You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.
What if you were hosting a feast, but had no idea when the guests would arrive? “Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”
Back when I was planning alternative worship every week, I wrote a lot of sermon dramas. One of the most fun – and elaborate – was at Thanksgiving one year, called “The Martha Show.” It depicted a TV cooking show featuring a famous Martha. Not Martha of Westport, though the character shared many of her attributes. This was Martha of Bethany, whose dinner party for Jesus got her so stressed out she became royally ticked off at her sister for not helping. (Chiming any Thanksgiving family memories?)
And in the midst of prepping for her Thanksgiving show, an unexpected guest arrives early. Not what our Martha wanted. She wanted to make a beautiful dinner for Jesus, not with Jesus. And she wants her sister to help, damn it! But Mary recognizes that when this guest comes to dinner, you need to stop what you’re doing and receive the gifts he brings.
We can get so busy preparing for Thanksgiving that we barely appreciate the time with our loved ones when it arrives. Same thing, in a broader way, can happen during Advent. In a season meant to help us prepare to receive the gift of Christ in our lives, we can get so busy preparing we miss the fact that he’s already showed up. Jesus’ words to Martha in the gospel story are simple and pointed: “Martha, Martha, you are worried about many things. Only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen the best part, and it will not be taken away from her.”
If you are happy and at peace today, hallelujah – spread some of that peace to someone stressed.
And if you’re worried and fretting about anything today, stop and imagine Jesus walking into whatever place you’re in, and saying, “Hey, hey, you are worried and fretting. You don’t need to. You have everything you need – I’m here.” Try that on, in prayer, in your imagination today. One of God’s promises is peace when we pray, and presence, and power.
Wherever you’re spending Thanksgiving this year, and whoever you’re spending it with, invite Jesus to the table. That’s what it means to say grace – to invoke his holy presence. See if it’s different being aware of him there.
And don’t forget to pass him the stuffing – they didn’t have that in Galilee back in the day…
© Kate Heichler, 2025. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.
Showing posts with label readiness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label readiness. Show all posts
11-25-25 - Holy Preppers
You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.
We have a name for people who take readiness so seriously that they devote time, space and resources to being ready for disaster. They want to be sure they and those they love can thrive when the rest of the planet is being obliterated. We call them “doomsday preppers” – or just “preppers.”
This Sunday’s gospel reading – and many of the readings we will hear during Advent – invite us to live ready: ready for the end of days, ready for judgment, ready for Christ to show up in our lives. But what kind of preparedness is Jesus asking of us? I suspect that the One who said we need to give up our lives in order to save them is not advocating preparation for survival so much as preparation for Life – the Life of God that comes to us now, the Life that will be, the Life that will never end.
That kind of preparation involves being prepared to give our stuff away, not to stockpile it; to work for the security of all, not just safety in our own bunkers; to live so that everyone around us can thrive. For the “end of days” happens daily in someone’s life, sometimes in the life of whole communities and nations. And judgment comes upon us, ready or not, as we suffer the consequences of our own actions, or someone else’s free will. And Christ shows up in our lives all the time, in so many ways, not just when he “comes in glory at the end of the ages.”
Being alert means being alive to where Jesus is showing up, to what God is doing around us, to how we are being invited to participate in God’s mission to bring wholeness to all of creation in Christ. Being ready means having space and time in our lives for God’s new thing, having the mental, emotional and spiritual capacity to take on God's mission when it finds us.
St. Peter writes that we are always to “be ready to give an account of the hope that is within you.” (Î Peter 3:15b) That’s the kind of prepper Jesus is inviting us to be, bearers of hope, no matter what.
© Kate Heichler, 2025. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.
We have a name for people who take readiness so seriously that they devote time, space and resources to being ready for disaster. They want to be sure they and those they love can thrive when the rest of the planet is being obliterated. We call them “doomsday preppers” – or just “preppers.”
This Sunday’s gospel reading – and many of the readings we will hear during Advent – invite us to live ready: ready for the end of days, ready for judgment, ready for Christ to show up in our lives. But what kind of preparedness is Jesus asking of us? I suspect that the One who said we need to give up our lives in order to save them is not advocating preparation for survival so much as preparation for Life – the Life of God that comes to us now, the Life that will be, the Life that will never end.
That kind of preparation involves being prepared to give our stuff away, not to stockpile it; to work for the security of all, not just safety in our own bunkers; to live so that everyone around us can thrive. For the “end of days” happens daily in someone’s life, sometimes in the life of whole communities and nations. And judgment comes upon us, ready or not, as we suffer the consequences of our own actions, or someone else’s free will. And Christ shows up in our lives all the time, in so many ways, not just when he “comes in glory at the end of the ages.”
