Extended Open Worship
Matthew 24:40-44
I’d like to read a passage to you for which I am really tempted to break my “this is not a sermon week” rule, and tell you some things. Give some context, deconstruct some traditional assumptions, talk about Love…usual “me” stuff. But I will refrain, and let the strangeness of this text provoke, inspire, agitate, clarify, do whatever is needed, for us.
Matthew 24:40-44 (NRSV):
40 Then two will be in the field; one will be taken, and one will be left. 41 Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken, and one will be left. 42 Keep awake, therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. 43 But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
I am always hopeful, whether through a sermon or just a scripture reading and some queries, like today, that I might offer something to help bring us a little more in alignment with the Love that is at the heart of all things–the Love at work all around us.
The traditional theme for Advent week one–which is today–is “hope.” Can we remain hopeful, that Love is making all things new? How do we plant seeds of Love, with hope that they will grow? How do we align ourselves with that Love at the heart of all things? What preparation is needed? What degree of watchfulness, of readiness, of waking up? How and when and where does God, or Christ, come to us?
I invite you to quietly read this text, again, through the lens of your understanding of what it means to be Quaker, or through the lens of current events, or through the lens of your own experience, and the challenges and possibilities before you.
We’ll hold some silent space together. I encourage you to share out of that silence, briefly; to share after leaving some space for us to sit with the previous sharer’s words; and to not think of today’s queries as questions you need to answer in full, but as gentle guides for reflection. I would think at most, one or two of these queries will be helpful for you today to guide your listening, but maybe none of them will be helpful, and that’s okay too. Let’s listen together, expectantly, waiting with hope, for the Spirit who is Love to guide us into clarity and peace and action. Please speak when moved to do so.
Queries:
What does it mean to me to wait for Christ? To be ready for Christ?
“Keep awake.” Why? What helps me “keep awake”?
Am I ready for anticipated and unanticipated needs? How can I be ready?
Where do hospitality and hope intersect?
Is this text more reassuring or more unsettling? Why?
How do the images of people being “taken” or separated hit me, today?
What does this passage mean to me in light of Matthew 25–an image of a Christ who comes to us in the hungry, the stranger, and the sick?