You are invited to a Very Big Party!

I love the way master story-tellers, like Jesus, will turn common assumptions on their heads with a few deft words. In today's story, we are told of a man who gave a big party and invited many many people.

At this time of year, during the holiday season, it may be that many of us have received invitations to big dinner parties, or perhaps we are giving such a party. Now I don't know about you, but I think it a bit surprising that Jesus linked the Kingdom of God with a big dinner party. Doesn't sound very spiritual to me. You know how, well, unspiritual those big parties can get! Why would Jesus compare the Kingdom of God to a big dinner party?

Sometimes, invitations to certain parties feel more like a social obligation than a happy opportunity to have a good time with people we enjoy, lots of delicious food, and maybe some top rate music and dancing or other entertainment. Have you ever felt that way? I know I have. I look for some good excuse not to go which will be acceptable to the person who has invited me. Sometimes I find one, and sometimes I just sigh and go because there seems no good way to get out of it.

On the other hand, if you have been one who gave a big party like the one in this story, you know what a lot of work it can be, and how you hope there will be a good turn out of people to make your work worthwhile.

It can be risky, throwing a big dinner party.

With all this in mind, here is the story as Jesus is reported to have told it in Luke 14 (The New Testament):

A certain man gave a great supper, and invited many.

When the feast was ready, he sent messengers to those who were invited saying,

"Come, for all things are now ready."

But they all began to make excuses.

The first said, "I have just purchased some land and must go and inspect it. Please have me excused."

Another said, "I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I need to go test them out. Please have me excused."

Still another said, "I am so sorry, but I have just gotten married, so I cannot come."

The servant went back to his master and reported what the invited guests had said.

The master of the house was indignant, and said to his servant,

"Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the city and bring the poor, the maimed, the lame,

and the blind to the feast."

So the servant did so and reported, "Master, it is done as you commanded and still there is room

for more."

Then the master replied, "Go out again into the highways and hedges, and insist that those you find

there come to the feast, that my house may be filled.

As for those who were invited but made excuses, none of them shall have even a taste of the feast

I have prepared."

My prayer of response:

Gracious Host, Generous Provider of all that is good,

I confess that too often I busy myself with things that seem important at the time,

and thus miss out on opportunities you offer to simply enjoy Your presence, Your blessings,

Your goodness, and the good company of others who are doing the same.

Busyness can be a real temptation for me, and somehow, it is hard for me to feel that I can just

set aside my plans and obligations for awhile, and relax and receive nourishment and delight

from You. After hearing this story, I resolve to set aside my excuses, and respond to Your

gracious invitation to simply BE with You and others who are willing to put You first. I do believe

my busy life can wait. If not now, when? Amen

Are You Ready?

This is the season of Advent in the Christian calendar.

It is a time which was originally set aside by the Church to focus in a special way on the Second Coming of Christ.

It has become, more popularly, simply the "holiday season" in which preparations are made for the celebration of Christmas, which celebrates the first coming of Christ as Jesus of Nazareth, not the Second Coming.

The Second Coming has been the source of endless speculation for centuries. Some Christians believe the Second Coming has already happened, on Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit (of Christ) was poured out on all flesh. But the majority of Christians still look forward to the Second Coming, although there is a great deal of difference of opinion on what that means, how literally to take the depictions of it in the Bible's New Testament; and when and how it will happen, whatever "it" is.

The story I chose for today's blog, from among the many Jesus told, is a story that depicts this mysterious Second Coming or The End of the Age, as the coming of a bridegroom at a great wedding feast.

Here is the story: (Matthew 25: 1-13)

The kingdom of heaven is likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps, but took no oil with them. But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered.

At midnight a cry went up: "Behold, the bridegroom is coming. Go out to meet him!"

Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps.

The foolish said to the wise, "Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out."

But the wise answered, "No, lest there should not be enough for us and you. But go rather to those who sell, and buy oil for yourselves."

And while they went to buy oil, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast. And the door was shut.

Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, "Lord, Lord, open to us."

But he answered, "Assuredly, I do not know you. "

Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming."

My response:

To start with, I'd like to send that last sentence, in huge letters, to all those people out there who are still trying to figure out when the Last Day, the Second Coming, will be, forgetting that Jesus himself tells us no one knows, which includes no one living now. When I think of all the people who have allowed themselves to be deluded by the dubious and arrogant claims of those who claim to "know prophecy" I wish this story would be told in their ears.

