The Twenty- Fourth Sunday After Pentecost - The Rev. Colette Hammesfahr - Matthew 25:1-13

 

November 7, 2026 - Matthew 25:1-13

Lillian Weber was a 96-year-old woman living in Bettendorf, Iowa. She believed that even at her age, she still had something important to offer the world. Her mother taught her to sew when she was eight years old. Over the years she used that skill to make clothes for herself and her family. She even made her children’s school uniforms.

While reading the newspaper, she saw an advertisement from an organization called Little Dresses for Africa. It was a Christian nonprofit that was looking for volunteers to sew dresses for girls in Africa. The dresses were distributed through churches, schools, and orphanages. Lillian thought, “I can probably do that,” and she decided to help.
            Every morning she sat down at her sewing machine and began making a dress. She would work through the morning, take a break for lunch, and finish the dress in the afternoon. She said she could have made two dresses a day, but she wanted to give each dress special attention, so she opted to make one. She didn’t just sew a plain dress and send it away. She added lace, ribbons, flowers, and other decorations so that every dress would be a little different. Lillian understood that she wasn’t simply making clothing. She was making something that would help a little girl feel beautiful, valued, and loved.

I wonder how many of us have talents like Lillian’s. Things we’ve been doing for so long that we don’t even think of them as gifts anymore. Maybe it’s cooking, organizing, teaching, fixing things, or simply knowing how to make someone feel welcome. We may not think those things are particularly special, but in God’s hands, even the most ordinary gifts can become something beautiful.

In our Old Testament reading today, Joshua gathers the people of Israel together and asks them to make a choice. After reminding them of everything God has done for them, Joshua says, “Choose this day whom you will serve.” Notice that Joshua doesn’t ask what they are good at. He doesn’t ask them how much they have or how much they’re willing to give. He asks them whom they will serve. Because serving God begins with a choice. It’s a choice we make over and over again, in the ordinary moments of our lives.

That’s what Lillian did when she sat down at her sewing machine each morning. She made a choice to use something she already knew how to do for someone who needed it.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells us a parable about ten bridesmaids who are waiting for the bridegroom to arrive. All ten have been invited to the wedding. All ten bring their lamps. All ten are waiting for the same thing. But there is an important difference. Five of them bring extra oil for their lamps and five of them don’t.

When the bridegroom is late, all ten bridesmaids fall asleep. When he finally arrives in the middle of the night, only five are prepared to welcome him. The others leave to go find more oil. By the time they return, the door to the wedding celebration has been shut. Jesus ends the parable with a warning, “Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”

All the bridesmaids fell asleep so Jesus can’t be talking about staying physically awake. He’s talking about being ready. Being prepared when the moment comes. There’s a connection here to the choices we make about how we serve God.

We can have the best intentions in the world. We can think about volunteering. We can want to help someone or want to get involved in a ministry. We can tell ourselves that one day, when we have more time, we’ll do something. But sometimes that day never comes.

The five wise bridesmaids didn’t wait until the bridegroom arrived to think about what they needed. They prepared ahead of time. What about us? Are we waiting for the right opportunity to serve God, or are we preparing ourselves to recognize and respond to the opportunities that are already around us? Sometimes God doesn’t ask us to do something extraordinary. Sometimes God simply asks us to use what we’ve already been given.

Something else that is important here is to recognize that the bridesmaids weren’t responsible for making the wedding happen. They didn’t have a hand in planning it. They were simply invited to be part of something that was already taking place. This is how God works in our lives. God is already at work in the world around us. God is bringing hope to people who are discouraged, comfort to people who are hurting, and love to people who feel forgotten. God is at work in our church, in our community and in places we may never see. And God invites us to be part of that work. God invites us to pay attention and notice where God is already at work and how we can be part of it.

We don’t have to do everything. We don’t all have to do the same thing. But each of us has something to offer. That’s what our stewardship theme, “Let’s Make Something Beautiful,” is really about. It’s not that God is waiting for us to create something beautiful on our own. God is already at work. The invitation is for us to join in, using the time and talents we’ve been given. And, sometimes all it takes is recognizing an opportunity and saying, “I can probably do that.”

At the age of 99, Lillian Weber was completing dress number 854. She set herself a goal of completing 1,000 dresses by her 100^th birthday. She reached that goal, almost two months early. And she didn’t stop. By her 100^th birthday she had made 1,051 dresses. She continued sewing until she died, one day before her 101^st birthday. In total, Lillian made 1,234 dresses.

What’s so special about her story is that she saw her work as a calling from God. She wasn’t trying to become famous. She wasn’t looking for recognition. She had a talent that she developed over her entire life, and she found a way to use it for someone else. And what’s so special is that she didn’t do the work alone. Her daughters helped cut the fabric. Residents of a nearby senior community started sewing dresses for the organization. Her ordinary gift became something extraordinary.

Joshua asks us to choose whom we will serve. Jesus asks us whether we're ready to live out that choice. God is at work making something beautiful. Now, the questions are, “Are we paying attention? And, “Are we willing to be part of it?  Amen.