The Senior Sermon of Judith Alexis, Class of 2006 from the Diocese of Southeast Florida, delivered in Christ Chapel on November 10, 2005

Amos 5:18-24, Matthew 25:1-13

 

Let us pray with the words of Paul to Timothy, from 2 Timothy 2:15,

 

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by God, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth.

 

On that day will we be ready?

Alas for those who desire the day of the Lord!!

            Some will be part of the first wave: like the virgins who were prepared and had the oil lamp ready. For others, the wait will be longer.  I for one am sure that I am part of the second wave: I am always waiting for the next train.

            Jesus said: “Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” In the Old Testament reading, Amos is asking us to do some introspection regarding our offering and worship. He is talking about another commodity: for the virgins, the commodity is oil; for Amos the commodity is worship. Both refer to the things we do and need in preparation for the bridegroom.  Amos is asking us to look at the “how” versus the “why.”

Alas for those who desire the day of the Lord!

            I have desired the day of the Lord many times. Not the Eschatological day, not the big “Finale,” but the day that marks the end of a part of life’s journey. We have several days like that -- graduation from high school, graduation from college, and so on.  Commencement, for some of us, will be similar to the day of the Lord. It is not far away; it is in_186_days (not that we are counting).

Alas for those who desire the day of the Lord!!

It is darkness, not light;

            as if someone fled from a lion,

and was met by a bear;

or went into the house and rested a hand against the wall,

and was bitten by a snake

Alas for those who desire the day of the Lord!

            On that day according to Amos 5:19 we will be fleeing from the lion and the bear toward the house (You know which one), the new church, the office with the window, after we finish unpacking all the wonderful books we have accumulated in seminary. We will close the door. We will breath a sigh of relief, our hand will rest against the wall, and that is when it will happen: the first parish conflict, the first triangulation incident -- the snakebite.

Alas for those who desire the day of the Lord!

Is not the day of the LORD darkness, not light,

and gloom with no brightness in it?

            When the snake bites, the words of the prophet will echo and we will remove that hand from the wall, shape it like a fist, and ask “WHY?”

            Why is there no brightness in it? That is not what the Call to ordain ministry advertised!  Where are the people living in Love and harmony? Where is the LOVE?

Alas for those who desire the day of the Lord!!

            The prophet continues, quoting God:

I hate, I despise your festivals,

and I take no delight in your

 solemn assemblies.

            On that day the gloom and the darkness will come because our bridegroom rejects us:  I hate and despise your festivals.   What will that mean for us liturgical people whose liturgy and ritual are at the core of our worship? We know our canonically-approved book of worship is designed to strengthen our relationships as members of one body of Christ.  But when the book, the manuscript, the check list becomes more important than the worship, when the liturgy is used as a password-protected Ex-cell spreadsheet, when we lock other people -- those people -- out of worship, it loses its power to unify us.  It becomes all about show and performance and not worship. 

            One reason I chose to express my Christianity in the Episcopal/Anglican Church is because of its liturgy and its theology of the liturgy.  As human beings we are created in the image of God.  As Christians, we are created for the purpose of praising and glorifying the Creator.  In the worship of God we must constantly ask ourselves what are we doing in worship preparation or participation.  Does the “How” overshadow the “Why”? What will we hear? Alas on that day may we hear: “I hate and despise your festivals. I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.” 

Will the disappointment be even greater if in addition to our festival, our offerings are rejected as well?  If our offerings of time talent and treasure are not accepted, Would God dare say NO to our feeding program, our community involvement?  Would God dare reject them and us? Would God dare say NO? 

 Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,

I will not accept them;

and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals

I will not look upon them.

At ETSS we take life and death issues very seriously. We go to the capital and stand in vigils to protest the death penalty; some participate in Kairos and other prison ministry. These are great offerings to God, but are they complete?  Will Eric Henstenberg be part of those offerings? Where are the letters to him, the prayers for him?  Will they be in that basket? 

Will the handmade bread be acceptable if it grain and the flour comes from multi-national corporations that refuse to pay fare market price to the farmers? This is oppression. We participate in it.  Is our burnt offering of incense more valuable than an offering of sage? What makes a genuine burnt offering?

Alas on that day of the Lord!!!

 Will we be turned away? Will God not look upon us with favor?  Will our life works, our efforts be rejected?   

Take away from me the noise of your songs;

I will not listen to the melody of your harps      says the prophet.

One of the truths that my trip to South Africa reinforced is the value of Music.  One of the things I value as an African-American and as a Haitian-American is the worth of Music.  It permeates all aspect of life. Music encourages, music delivers, music redeems. Remember the familiar adage: Singing is praying twice.  How frustrated we will be, I will be if all those hours of singing and rehearsal, if a great offertory or a communion hymn is found unacceptable to God, unacceptable to the bridegroom. Will the harps be the only instruments rejected? Will God reject the drums, the flute, the guitar?  Or even the most complicated instrument, the one given by God: Our Voice?  

But let justice roll down like waters,

and righteousness like an everflowing stream

On that desired the day of the Lord, justice rolled down like the waters.  Will justice roll like the river during a flash flood sweeping everything away? On that day, the day of the Lord, will we be swept by the flash flood of rejection? Where will we stand? Will we be in the River or on the banks?

Alas for those who desire the day of the Lord!!!

I cannot tell you what false or true worship looks like or sounds like, but I do know what should guide it. For that we could look to Isaiah 58:  worship is the pursuit on the interest of the Lord. What does that look like in this setting and in a world dominated by time schedules, meeting planning, evaluations, and reports? What does it look like? Well I do not know.

One thing I do know and my grandmother reminded us of in our nightly prayer is that “God” is the object of all our prayers and offerings. The songs, our prayers, should never be overshadow by the “how,” by the ritual. 

As children of God, made in the image of God, of different skin colors, backgrounds, theological and liturgical perspectives, we are on this earth to give God glory and praise in all that we do and with all that we have. Our intentions should be to honor and praise God, allowing the imagery of the Cross to permeate our praise. I do not know what an acceptable worship looks like, but I know that worship that is centered on God Creator, God Liberator, Jesus Redeemer and infused with the Holy Spirit has a better chance then one designed merely to entertain.

As a person of a sinful nature standing in the rolling waters of the river of life I can only achieve that with the help of Jesus Christ, the bridegroom who fills my cup like an ever flowing stream.

 When we struggle between the why and the how, when we feel toil standing in the river or on the banks of the Jordan, let us look to the rugged cross. Praise God, morning, noon and evening. We are not alone. We are here to worship God with the friend we have in Jesus.

Alas, on that day will we will be ready? Will I be ready?