Paul and Sarah Steinke<\/p>\n
When we work with parables during Godly Play, we speak of them as a priceless gift given to each of us by Jesus before we were even born. And this gift is for all time\u2026 for you and me back then, now, and for our future. And parables are so precious and so valuable that \u201cwe need to be very careful when we come close to a parable. We need to be ready because we can break a parable if we aren\u2019t ready.\u201d<\/p>\n
But even if we are ready, sometimes\u2026 sometimes when we try to open a parable we just can\u2019t go inside. \u201cBut don\u2019t be discouraged,\u201d we\u2019re told\u2026 \u201dkeep coming back again and again. One day the parable will open up for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
And so it is today… when we try to open up this parable about the bridesmaids, we often get close to breaking it as we try to \u201cfigure out\u201d who represents what? Who are the bridesmaids? Who is the bridegroom? And what does the oil represent anyway?<\/p>\n
Treating the poetry of a parable as a vehicle to teach us all a moral lesson is one of the ways it breaks. For it\u2019s God\u2019s kindness that leads us to repentance, not the scolding that, like another kind of oil from my past\u2014cod liver oil\u2014is difficult to get down but others guarantee will be \u201creal good for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not a surprise then that some of us may be resistant to opening the gift of this parable today\u00a0 because we suspect there\u2019s cod liver oil in there for us somewhere!<\/p>\n
But these stories that Jesus tells in the Gospels are not primarily moral lessons or platitudes but gifts given to us long ago that continue to be alive and continue to transform our hearts and the way we see each other and the world. And that is good news.<\/p>\n
So today, I wanna play a bit\u2026 and as I open the gift of today\u2019s parable I ask, \u201cWhere is this parable alive in me\u2014here and now? Where might this parable come alive in all of us – this community of Faith – today?\u201d<\/p>\n
And as I opened the parable this time around, I was struck at how the whole parable hinges on the phrase five of the bridegrooms say to the other five… a phrase I heard again for the very first time: \u201cNo, there is not enough for both us and you.\u201d<\/p>\n
That sentence stops me in my tracks\u2026 \u201dNo, there is not enough for both us and you.\u201d<\/p>\n
I wonder how many times I\u2019ve said that in one way or another to myself, to Sarah, my kids, or others. I wonder how many times that\u2019s been said to me\u2026 \u201dNo, there is not enough for both us and you.\u201d<\/p>\n
And I wonder where you\u2019ve heard that sentence\u2013in what circumstances, relationships, desires, and dreams has this phrase been present:\u201cNo, there is not enough for both us and you?\u201d<\/p>\n
I wonder where we\u2019ve heard that sentence in our life together as the community of Faith?<\/p>\n
Because of that story of scarcity\u2013\u201cthere is not enough for both us and you\u201d\u2013each of the characters in today\u2019s parable didn\u2019t get to experience the extravagant feast of the kingdom of God. Some of them left the feast because they didn\u2019t have enough. Some of them didn\u2019t get to participate in the fullness of the feast because they didn\u2019t want to lose what they had, and both responses led to a shut door.<\/p>\n
And so I wonder if one of the meanings of this parable for us here today is that it points to our belief in the story of scarcity, which keeps us from experiencing the extravagant feast of Jesus\u2019 kingdom, and which so often leads us as Christians to justify dominating or hiding from others or closing the door on others, or parts of ourselves, who are without, or who are hungry, thirsty, or in need.<\/p>\n
As an act of Faith in Jesus\u2019 extravagant abundance, where are we being called to imagine we are enough or have enough to participate in the feast? Where are we being called to share our giftedness, our homes, our resources, our voice, and our perspective? For this parable is for you and me and was given to each of us by Jesus before we were even born. You are invited to a feast, and in sharing this feast with others, you are to know and be known. . .Are you ready?<\/p>\n
Last week we heard Connie and Jim share stories of Faith\u2019s origins… how after deep heartbreak the community\u2019s longing for home and belonging with each other and within the diocese, led them to offer the same to those broken-hearted within Kitsap.<\/p>\n
Imagine if at some point in the process Jim and Connie and the other founders would have said, \u201cNo, there\u2019s not enough for both us and you,\u201d and shut the door on their desires, their hopes, the needs of others, and the possibility of a feast?<\/p>\n
But that is not our legacy. And it is not the future we are creating with each other and the Spirit of God. In the midst of our panic that there isn\u2019t enough\u2013time, resources, capacity, love\u2013our stories here at Faith offer us a different perspective. I believe God is telling a story through this community, a story of God\u2019s with-ness and calling a people\u2013calling you and me\u2013into a life of deep extravagance that overflows into the world around us. This, dear friends, is \u201cgood news,\u201d which is to say, Gospel.<\/p>\n
Today we continue with stories from our community\u2026 I\u2019ve asked Jeffrey and Yori and Sara if they would share what they and their families know of this deep extravagance within our community of Faith?<\/p>\n
Question for the response card (ask them to put it in the offering place):<\/strong><\/p>\n Where do you know God\u2019s extravagance (perhaps in places of scarcity) in your life?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Paul and Sarah Steinke When we work with parables during Godly Play, we speak of them as a priceless gift given to each of us by Jesus before we were even born. And this gift is for all time\u2026 for<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-homily"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/faithpoulsbo.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/faithpoulsbo.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/faithpoulsbo.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faithpoulsbo.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faithpoulsbo.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=638"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/faithpoulsbo.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":642,"href":"https:\/\/faithpoulsbo.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638\/revisions\/642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/faithpoulsbo.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faithpoulsbo.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faithpoulsbo.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}