were awakened. It was then that they realized that they did not have enough oil in their lamps to get through the night. Panicked, they attempted to borrow some from the other bridesmaids. But they responded, “If we give you our oil, there won’t be enough for us. Hurry out to the dealers and buy some yourself.” So the five foolish maidens hurried out, but by the time they returned the door had already been closed. They knocked on the door and pleaded to be a part of the festivities, but the groom said: “If you belonged at this event you would already have been present.” Jesus concluded: Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

What is this parable suggesting to us? I would like to make a few suggestions… 

1. Some things cannot be borrowed. 

2. Some things cannot be put off. 

3. We can miss out on great opportunities. 


The rest of this sermon following the outline above can be obtained by joining http://www.sermons.com/signup
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Sermon Opener – Life Is Yours by Leonard Sweet – Matthew 25:1-13 

“If it bleeds, it leads.” Have you heard that before? “If it bleeds, it leads” has long been the mantra determining the biggest news stories on any given day. The more gory, gruesome, or grizzly a tale to tell, the better chance of it grabbing our attention and keeping us tuned in. Bad news, dour predictions, impending disaster, keep us riveted. 

As Samuel Johnson famously noted, “Nothing focuses the mind like a hanging.” One’s own, especially. 

So it is little wonder that “risk management” has given us all sorts of “disaster preparedness” plans—-personal, community, state, and national. 

We get flu shots. 
We get pneumonia shots. 
We make a family “escape plan” for getting out of the house if it catches fire. 
We keep an emergency roadside kit in the trunk of our car.
We participate in “fire drills” and “emergency evacuations.” Some of us are “prepared” enough to stockpile bottled water, canned foods, prescriptions medications, batteries and blankets. We buy new snow boots, jackets and gloves for the kids before the first snowfall. We lay in another cord of wood. We semi-seriously consider that this year we will get that generator. 

During the height of the Cold War, the most prepared-for-the-worst built bunkers, underground nuclear bomb shelters, and stocked them for a decade of undercover existence. 

Preparing for disaster is something . . . we are prepared for. 

What about being prepared for . . . . joy? 

What about being prepared for . . . . pleasure? 

What about being prepared for . . . . blessings? 

The traditional Boy Scout motto of “Be prepared” taught generations of kids lots of useful skills. But those “skills” were put into practice by going fishing, rock climbing, toasting marshmallows over a campfire . . .fun stuff! They were preparing for good times, not just bad. 

As Christians we are called to “be prepared”—-but not just for all those “trials and tribulations” that grab the headlines. 

Today’s gospel text tells us in parable form how Jesus wants us to be “prepared,” so that we can . . . what? 
 
Are you prepared to party? 
 
Are you planning for gloomy-doomy scenarios? Or are you full of great expectations? 
 
Prepared to party is not the usual version or vision painted by the church across the centuries. In every generation of the faithful, it seems, there have been those whose mission has been to spread the message of fast approaching doom and gloom. The end of the world. The final judgment. The apocalypse. Armageddon. The bouncing up and (more frighteningly impressive) dismal dropping down of souls as we anticipate Christ’s imminent arrival has always been a motivating force in Christian disaster “preparedness.”

For the rest of Leonard Sweet’s sermon click here:  http://www.sermons.com/signup  

 
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To Be Found Doing My Duty 

During his 1960 presidential campaign, John F. Kennedy often closed his speeches with the story of Colonel Davenport, the Speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives in 1789. One day, the sky of Hartford darkened ominously, and some of the representatives, glancing out the windows, feared the end was at hand. Quelling a clamor for immediate adjournment, Davenport rose and said, "The Day of Judgment is either approaching or it is not. If it is not, there is no cause for adjournment. If it is, I choose to be found doing my duty. Therefore, I wish that candles be brought." 

Traditional 
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Would We Be Ready? 

In our day, it's more likely than ever that some folks who live around us will raise eyebrows to think that we look for something on the other side of death. So what! Some folks have always raised their eyebrows about anything which called for taking a faith leap. But consider the alternative! I'd rather be prepared to go to dinner with a host who might forget to come, than sleep through everything and wake up in the dark, or find myself hoofing it down to K-Mart for an oil-flask-refill, trying to hedge my bets, while the host arrived and closed the door without me. 

The pastor of one Florida congregation, who has made an outreach program famous, uses one question which offends some people by its tone. He asks: "If you should die tonight, why should God let you into his heaven?"

The question is worth asking. For those of us who live in the grace of God, who celebrate his "Yes!" to us each day we live, a better-focused version of the question might be, "If we knew we'd die tonight, could we be ready to face God?"

Michael L. Sherer, And God Said...Yes!, Michael L. Sherer, CSS Publishing Company,

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