Being alert means being alive to where Jesus is showing up, to what God is doing around us, to how we are being invited to participate in God’s mission to bring wholeness to all of creation in Christ. Being ready means having space and time in our lives for God’s new thing, having the mental, emotional and spiritual capacity to take on God's mission when it finds us.
St. Peter writes that we are always to “be ready to give an account of the hope that is within you.” (Î Peter 3:15b) That’s the kind of prepper Jesus is inviting us to be, bearers of hope, no matter what.
© Kate Heichler, 2025. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.
11-24-25 - Getting Ready
You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.
Next Sunday we begin the holy season of Advent, advent meaning “the approaching” – the approaching in-breaking realm of God, the approaching celebration of Christ’s incarnation, the ever-approaching promised Second Coming of Christ in glory to usher in the New Age.
It can be challenging for Americans to engage Advent before Thanksgiving, that huge cultural celebration requiring preparation of its own. Forget about readiness to celebrate Christ’s incarnation – we have to get ready for the turkey! For many Americans, this is a week of blessing and stressing like few others. If we're hosting, we have the scramble to finish work, clean houses and buy food; if we're traveling, we have to pack and prep. In other words, this will be, for many, a stressful three days followed by, God-willing, a relaxing three days, after which we plunge into the holy season.
We tend to prepare for things we either dread or anticipate – and Thanksgiving can have elements of both. How might we find ways to bring the Holy Spirit into our preparations? I believe Jesus wants to indwell and transform our every-day lives, not only our formal worship experiences. This week provides opportunities to experience God’s presence amidst the bustle and company of others, if not in serene isolation.
So… if you’re working harder than usual to cram five days’ work into two or three, may I suggest you set an alarm every hour or two. When it goes off, take three minutes away from your tasks to breathe, re-center and tell God what it is you’re working on, and where you’d like some help.
If you’re shopping and cooking, you might make a game of talking to Jesus in the kitchen or the store and remember why you’re participating in this ritual of food and family.
If you’re traveling, you might need extra grace and extra peace – so pack some along as you get things ready for your suitcase, as you clean up your house and commit yourself to the road or skies. Ask the God of peace to fill you and make you an agent of peace in any stress or frenzy you may encounter in trying to get from A to B.
And if your big plan is to hit the Friday sales… ask yourself whether that deal is worth the time and angst it’s going to take. If you love it, go for it (and remember Small Business Saturday…)
Let’s move through this intense week as children of God, beloved and bounded in time and space, not trying to do more than we can or should. Gratitude flows from a balanced perspective on who we are, who we are not, and how we are gifted. We can make this week more blessed than stressed.
© Kate Heichler, 2025. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.
Next Sunday we begin the holy season of Advent, advent meaning “the approaching” – the approaching in-breaking realm of God, the approaching celebration of Christ’s incarnation, the ever-approaching promised Second Coming of Christ in glory to usher in the New Age.
It can be challenging for Americans to engage Advent before Thanksgiving, that huge cultural celebration requiring preparation of its own. Forget about readiness to celebrate Christ’s incarnation – we have to get ready for the turkey! For many Americans, this is a week of blessing and stressing like few others. If we're hosting, we have the scramble to finish work, clean houses and buy food; if we're traveling, we have to pack and prep. In other words, this will be, for many, a stressful three days followed by, God-willing, a relaxing three days, after which we plunge into the holy season.
We tend to prepare for things we either dread or anticipate – and Thanksgiving can have elements of both. How might we find ways to bring the Holy Spirit into our preparations? I believe Jesus wants to indwell and transform our every-day lives, not only our formal worship experiences. This week provides opportunities to experience God’s presence amidst the bustle and company of others, if not in serene isolation.
So… if you’re working harder than usual to cram five days’ work into two or three, may I suggest you set an alarm every hour or two. When it goes off, take three minutes away from your tasks to breathe, re-center and tell God what it is you’re working on, and where you’d like some help.
If you’re shopping and cooking, you might make a game of talking to Jesus in the kitchen or the store and remember why you’re participating in this ritual of food and family.
If you’re traveling, you might need extra grace and extra peace – so pack some along as you get things ready for your suitcase, as you clean up your house and commit yourself to the road or skies. Ask the God of peace to fill you and make you an agent of peace in any stress or frenzy you may encounter in trying to get from A to B.
And if your big plan is to hit the Friday sales… ask yourself whether that deal is worth the time and angst it’s going to take. If you love it, go for it (and remember Small Business Saturday…)
Let’s move through this intense week as children of God, beloved and bounded in time and space, not trying to do more than we can or should. Gratitude flows from a balanced perspective on who we are, who we are not, and how we are gifted. We can make this week more blessed than stressed.
