Wis 6:12-161
Thes 4:13-18
It's not too early to be thinking and reflecting on Sunday's Scriptures that we'll hear proclaimed. God has called each of us to "show up" and "be present" because God has need of the gifts and strengths each one of us has to offer to this place and time.
God wants you to be just like you. God wants you to be who you are. An old cowboy once said: "You can put a boot in the oven, but it won't come out a biscuit." Each of us must make our own biscuit from scratch--using the energy, talents, skills, guts and gifts God has given us.
To "be yourself" requires that you first know who you are--and that takes a lifetime of work. You don't "just grow." No one "just grows." We all grow in certain ways that God intends or doesn't intend. Into whose image will you "grow"? Will you grow into God's image and God's image for you, or will you grow into God's image for someone else and someone else's image?
Anglican Bishop Rowan Williams states that "the vocation of creatures is to exist as themselves, to be bearers of their names, answering to the Word that gives each its distinctive identity. The act of creation can be seen as quite simply this--the vocation of things to be themselves, distinctive, spare and strange. God does not first create and then differentiate a great multitude of roles within creation: In one act he creates a multiple, noisy jostling and diverse reality
It's time for disciples of Christ Jesus to boldly claim their gifts. To live life by imitation, can result only in failure.
Let Go. In Sunday's parable of the ten bridesmaids, the whole point of their anxious waiting for the bridegroom, the vigilance and careful preparation of the wise maidens, is so that they can be a part of the wedding party. The tragedy of the foolish maidens is that they miss out on the big party--on the joy and exuberance that comes from being in the presence of the bridegroom.
