Sunday's Message - Don’t Be Like Prufrock

Here's the message I offered during the celebration services in First Presbyterian Church, Brilliant, Ohio and that Presbyterian Church of Hopedale, Ohio, on Sunday, November 8, 2020.

Matthew 25:1-13 [Contemporary English Version]

The kingdom of heaven is like what happened one night when ten girls took their oil lamps and went to a wedding to meet the groom. Five of the girls were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps, but no extra oil. The ones who were wise took along extra oil for their lamps.

The groom was late arriving, and the girls became drowsy and fell asleep. Then in the middle of the night someone shouted, “Here’s the groom! Come to meet him!”

When the girls got up and started getting their lamps ready, the foolish ones said to the others, “Let us have some of your oil! Our lamps are going out.”

The girls who were wise answered, “There’s not enough oil for all of us! Go and buy some for yourselves.”

While the foolish girls were on their way to get some oil, the groom arrived. The girls who were ready went into the wedding, and the doors were closed. Later the other girls returned and shouted, “Sir, sir! Open the door for us!”

But the groom replied, “I don’t even know you!”

So, my disciples, always be ready! You don’t know the day or the time when all this will happen.

Don’t Be Like Prufrock

Now, y’all may not know this about me, but I’ve always enjoyed poetry. Of course, to be completely honest, there’s a difference between “enjoy” and “love.” And the reason I can’t say I love it is, well, often I don’t understand the poems themselves. But give me something by Edgar Allen Poe or Edwin Arlington Robinson or my gosh, Robert Frost; I’m telling you, that’s good stuff. I mean, how can you beat Frost’s “Fire and Ice”: 

Some say the world will end in fire,

Some say in ice.

From what I’ve tasted of desire

I hold with those who favor fire.

But if it had to perish twice,

I think I know enough of hate

To say that for destruction ice

Is also great

And would suffice.

Now you tell me that doesn’t hit the bull’s eye now-a-days.

But you know, as much as I enjoy these other guys, my all-time favorite poet is an Englishman named T.S. Elliot. Now, to me, his stuff is great. As a matter of fact, if you’ve ever heard of the musical Cats, most of the lyrics are right from a collection of poems he wrote for a cat-loving friend. And whenever I read the “Journey of the Magi,” I’ve got to tell you, it gives me chills. But of everything he wrote, the poem that means the most to me personally is the very first one he published, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.” And I’ll tell you, maybe the reason it’s meant so much to me is that I can sort of identify with it, and that fact really scares me.

Now if you don’t already know, the poem is about a man, J. Alfred Prufrock, who lives his life assuming there’ll always be time to do the things he knows he should be doing. For example, he says: 

There will be time, there will be time

To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;

There will be time to murder and create,

And time for all the works and days of hands

That lift and drop a question on your plate;

Time for you and time for me,

And time yet for a hundred indecisions,

And for a hundred visions and revisions,

Before the taking of a toast and tea.

You see, for him, there’ll always be time.  And because that’s what he believes, J. Alfred Prufrock does nothing, and that’s reflected in how he sees his life. In fact, at one point, he states, “I have measured out my life with coffee spoons,” and at another, he says, 

I should have been a pair of ragged claws 

Scuttling across the floors of silent seas.

You see, he believes that there’s nothing that must be done today that can’t be put off until tomorrow, and since tomorrow never really comes; you get the idea.

And like I said, I can kind of identify with that attitude, and frankly, sometimes that really scares me. But let’s get real, I don’t think I’m all that unique. I mean, don’t a lot of folks, don’t a lot of us sort of make that same assumption? And not only do we do it in our everyday lives, I think it’s also true in the way we approach how we live as Christians. I mean, I believe we all know what we’re suppose to do, right? Christ said we should love God and love our neighbors. And how can we show love to our neighbors? Well, we can do that by feeding the hungry and providing something to drink for thirsty. We can welcome the stranger and clothe the naked. And we can care for folks who are sick and visit people in prison. My gosh, that’s what Jesus will say a little bit later in chapter 25. You see, this is something we already know, right? And so here’s the $64 question: why are we, why am I not doing those things today? Good question. And the answer, man, we’ll have the time to do them tomorrow, right? And we’ll have the ability to do them after the holidays, right? And we’ll have the means to do them when this pandemic breaks, right? Like Prufrock said, “There will be time.” And of course, he’s right, that is until he’s not, until we’re not, until I’m not. I mean, things happen. And situations change. And options disappear. And then, when it comes to living the kind of lives we have the opportunity to live right now, well, we’re about as useful as a crab at the bottom of the ocean. We’ve just plain lost our chance.