© Kate Heichler, 2025. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.
11-26-21 - Alert!
You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here. Scroll down for news about an Advent "Spa for the Spirit" December 11.
Jesus certainly paints a frightening picture of the end times in the portion of Luke’s gospel we hear next Sunday. Perhaps his mood was colored by what was coming next for him – betrayal, arrest, trial, torture and execution, suffering the full range of human capacity for cruelty. But the apocalypse he foretells is one all of his followers would face. Whether that prophecy was realized in persecutions wrought by the Romans, or whether it is a cosmic cataclysm still to come, he urge them to stay alert and prayerful:
"Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”
The end of the world has come many a time upon people and families and communities and nations. It comes in natural disasters and in man-made horrors like war and famine. Haitian, Sudanese and Syrian people have been enduring it for far too long, to name just a few. Is there a final “end” for which we are to be ready at all times?
The early Christians thought so. They took Jesus’ words at face value and thought his return would be imminent. This assumption led some to religious rigor, and others to licentiousness – if the world is going to end any minute, why bother with rules? As weeks turned to years and then to decades, Christians realized they needed to focus on living in the now, releasing the power and joy that are our inheritance as beloved of God. So Paul, writing to the church in Thessalonika (in a passage appointed for Sunday), says:
"May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we abound in love for you. And may he so strengthen your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints."
This is another way to prepare ourselves to “stand before the Son of Man” – to learn to love more wholly, to train our hearts in the ways of holiness, to practice repentance and forgiveness, and excel at showing love and hospitality when it is challenging to do so.
We don’t have to wait for the end of the world to stand before Jesus, though one day, we’re told, this present reality will end and we will face him as judge. If we turn our hearts toward that relationship in the here and now, the “then and later” will become something to anticipate, not to fear, no matter how traumatically it occurs.
Practice in your prayer today. Stand before Jesus and say, “Make me ready. Make me ready for your life in and around me.” I believe he will answer that prayer in amazing and wondrous ways.
Jesus certainly paints a frightening picture of the end times in the portion of Luke’s gospel we hear next Sunday. Perhaps his mood was colored by what was coming next for him – betrayal, arrest, trial, torture and execution, suffering the full range of human capacity for cruelty. But the apocalypse he foretells is one all of his followers would face. Whether that prophecy was realized in persecutions wrought by the Romans, or whether it is a cosmic cataclysm still to come, he urge them to stay alert and prayerful:
"Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”
The end of the world has come many a time upon people and families and communities and nations. It comes in natural disasters and in man-made horrors like war and famine. Haitian, Sudanese and Syrian people have been enduring it for far too long, to name just a few. Is there a final “end” for which we are to be ready at all times?
The early Christians thought so. They took Jesus’ words at face value and thought his return would be imminent. This assumption led some to religious rigor, and others to licentiousness – if the world is going to end any minute, why bother with rules? As weeks turned to years and then to decades, Christians realized they needed to focus on living in the now, releasing the power and joy that are our inheritance as beloved of God. So Paul, writing to the church in Thessalonika (in a passage appointed for Sunday), says:
"May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we abound in love for you. And may he so strengthen your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints."
This is another way to prepare ourselves to “stand before the Son of Man” – to learn to love more wholly, to train our hearts in the ways of holiness, to practice repentance and forgiveness, and excel at showing love and hospitality when it is challenging to do so.
We don’t have to wait for the end of the world to stand before Jesus, though one day, we’re told, this present reality will end and we will face him as judge. If we turn our hearts toward that relationship in the here and now, the “then and later” will become something to anticipate, not to fear, no matter how traumatically it occurs.
Practice in your prayer today. Stand before Jesus and say, “Make me ready. Make me ready for your life in and around me.” I believe he will answer that prayer in amazing and wondrous ways.
To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Next Sunday’s readings are here. Water Daily is now a podcast! Subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.
Advent Spa for the Spirit - Saturday, December 11
Taking the Advent theme of awakening, we'll explore how we can wake to the still voice in our own spirits, to the lives of others, and to the Life of God all around us.
We'll gather on Zoom at 9 and be done around noon. You can register here - more information and the link will be sent. Please invite others who may like to come.
11-2-20 - Drowsy Bridesmaids
You can listen to this reflection here.
This coming Sunday, we hear one of Jesus’ more confusing stories, about the wise and foolish bridesmaids. No, this isn’t the Kristen Wiig flick of a some years ago; this is Jesus telling a story to explain something he’d told his followers: “Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.” (Matthew 24:42)
To teach them about being prepared, Jesus compares God’s realm to bridesmaids awaiting a tardy bridegroom:
“Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept.”
