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“Less dependent on foreign oil”: Reflections on Matthew 25: 1-13
posted Thursday, 17 November 2005
“Less dependent on foreign oil”: Reflections on Matthew 25: 1-13
On Thursday 10 November 2005 GOP leaders in the United State’s House of Representatives pulled a proposal from their latest budget to open drilling in the Alaskan National Wildlife Arctic Reserve (ANWAR). This is another set back all be it temporary for Brother Bush who favors drilling in the Alaskan Costal region as a means to become less dependent on foreign oil. He is not the only politician to be making the case for oil independency. Even Kerry took up the language of “less dependent on foreign oil” in his stump speech during the 2000 election.
As a progressive evangelical I too am concerned about our dependence on oil, but I am disturbed by our rhetoric calling for less dependence on foreign oil. I think we should be more dependent on foreign oil not less.
First thing that I wish we would do is wake up to the fact that oil is a limited resource demanding our stewardship. We need to be more conservative in the way we consume it. We need to be more aware that our vicious appetite for petrol impacts our neighbors environmentally, socially, economically, and spiritually. I applaud policy makers that are encouraging advance technologies to help us be more conservative in our use of energy and better stewards of God’s gifts, but not as a means to move toward energy independence. We are called as Christians to love our neighbors and this means that we don’t turn our backs on them in a quest for independence. Loving our neighbors means that we share and trade with them in a way that honors them and looks out for their wellbeing. So I literally mean that we need to be more dependent not less on foreign oil, but we defiantly need to be more responsible in our interdependence.
But I am not really an economist or policy maker so let me move back to theology and the scripture. Jesus tells us about 10 bridesmaids, 5 foolish and 5 wise. The foolish brought no oil for their lamps for their wait for the bridegroom. The wise of course were prepared with flasks of oil for their lamps as they waited. Since the bridegroom was delayed, THEY ALL fell asleep only to wake when someone says, “look the bridegroom is coming” in the middle of the night. But just when a voice calls out in the night reminding us to look for the bridegroom, and reminding us just why we are here in the first place, to hope for and trust in Jesus the bridesmaids get distracted by their consumption of oil.
We need to be more dependent on foreign oil not less dependent. More dependent on the energy that comes from God and less dependant on the energy that comes from us dug up from ANWAR or otherwise. This is the foreign energy that we receive in the Holy Spirit. This is the foreign oil that anoints our heads and seals us as the people of God at baptism.
The bridesmaids hope shifts to their oil reserves as they trim their lamps. I wonder if they were trimming their lamps so they could see the bridegroom coming or so the bridegroom could see them. Assuming they were in the appointed place outside the wedding hall why would they worry about domestic oil to keep the lamps lit when the ONE who brings oil to anoint our head and fill our cups to over flowing is on the way. Why misplace our trust and hope in a limited resource in such away that makes us turn our back on our neighbors in our refusal to share, or a quest for oil independence.
Generally, I have taken the Boy Scout gospel from this passage, be prepared, but is this really the good news? Jesus ends his parable with this, “Keep awake, for you know neither the day nor they hour when [the Son of Man] is coming”, not “be prepared”. Keep awake he tells us because like all the bridesmaids we have a propensity to slip into a spiritual slumber as we misplace our hope in our domestic sources of energy rather than the bridegroom that is coming.
Pastor Bill
SOP
Traverse City, MI
On Thursday 10 November 2005 GOP leaders in the United State’s House of Representatives pulled a proposal from their latest budget to open drilling in the Alaskan National Wildlife Arctic Reserve (ANWAR). This is another set back all be it temporary for Brother Bush who favors drilling in the Alaskan Costal region as a means to become less dependent on foreign oil. He is not the only politician to be making the case for oil independency. Even Kerry took up the language of “less dependent on foreign oil” in his stump speech during the 2000 election.
As a progressive evangelical I too am concerned about our dependence on oil, but I am disturbed by our rhetoric calling for less dependence on foreign oil. I think we should be more dependent on foreign oil not less.
First thing that I wish we would do is wake up to the fact that oil is a limited resource demanding our stewardship. We need to be more conservative in the way we consume it. We need to be more aware that our vicious appetite for petrol impacts our neighbors environmentally, socially, economically, and spiritually. I applaud policy makers that are encouraging advance technologies to help us be more conservative in our use of energy and better stewards of God’s gifts, but not as a means to move toward energy independence. We are called as Christians to love our neighbors and this means that we don’t turn our backs on them in a quest for independence. Loving our neighbors means that we share and trade with them in a way that honors them and looks out for their wellbeing. So I literally mean that we need to be more dependent not less on foreign oil, but we defiantly need to be more responsible in our interdependence.
But I am not really an economist or policy maker so let me move back to theology and the scripture. Jesus tells us about 10 bridesmaids, 5 foolish and 5 wise. The foolish brought no oil for their lamps for their wait for the bridegroom. The wise of course were prepared with flasks of oil for their lamps as they waited. Since the bridegroom was delayed, THEY ALL fell asleep only to wake when someone says, “look the bridegroom is coming” in the middle of the night. But just when a voice calls out in the night reminding us to look for the bridegroom, and reminding us just why we are here in the first place, to hope for and trust in Jesus the bridesmaids get distracted by their consumption of oil.
We need to be more dependent on foreign oil not less dependent. More dependent on the energy that comes from God and less dependant on the energy that comes from us dug up from ANWAR or otherwise. This is the foreign energy that we receive in the Holy Spirit. This is the foreign oil that anoints our heads and seals us as the people of God at baptism.
The bridesmaids hope shifts to their oil reserves as they trim their lamps. I wonder if they were trimming their lamps so they could see the bridegroom coming or so the bridegroom could see them. Assuming they were in the appointed place outside the wedding hall why would they worry about domestic oil to keep the lamps lit when the ONE who brings oil to anoint our head and fill our cups to over flowing is on the way. Why misplace our trust and hope in a limited resource in such away that makes us turn our back on our neighbors in our refusal to share, or a quest for oil independence.
Generally, I have taken the Boy Scout gospel from this passage, be prepared, but is this really the good news? Jesus ends his parable with this, “Keep awake, for you know neither the day nor they hour when [the Son of Man] is coming”, not “be prepared”. Keep awake he tells us because like all the bridesmaids we have a propensity to slip into a spiritual slumber as we misplace our hope in our domestic sources of energy rather than the bridegroom that is coming.
Pastor Bill
SOP
Traverse City, MI
Do you have anything scandalous to add?