And you know, isn’t that the very thing Jesus described in the passage we read this morning, you know, the one about the “...ten girls [who] took their oil lamps and went to a wedding to meet the groom.” Remember Jesus said five of those young ladies were foolish, because they “...took their lamps, but no extra oil.” Of course, I don’t know about y’all, but I can understand why they did that. Man, they made the same kind of assumptions we make about our time and our abilities and our means, didn’t they? I mean, they must have assumed that the bride groom would come on time, right? And they must have assumed that they had plenty of oil, right? And they must have assumed that they’d have an even better time at the party without worrying about all that extra oil they’d brought, right? Now that’s what I think they probably assumed. And everything would have been frozen peaches and cream, if those assumptions had been true. There was just one problem; they weren’t. The bride groom was late. And those five girls ran out of oil for their lamps. And as they were scrambling around trying to get more, they were locked out of the party. Sorry about your luck. Of course, this had nothing to do with luck.

And that was shown by the other five girls Jesus mentioned in the same story. You see, instead of assuming that everything would just work out the way they expected, these young ladies made a pretty important decision and took some pretty definite action. I mean, think about it, they decided that they weren’t going to assume that the groom would be on schedule; therefore, they already had all oil they needed; therefore, they were going to enter the party with their lamps lit. In other words, they decided not to view their oil like we often view our time and our abilities and our means. Instead, they simply brought more oil then they thought they needed. And so, when the groom was delayed, they were prepared. And when he finally came, they were ready to wake up, grab their lamps and start to party down. And isn’t that exactly what happened? Jesus said, “While the foolish girls were on their way to get some oil, the groom arrived. The girls who were ready went into the wedding, and the doors were closed.” [Matthew 25:10, CEV]

And I’ll tell you, I think even Jesus knew that the story applies to us, because at the very end, he said, “So, my disciples, always be ready! You don’t know the day or the time when all this will happen.” [Matthew 25:13, CEV] You see, there’s really no reason why we should be like any one of those five foolish girls. Instead, as it relates to what God has called us to do, we can reject some of those assumptions we just love to make. For example, we can reject the assumption that we’ll always have time, because let’s face it, we don’t. Just yesterday, I heard about a friend of mine over in Weirton, not much older than me, who died of COVID-related causes. Whether it’s because Jesus comes down here or we’re called up there, our time here on earth is limited, and we’re certainly being foolish if we assume it’s not. And as to our abilities, we’re a pretty mature bunch here this morning. Let me ask you, how many of y’all are in the same physical shape you were in, let’s say, thirty years ago? I’m not. Is your memory as good as it was when you were twenty-five? Mine isn’t. And even though we’ve acquired a whole pile of wisdom along the way, right now, have we done all those things we wanted to accomplish when we were young, looking into the future? I haven’t. Let’s just say our abilities change as time passes. And when you’re talking about means or maybe better, money, personally, I’ve got a daughter in college, a new hot water heater that we had to purchased in the summer, a roof that will be replaced in the next couple of weeks, and my severance package, which includes health insurance, will end at the beginning of February. Happy days. My means are limited, and I believe so are yours. And to assume that all three things are without limit, man, that would be foolish, wouldn’t it? We need to reject the assumptions.

But that’s not all we can do. Once we’ve removed the rose colored glasses, we can start taking action right now, you know, just like those wise girls in the story. For example, at this moment, we’re all above ground, right? Then let’s make use of the time we’ve been given to do something that brings glory to God and shows love to our neighbors. And even though we may not be as strong or as sharp as we were, we can still call someone who might be a little lonely. And we can still offer help to a family that’s grieving a lost. Man, we can still do something as simple as smile when we pass someone on the street. And I’ll tell you, those are some things we can do even when our bank accounts are on the low side. You see, we can use what we have right now. Instead of worrying about what we’ve lost or focusing on what we might get, we can take the time and the talents and the money we have right at this moment and to use them as best we can to make the world around us a better place. And I’ll tell you, if we do, if we claim the opportunities we now have, we’re going to find that the party is better than we may have thought on our best day.

As a matter of fact, I think we’re going to feel a sense of satisfaction and fulfillment that, sadly, our friend from the poem never felt. I mean, remember how I started this by talking about “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” and how he lived his life assuming there would always be time. Well, just listen to how the poem ends:

I grow old ... I grow old ...I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.

Shall I part my hair behind?   

Do I dare to eat a peach?

I shall wear white flannel trousers, 

and walk upon the beach.

I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.

I do not think that they will sing to me.

I have seen them riding seaward on the waves

Combing the white hair of the waves blown back

When the wind blows the water white and black.

We have lingered in the chambers of the sea

By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown

Till human voices wake us, and we drown.

Brothers and sisters, reject the assumptions. Claim the opportunities. And for heaven’s sake, don’t be like Prufrock.