So, why were the bridesmaids going to meet the bridegroom? Where was the bride? And why did they need lamps? The story makes more sense if we know a little about what scholars think might have been marriage customs in Jesus’ day. Some say that in and around Bethlehem, in the time of Jesus and later, wedding processions would go through the towns at night. Bridesmaids would greet the bridegroom and escort him to the bride, dancing with lit torches.
If so, the “lamps” in the story were really more like torches, rags soaked in oil and put in a bowl on a stick. Once lit, they’d last about 15 minutes, and then more oil would be needed to keep them lit, because the dance was longer than that. Maybe that’s why these wise bridesmaids had not only their lamps, but extra oil, so they could do the whole fire dance, whereas the foolish, shortsighted ones would be unable to fulfill their dance.
It’s a good metaphor for being faithful and ready – especially for disciples called to be bearers of light, bearers of the One who said he was the light of the world. Today let’s play with the image of being ready when what we’re waiting for seems so long in coming (election outcome, anyone?). We can sympathize with the bridesmaids becoming drowsy and dropping off to sleep. How often do we feel that God is too long in coming, or too long in answering our prayers in a way we desire to see?
The bridesmaids' drowsiness might represent a spiritual condition called “acidie,” a kind of spiritual ennui, when our love for God has grown tepid, nothing feels fresh or passionate. Protracted pandemic, rampant racism, debilitating division, anxious anger can foster such feelings. If our relationship with God is lukewarm, it’s hard to praise, hard to get excited about service or sharing our faith with others. Living so far from the events we read about in the Gospels, it can all seem ho-hum unless we have new encounters with Jesus in prayer and worship and service.
If that’s where you are, tell Jesus that in prayer. If you are in a more connected, passionate faith place, rejoice in that. Either way, spend some time with today with the One whom John the Baptist referred to as the Bridegroom.
We are invited this week – and always – to take on the mantle of bridesmaid, one who dances the Bridegroom to his bride. In Christian metaphor, the bride is the Church. What might it mean to dance Jesus to his church, which so badly needs him now?
This coming Sunday, we hear one of Jesus’ more confusing stories, about the wise and foolish bridesmaids. No, this isn’t the Kristen Wiig flick of a some years ago; this is Jesus telling a story to explain something he’d told his followers: “Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.” (Matthew 24:42)
To teach them about being prepared, Jesus compares God’s realm to bridesmaids awaiting a tardy bridegroom:
“Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept.”
So, why were the bridesmaids going to meet the bridegroom? Where was the bride? And why did they need lamps? The story makes more sense if we know a little about what scholars think might have been marriage customs in Jesus’ day. Some say that in and around Bethlehem, in the time of Jesus and later, wedding processions would go through the towns at night. Bridesmaids would greet the bridegroom and escort him to the bride, dancing with lit torches.
If so, the “lamps” in the story were really more like torches, rags soaked in oil and put in a bowl on a stick. Once lit, they’d last about 15 minutes, and then more oil would be needed to keep them lit, because the dance was longer than that. Maybe that’s why these wise bridesmaids had not only their lamps, but extra oil, so they could do the whole fire dance, whereas the foolish, shortsighted ones would be unable to fulfill their dance.
It’s a good metaphor for being faithful and ready – especially for disciples called to be bearers of light, bearers of the One who said he was the light of the world. Today let’s play with the image of being ready when what we’re waiting for seems so long in coming (election outcome, anyone?). We can sympathize with the bridesmaids becoming drowsy and dropping off to sleep. How often do we feel that God is too long in coming, or too long in answering our prayers in a way we desire to see?
The bridesmaids' drowsiness might represent a spiritual condition called “acidie,” a kind of spiritual ennui, when our love for God has grown tepid, nothing feels fresh or passionate. Protracted pandemic, rampant racism, debilitating division, anxious anger can foster such feelings. If our relationship with God is lukewarm, it’s hard to praise, hard to get excited about service or sharing our faith with others. Living so far from the events we read about in the Gospels, it can all seem ho-hum unless we have new encounters with Jesus in prayer and worship and service.
If that’s where you are, tell Jesus that in prayer. If you are in a more connected, passionate faith place, rejoice in that. Either way, spend some time with today with the One whom John the Baptist referred to as the Bridegroom.
We are invited this week – and always – to take on the mantle of bridesmaid, one who dances the Bridegroom to his bride. In Christian metaphor, the bride is the Church. What might it mean to dance Jesus to his church, which so badly needs him now?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)