People Get Ready

In tomorrow's Gospel reading Jesus tells the parable of ten bridesmaids, five of whom were foolish, five were wise. The difference was that the wise bridemaids were prepared to go meet the bridegroom at anytime as their lamps were ready. Jesus concludes his story saying, "Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour."

At her lectionary blog, Dylan writes,

In the parable we read this Sunday, there are ten young women who are guests of the bride. Five of them don't have enough oil, so they rush out to buy some before the groom arrives. The groom arrives while they're still out, so the party starts without them.

If I were preaching this Sunday, the sermon would probably be titled "People Get Ready"—and not just because I've wanted since 1987 (when U2 started pulling fans on stage for this purpose) to get pulled on stage to play that song with the band. "People Get Ready" is pretty much the point of this Sunday's gospel reading. The party we've waited for is starting, and if we want to be in on the action, we need to prepare ourselves for what's coming.

Then Dylan goes on to compare Jesus' return in the Bible to the return described in the Left Behind series. She makes some good points in comparing the "Christ-inator" of Glorious Appearing with the Jesus we meet in the New Testament. Her whole entry (linked here) is worth reading.