 Be Ready35 “Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, 36 and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. 37 Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them. 38 If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants! 39 But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into. 40 You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” Luke 12:35-40 This morning I attended the Men’s Breakfast at our church. The subject of discussion was the passage above and specifically “Readiness”. It was an edifying conversation that stuck with me and became the inspiration for this devotion. The imperative to be ready in this passage is set within a parable Jesus told about a master who was away for a wedding feast but would return at an unknown, unexpected time. Regardless of the uncertainty of his return it was the responsibility of the servants to be ready when he came back. All was to be ready for him when he knocked. Being ready is described with two metaphors. The first is to be dressed for action. While this involves physical clothing, it is more about the mental state of the servant than anything else. Think about it this way. The way you dress in the morning for your day is determined by what you plan to do (a mental exercise). If you are going to work in the yard you will put on work boots, jeans and a T-shirt. If you are going to the office you will dress professionally, a jacket, button down shirt, and slacks. If you are going to the gym…. Well, you get the idea. What you plan to do will determine your dress. Likewise, spiritually speaking, we are to be mentally prepared for what God calls us to do and dress appropriately. Following the dress metaphor into the rest of the Scriptures gives us a clue as to how to dress. First, we might think of the robes of Christ’s righteousness given to us in baptism. This reminds us that our dress is a gift of God’s grace. Here we find our salvation and identity as a child of God. Then we might think of other spiritual qualities that the Scriptures identify when they encourage us to “put on” various dress:
All of this clothing, also a gift from God, prepares us for action that we might serve until our Lord’s return and be ready to welcome him back. The second metaphor that describes readiness is to keep your lamps burning. In the Scriptures oil is often associated with the Holy Spirit. Likewise, a burning light is associated with active faith or good works. Jesus said, “let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16) Again, readiness is like a burning oil lamp, it starts with the Holy Spirit’s work in us and results in active faith in the world. It is noteworthy that the imperatives in vs. 35 are also in the present tense meaning that the action is to be ongoing or continuous action. So, stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning. This is a warning to avoid drowsiness, or laziness, or the failure to prepare. The Christian is to be always ready to serve and welcome home his/her Lord. Such readiness is met with blessing. In an unexpected twist, the servants that are ready and welcome home their master find themselves at table being served by the master! He dresses himself for service and serves the servants! Where else does something like that happen except in the kingdom of God. It illustrates that our Lord is a servant king who gives himself that we might partake of his riches. What a joy and blessing it is to be a servant in his kingdom. How eager we can be to be ready, to stay dressed for action and keep our lamps burning. District Update Congregational News
Events The Spring 2026 Pastor Conference will be held at the Erdman Center at Princeton Theological Seminary on May 18-20th. Dr. Joseph Terry (Ph.D., University of Nottingham), philosopher-theologian and educator in New York City, where he teaches at Kingsborough and York Colleges (CUNY) at the City University of New York, will be our speaker addressing the subject of The Church at the Crossroads of Theology and Technology. Registration materials will be sent out in January. SMP Koinonia. The Pacific Southwest (PSW) hosted a Koinonia event January 6-8 in Las Vegas around the topic of Pastoral Formation. Koinonia is the Greek word for “fellowship, sharing in common, or partnership”. The Koinonia Project is a method of bringing people together for discussion around a topic on which they have differing views. The topic of discussion at this event was whether training in residence (study while living at the seminary) or online training while in context (study online while living at home and serving in a parish, ex. SMP) is better for the formation of a pastor. Since the SMP Program is so important to the wellbeing of the NJD, we sent four pastors to be a part of the discussion; Pastors Dunbar, Hodges, Hass and Gewecke. The consensus coming out of the event is that we have a need for two pathways to ordination, one theoretical (residential, full Master of Divinity) and another practical (in context, half the credits hours but a quicker route to ordination). Disagreement came in the specifics of how, when, and who, as well as the concerns for a highly trained and well-formed clergy. The discussion was enlightening and encouraging but there is still much to be done to bring about agreement. Even though the event was in Las Vegas the saying “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” does not apply. Ask the pastors about their experience. I’m sure they will be happy to share. Upcoming SCC Events and Strategic Plan Task Forces Four additional congregations have indicated their desire to participate in Small Church Clarity (SCC). Participation will assist these congregations in ministry planning and prepare them for future Advanced Studies events and training. We are now half way through the training with our next events as follows:
The Strategic Plan Task Forces have been meeting and working on their goals. They will meet again Thursday March 12th at 7pm when finalized plans from the first step assignment will be shared. Synodical Convention 2026 The 2026 Synodical Convention will be held in Phoenix, AZ on July 18-23rd.
Conclusion
One might think of “being ready” as an Advent theme. Of course, it is, but the imperative to be continuously ready reminds us that we are to be ready in every season. So be ready in Advent and in Epiphany. Let your light, the light of Christ, shine. The Lord be with you, President/Bishop Gewecke |