About strangers Weddings | Harald stop staring odd thoughts
It's Kingdoms Sunday today. It is a hard day. Themes stop staring of type Judgment Day, the close, settlement and eternity is not easy to deal with. My tactic preacher stop staring has the last two years has been to allocate more space to the sermon on this day than on a typical Sunday, so that each can make an attempt to penetrate a little deeper into the matter. Superficial eschatology is not much.
Then the kingdom of heaven is comparable to ten virgins who took their lamps and oil went forth to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. They that were foolish took their lamps, but no oil. But the wise took oil in their vessels stop staring with their lamps. When it pulled the bridegroom came, they all slumbered and slept.
But at midnight a cry was: 'The bridegroom is coming! Go and meet him! ' Then all those virgins stop staring arose and trimmed their lamps ready. And the foolish said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are gone out.' 'No,' replied the wise, 'there will not be enough for us and you, go rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves!'
And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding, and the door was shut. Later came also the other virgins, saying, 'Lord, Lord, open to us!' But he replied, 'Truly I tell you, I do not know you.'
Initially I think it may be advantageous to take the plunge into wedding party and take a closer look at the strange customs we meet here. Bridesmaids have in this setting stop staring is somewhat different function than in our church dedications: Their task is to escort the groom the last piece the way to the house where the party will be. (There is some divided opinions among exegetes where this party-place is. Though I pour enough against the interpretation proposal stating that the custom was that the groom went home to the bride's people to bring her there and celebrated the feast was celebrated on that occasion.) Everyone will see when the groom arrives, therefore LEDs so important. The mission is honorable in a double sense: it gives honor to both the bridesmaids and the groom.
Five of the bridesmaids stop staring dawdling However, with the preparations. Oil lamps without oil burner notoriously bad, It all takes some of the shine away from the groom's entrance. It is perhaps not surprising he rejects them? Sad, but not incomprehensible.
In all the exegetical literature I have consulted about this text is one very reluctant to interpret the individual elements of the parable. You are content to note that the point is that you should be ready and that one day it may be too late to get into the kingdom of God - and that's it. I think this is too defensive. There is at least one element that almost cries out to be pressed for more meaning. There is oil.
In Jewish tradition, people used oil to anoint people for special services. Priests and kings are the most important examples of such anointed. An anointed messiah called in Hebrew, Christ in Greek, and both these terms are derived from the verb to anoint (with oil). The oil was in such situations understood as a sign of the intellectual equipment that came with the mission. This symbolism was also continued in the old ecclesiastical tradition to anoint the newly baptized with oil as a sign of the receipt of the Holy Spirit (cf. Lk 4:18). Those baptized were (and are!) Understood as priests of God and of one another, as a holy priesthood, who lives in a continuous service stop staring for the church's Lord and for his fellow man.
In a worship setting where children baptized, I think one must dare to associate the connection between Matt 25:1 ff, baptism and the Spirit. If we think that the Spirit is the oil of the lamp, what is then the flame? I suggest linking to an ultimate fruits of the Spirit, namely, stop staring faith, hope and love. These light up in the dark and makes Jesus (the groom) visible.
Then there was this with the groom's sudden arrival, then, and all the representations that trigger this parable stop staring about the Second Coming, Judgment Day and the like. Both texts and prayers at this Sunday ties into term return and judgment, salvation and damnation, so it's hard to just let this lie completely.
For my part, experienced the most fruitful to ask what day this Judgment is. One can give many answers to that. Life is known as a serious issue, more of the life choices we make have consequences far more than just ourselves. The underlying idea in the whole notion of the Lord's day is that one day we will be held accountable for our lives towards God and our neighbor. But what day are we talking about?
Some possible answers could be: My death - then the threads together. My baptism - as common stop staring judgment of the reality of death I am born in. But the best answer is maybe still: Every day is a day of judgment. For every day I meet a fellow human being who needs me, h
It's Kingdoms Sunday today. It is a hard day. Themes stop staring of type Judgment Day, the close, settlement and eternity is not easy to deal with. My tactic preacher stop staring has the last two years has been to allocate more space to the sermon on this day than on a typical Sunday, so that each can make an attempt to penetrate a little deeper into the matter. Superficial eschatology is not much.
Then the kingdom of heaven is comparable to ten virgins who took their lamps and oil went forth to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. They that were foolish took their lamps, but no oil. But the wise took oil in their vessels stop staring with their lamps. When it pulled the bridegroom came, they all slumbered and slept.
But at midnight a cry was: 'The bridegroom is coming! Go and meet him! ' Then all those virgins stop staring arose and trimmed their lamps ready. And the foolish said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are gone out.' 'No,' replied the wise, 'there will not be enough for us and you, go rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves!'
And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding, and the door was shut. Later came also the other virgins, saying, 'Lord, Lord, open to us!' But he replied, 'Truly I tell you, I do not know you.'
Initially I think it may be advantageous to take the plunge into wedding party and take a closer look at the strange customs we meet here. Bridesmaids have in this setting stop staring is somewhat different function than in our church dedications: Their task is to escort the groom the last piece the way to the house where the party will be. (There is some divided opinions among exegetes where this party-place is. Though I pour enough against the interpretation proposal stating that the custom was that the groom went home to the bride's people to bring her there and celebrated the feast was celebrated on that occasion.) Everyone will see when the groom arrives, therefore LEDs so important. The mission is honorable in a double sense: it gives honor to both the bridesmaids and the groom.
Five of the bridesmaids stop staring dawdling However, with the preparations. Oil lamps without oil burner notoriously bad, It all takes some of the shine away from the groom's entrance. It is perhaps not surprising he rejects them? Sad, but not incomprehensible.
In all the exegetical literature I have consulted about this text is one very reluctant to interpret the individual elements of the parable. You are content to note that the point is that you should be ready and that one day it may be too late to get into the kingdom of God - and that's it. I think this is too defensive. There is at least one element that almost cries out to be pressed for more meaning. There is oil.
In Jewish tradition, people used oil to anoint people for special services. Priests and kings are the most important examples of such anointed. An anointed messiah called in Hebrew, Christ in Greek, and both these terms are derived from the verb to anoint (with oil). The oil was in such situations understood as a sign of the intellectual equipment that came with the mission. This symbolism was also continued in the old ecclesiastical tradition to anoint the newly baptized with oil as a sign of the receipt of the Holy Spirit (cf. Lk 4:18). Those baptized were (and are!) Understood as priests of God and of one another, as a holy priesthood, who lives in a continuous service stop staring for the church's Lord and for his fellow man.
In a worship setting where children baptized, I think one must dare to associate the connection between Matt 25:1 ff, baptism and the Spirit. If we think that the Spirit is the oil of the lamp, what is then the flame? I suggest linking to an ultimate fruits of the Spirit, namely, stop staring faith, hope and love. These light up in the dark and makes Jesus (the groom) visible.
Then there was this with the groom's sudden arrival, then, and all the representations that trigger this parable stop staring about the Second Coming, Judgment Day and the like. Both texts and prayers at this Sunday ties into term return and judgment, salvation and damnation, so it's hard to just let this lie completely.
For my part, experienced the most fruitful to ask what day this Judgment is. One can give many answers to that. Life is known as a serious issue, more of the life choices we make have consequences far more than just ourselves. The underlying idea in the whole notion of the Lord's day is that one day we will be held accountable for our lives towards God and our neighbor. But what day are we talking about?
Some possible answers could be: My death - then the threads together. My baptism - as common stop staring judgment of the reality of death I am born in. But the best answer is maybe still: Every day is a day of judgment. For every day I meet a fellow human being who needs me, h
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