Joshua 24: 1 -3a, 14 -25          Be Awake                Nov. 9, 2008
Matthew 25: 1 -13                          The Rev, Dr. George Hermanson

It is one of those it goes without saying things - we see events from our personal experience.  We filter the world out of what we believe and what has formed us.  Symbolic acts create a moment that form us and then we must move on to how to live the moment of transformation.

This morning we participated in a highly symbolic moment -remembrance.  It means many things to us.  And yes we have ambiguous feelings.  For some it is the feeling of never again.  In my family we have a history of service - in both First and Second wars. Yet the  symbol that forms me was my father’s brother.  On Nov. 10 1918 the Generals knew that the armistice was coming.  Yet my uncle was sent out and he was killed.  Thus, I have always rejected the concept of redemptive violence- redemption sacrifice.  Yes sometimes we are called to risk and act but to never see it as justified or needed to bring transformation.  Never forget reminds us of that fact.  We remember those who responded, to face the power of those who sought to oppress.  We remember so we do not become like that which we resisted and to remember both our best and worst efforts.- how war brutalizes and degrades both winners and losers alike. We remember never again so we can examine our past and bring forth that which leads to peace - to know that in the end it is bring those different from us to the table that really  brings transformation - violence does not.

Our remembrance to honor calls us to become inventive in designing institutionalized means of resolving conflicts  - to honor what William James called for a century ago, that of a “moral equivalent to war.”  We remember to remind us that is our goal is to remember our interrelatedness - no longer can we see the other as absolute enemy for they are part of us.  Peace is not merely an unrealistic yearning but a way of life necessary for its continuance.  Thus we asked who do we ultimately serve?  .

Our texts are about this reality. Joshua is now the symbolic/prophetic leader.  Moses went to the mountain top and dreamed God’s dream of paradise - the promise - of a peaceful kingdom.  But he does not get to see it and Joshua is the one who now must actualize the dream.  So he calls the people, the elders, the leaders and issues a challenge to choose a better history -   Words that Obama used last week.  In a call/response Joshua asks who will they choose?: the gods of their self interest or the God who cares of all of creation? He asks them to really come to terms with the call and he asks them several times who will they server? - who will you serve? And the people respond - God and the call is repeated.  We saw  this call and response, which is built into some preaching, the other night.     Yes we can, yes we can.

So Joshua preparers the people for the hard work of change. It will not be easy.  It will take time.  It will take wisdom.  It means been awake and prepared. In watching the events on Tues. and watching Jesse weep I was reminded that change takes commitment. There is the need of the power of persistence, of the need to do what can be done, even in the face of resistance, and to expect that actually it will be others, in new circumstances who "enter the promised land."

We move to the ten maids.  They go off to wait for the bridegroom.  Matthew is telling his community that change has begun and one needs to be awake to see it.  Of course not everyone is prepared for the time it takes to greet the new morning. It takes what is called second sight to see.  It means waking up and staying awake.    This is to see simultaneously from within the issues and from without - from the personal to the universal needs. “This is this the sense of always looking at oneself through the eyes of others” ( W.E.B. Dubois)  Choose this day who will serve  - God,  which means the eyes of others.  .

Matthew suggests that when the bridegroom arrives reality has been changed. The old ways of doing things no longer sustain.  Paradise is,  and is arriving.  It calls for new eyes, second sight.  In such time there is danger, a desire to move back to the familiar, to return to safety of the how we have done it in the past.  The status quo feels good and like those maids who did not bring enough oil it freezes us in the past and we are not awake - we miss the transformational moment.

As I watched the event on Tues., the celebration,  I remembered as I saw Jesse Jackson weeping - I remembered Grand park - the summer of walks with Martin Luther King - the day that our cars were parked there for a march ( my was not) and we came back to burning cars - saw Andrew Young on Colbert last night and his car was burned - meet with him, Jesse, and King in many a church basement - John Cobb,  at an event in Victoria, said a miracle is what we did not see coming - in those days and nights, when shots rang out, stones were thrown -  we did our bit - community organizing by the churches -walked and talked - helped form operation breadbasket  to get jobs in the south side , which then shifted into Jesse's organization.  Did we see this event, this coming, this yes we can moment?
No, it is a miracle in Cobb’s terms. Did we know?  We hoped and worked for the possibility.  But this is only a beginning, and God saw it was good enough for a beginning - a beginning for remember the hoped for affirmation of same sex marriage hope failed - those who voted for Obama and did not catch the full radical postmodern change needed - a small step but a big step.  Did we know?  Can we believe?  Yes we can!

Symbolically, those maids who did not prepare tell us much.  Those who do not open their eyes, do not prepare for the long journey, miss the moment of transformation.  A lesson for our times. 

Christians are called to live in the reality of our world, with its potential and loss of potential.  Steps forward and the slowness of that movement to a better history. What we carry with us is the knowledge that the bridegroom has come and that paradise is now, and this world has been claimed by God as good.  This is the inner reality which is not always seen, but we know it, we have tasted it, we have seen it.  Faith and hope prepare us for our journey - our continuing commitment to the care of all.  We are called to join with others who work for the transformation of our society, where the images of all gathered at the table.
 
Faith  gives us this double vision -of seeing ourselves in the other. this sense of always looking at oneself through the eyes of others.  We remember to whom we belong and commit ourselves to persevere, to work, for the transformation that is and still is to come.