10:30 am, Sunday, Nov 12, 2023 ~ FBCA

(1 Thess 4:13-18; Mtt 25:1-13) J G White

Greg Turner is a wise and gentle man. A friend of mine, back in Digby, he is a fellow hiker with me, and a citizen-scientist. He helps plan many of the monthly hikes in the Digby area, and gets out there studying the plants and lichens and birds and trees. If there was to be a hike on a day like yesterday, with three degrees, and the possibility of showers or snow pellets, Greg would say, “There is no such thing as bad weather; only bad clothing.” Or, he’d say, “Fortune favours the prepared mind.”

Louis Pasteur famously said, in French, something like that. Fortune favours the prepared mind. ‘Be prepared’ is the simple Scout motto. Jesus said things like, “Stay awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial,” and, today, “keep awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”

We have come into that annual season of preparation. Preparing for what? Well, a few different things, really. Preparing for Christmas! Preparing for winter driving (I have not yet put on my snow tires). Preparing for the deer or the cow to get cut up and vacuum-sealed for the freezer.

Prepared for the End of the World; Jesus’ return. That’s what the Advent Season in our worship is about, and we shift in November into scriptures that look to the second advent, the second coming of Christ into our universe.

What does it mean for us to prepare for this long-awaited, unexpected event that is so mysterious? Back in the day when a letter was written to Thessalonian Christians, it was the early years of the Church. Many were expecting Jesus to return rather soon - within their lifetimes. When some of the older people started dying off, they got worried. What did this mean? What happens to them? Jesus has not come back yet, to finish bringing the Kingdom to earth?

‘Don’t worry,’ the author wrote them. ‘They will get included in the great resurrection & the finale of all things.’

Here we are, about two thousand years later, still awaiting The Return. Does it matter much for us to be ‘at the ready?’ What does ‘being prepared’ mean for us Christians here and now?

We wonder this, when we use our scriptures. When we hear Jesus’ parables again, like that of the five wise and the five foolish bridesmaids.

The most recent wedding we had here was quite a big occasion. About two hundred people in attendance; about eight people at the front with the Bride and Groom. Eight top-notch, professional musicians offering amazing sounds for the service, with their own sound-tech. A reception of delicious food here, on site, before the actual banquet later, at a different venue.

Our imaginations go to what we know when we hear Jesus’ wedding story from a different time and culture. Despite the differences and the details that may not quite make sense to us, Christ’s story makes a point: when you have a part in the wedding and the party, be prepared, keep on top of your lovely job, or you will just get left out.

Professor Matt Skinner caught my ear in a podcast when he asked, about the parable of the bridesmaids: Who suffers when these helpers fail? Then, about us: ‘Who suffers when the Church is foolish, and wastes its time, and wastes its resources on things which are not about mercy?’

Maybe being ready, watching, waiting, keeping alert in spirit, is not just about us and our own salvation. Perhaps it is about being ready to do our job, our work for the Kindom of Christ Jesus. When we have this sense that Jesus is with us, but also far away not yet back with us, it is quite important for us to do our part. When the Spirit of Jesus moves & some good thing is ready to happen in our neighbourhood, shall we be prepared?

First Baptist hopes to call a Minister of Families and Outreach in the near future. Will we be prepared? Prepared to help this person do good work? Good ministry with younger people, and with disadvantaged people? Shall a group of us be equipped to get on board and do some good with this leader, and not leave it all up to him or her?

The Springhill Prison chaplains are ready to take volunteers to lead Sunday afternoon services there. Shall we prepare to go with the Spirit of God into the Chapel there, and spend quality time with the guys on the inside?

The leadership team at First Baptist is getting ready for us all to explore what it means to be inclusive, welcoming and affirming to LGBTQS+ people of our community. Shall most of us take part in getting more prepared for diversity in our families and our community and our Church? To discover more about how Christ seeks to bless all people, and make them a blessing?

And so on. Fortune favours the prepared mind.

Keep alert, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

Remember the story of Esther? (Queen Esther in the Bible, not Esther Cox of the Great Amherst Mystery!) She had the opportunity to take a big risk and maybe save some lives. And what did her uncle say to her? “For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this.”

Our wakefulness and our preparation for Christ is in our activity. We learn to do by doing with God, and one another. Perhaps we have this building in this location for such a time as this. Perhaps we have the people in our lives - all our contacts - for such a time as this. Perhaps we have the promises of Jesus deep in our hearts for such a time as this.