To end with, I take this story to mean, for me at least, that I need to search my heart to see if I am ready for

"the Last Day" which at the very least, means the end of my life here on earth. Am I prepared to meet the Bridegroom of my soul? Is there oil in my lamp? If the lamp could be a symbol for my heart/mind/soul,

and oil the symbol of the Presence of the Spirit which makes Light possible---am I keeping my lamp filled and replenished with conscious cultivation and awareness of the Spirit of God within me? Or am I just going through the outer motions (carrying my lamp) without the inner meaning and devotion represented by the wise virgins? Or am I looking to others outside myself to supply me with spiritual oil? If so, this story tells how how foolish this is. If I am wise, I will always be ready, whether for my own death at any time, or some greater Ending of this Age.

Another way to see this story is to interpret the Bridegroom's coming as the personal experience in my soul of the sacred meeting with the Divine Beloved---the one named "Jesus, Lover of my Soul" in a favorite hymn of mine. Mystics in all the world's religions speak of this union with the Beloved, the Great Mystery, in their hearts. A wedding feast is an apt symbol for this experience of Love that can only be spoken of in poetic words and symbols that are never more than pointers at a Reality beyond all words. Their testimony is that this experience can come quite unexpectedly, and it is wise to be ready. What would that mean for you?

Are you ready?

Seed Stories from Gardens of Faith

Today I begin writing a series of seven blogs on each of seven great Wisdom Traditions: Hindu, Taoist, Buddhist, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and Native American. The flowers I will gather this time from these Gardens of Faith will be story-flowers. A story is one of the best ways to teach a truth in a way that sticks in people's memories. In my research I have found that the founders and great teachers of the world's Wisdom Traditions are fond of telling stories. I hope to recount some of them in these blogs.

For me, stories like these are seeds planted in the soil of the heart. There, they germinate and grow at their own pace, until the truth they contain blossoms with meanings, for good stories always have more than one meaning. The meanings that most resonate with each of us are the ones that will flower in the living of our lives.

Because this is the Christmas season, it seems fitting that I start with stories from the Christian Garden of Faith. I have chosen stories told by Jesus himself, according to the various Gospel writers.

If they are familiar to you, pretend you are from some other religious tradition and have never ever heard these stories. What might they mean to you in that case?

The first story I have chosen for this first blog is the story of a man who went out into the fields to sow his seed. This is how it goes: (from Luke 8)

A sower went out to sow his seed.

As he sowed, some fell by the wayside and was trampled down, and devoured by the birds of the air.

Some seed fell on rock; at first it sprang up, but then withered away for lack of soil and moisture.

Some seed fell among thonrs, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it.

But other seed fell on good ground, sprang up, and yielded a crop a hundredfold.

When Jesus disciples asked him to explain what this little story meant, he said,

"The seed is the Word of God.

Those by the wayside are those who hear the Word, but then evil comes and takes it out of their hearts,

so that they do not believe and find salvation.

Those who are like rocky soil hear and receive the Word with joy; but it does not take root in their hearts, and when trials come, it withers away.

Those who are like thorny soil hear the Word, but then go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring to fruit to maturity.

But those who are like the good soil hear the word with a noble and good heart, and keep it, and they bear fruit with patience."

My response:

Ah, I know what it's like to be a wayside seed,

scattered, lying on the hard ground of life,

trampled by heedless people,

gobbled up by birds of desire,

the truths within me unable to crack open and grow

because of the evil in others and in me.

Is there hope for me?

And, I know what it's like to be a seed among rocks

covered by a thin layer of soil--

just enough to let me take root and sprout,

but not enough for my roots to grow deeper.

I am scattered

on the surface of things.

When things get rocky,

and the storms of life come,

I am washed away.

The truth in me gets no chance to take root and bear fruit.

As for being a seed among thorns,

I've been there too.

Haven't you?

You know how it is.

There are so many distractions, it's hard to hold on to truth.

So much to do, so much to shop for, take care of, hang on to.

So much to worry about, think about.

How to sprout when there is all this choking Life out?

Thank Goodness I also know what it is like to land

in a fertile place where I can break open,

root deep down and nourish the life and truth in me,

and sprout, grow, mature, bear fruit---

so much it seems unlikely to have come from

the tiny seed truths I started out as.

The question from my point of view?

What kind of soil are you?