Today's Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 25 verses 1 through 13:
“Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. 3 When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; 4 but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. 5 As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. 6 But at midnight there was a shout, ‘Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ 7 Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps. 8 The foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 9 But the wise replied, ‘No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.’ 10 And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut. 11 Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ 12 But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I do not know you.’ 13 Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.
A couple of months back I looked ahead in the lectionary to see what the texts would be following the election and saw that this is the Scripture for this coming Sunday. So, I knew we would be in a season of waiting this week. But then again, we all knew this anyways. And no matter what happens between now and Sunday, we are all going to be in for some waiting -- even intense waiting -- in the weeks and months to come.
The Lesson this morning reminds us that we need to make preparation for the long haul here. We need to prepare ourselves mentally and spiritually for a time of uncertainty and unknown, disappointment, darkness, and also surprise.
The Lesson also tells us its ok to go ahead and get some good or at least decent nights of sleep. For everyone is going to need it. And there is no harm to us in it, because we can't do much about to change the world by staying up worrying about the state of things.
My grandfather used to say, "You can go just as far on a full tank of gas as you can on a half." It was his dry-witted, West Texas way of saying, "You should go ahead and get gas before you run out."
Fill up your tank friends. Keep your lamps trimmed and burning. And hold onto your hope. We may have some long nights ahead, but surely the bridegroom shall come . . .
NOTE: We are reading the whole Bible through this year. Tomorrow's Lesson comes from Matthew 26 and Mark 14.
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