(Matthew 25:1-13)

1"At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. 4The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. 5The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep. 6"At midnight the cry rang out: 'Here's the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!' 7"Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. 8The foolish ones said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.' 9" 'No,' they replied, 'there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.' 10"But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut. 11"Later the others also came. 'Sir! Sir!' they said. 'Open the door for us!' 12"But he replied, 'I tell you the truth, I don't know you.' 13"Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.

I have read recently a remarkable book written by Archbishop Rowan Williams on language, faith and fiction in Dostoevsky. My first thought was what was he doing taking a two month sabbatical in America and writing a book on a Russian author from 150 years ago. Most people will not have read Dostoevsky's novels; let alone want to read a commentary.

Religion has been the ultimate 'come back King' in terms of public reporting. However, the renewal of interest has been driven by Islam fundamentalism and atheist extremism (as in Richard Dawkins (2006) The God Delusion). New Atheism has put the boot into religion saying that the question on which faith stands or falls is whether or not God exists. The Anglican Church is split by arguments over the possibility of female Bishops and the blessing of same sex marriages. The liberal American north and the developing evangelical south fight it out for power.

Rt Rev Rowan Williams' answer is to write a book on Dostoevsky posing the question of what a life of faith might look like in practice. The Archbishop is not pithy and media friendly but [I would say that] what he has done in writing this book is an act of genius. He wants to shift the entire debate. He is saying that 'Does God exist?' is the wrong question to be asking. If the question of God were unequivocally answered the only thing that would be achieved would be for human freedom to be lost. Religion would no longer be compelling but compulsory.

The Archbishop is suggesting that the key question for religion is what it might be to live a life of faith? What does it mean to be living a life of faith in Shepherds Bush (& White City)? What do we owe to those among whom we live? How do I respond when someone is angry with me? What should I do if I am aware that someone is struggling On an international level, why is the world so unfair with the deep divide between rich and poor?

What does it mean to be a Christian believer on Remembrance Sunday when we remember the millions of people who died during the two great wars (1914-18 & 1939-45)? This is not to mention the wars that have happened since and the fighting that continues in Iraq and Afghanistan. British troops on the front line in Afghanistan are suffering the highest fatality rate since the Second World War.

It is easy to take comfort in story of people's bravery but this is not enough. On October 16, 1918, near St. Juvin, France, Private Duffy, together with a comrade, voluntarily, went out into "No Man's Land," and under heavy enemy fire, brought in eight wounded comrades, who were helpless and exposed to this fire. In order to perform this heroic act it was necessary to make several trips into "No Man's Land."

When we believe that someone has treated us badly, the instinctive thing to want to do is to bring it into our own frame of reference. This is why we announce indignantly such sentences as 'Do you know what s/he did to me?' This is our way of making sense of what happened? Wars cannot be dealt with in this way. The brutal reality of people killing each other is too horrible. How do we respond to war? The short answer is that it leaves us with a form of suspended disbelief; we are left with a sense of madness as we try to understand how these things might have happened. They are not things to be absorbed, accepted and normalised as a part of the way the world is. The memorial inscription at Auschwitz says it all 'O Earth Cover not their blood'. Sometimes, such as today on Remembrance Sunday, it takes more courage to recognise that there is not an easy answer and that we should live with the strange awfulness of the two great wars.

Today is the 90th anniversary of the first Great War. Sydney Lucas, who joined the Sherwood Foresters regiment just three months before the end of the conflict in 1918, has just died at the age of 108. His death leaves the number of known British veterans of the Great War at four, including one man who also lives in Australia. The three surviving veterans - Henry Allingham, 112, Harry Patch, 110 and Bill Stone, 108, - are expected to lead a two minute silence at the Cenotaph on London at 11am on Tuesday, Nov 11 - exactly 90 years after the moment in which the Armistice between Germany and the allies was signed ending four years of carnage.

How do we remember these events? Thankfully the truth of Christ cannot be put in a box and packaged and parcelled as a 'normal' way of looking at the world and herein lies the basis of our hope. Sometimes it is better to wait as do the wise and foolish virgins do in this story. Waiting is not an excuse for laziness or inactivity. The virgins who don't bring enough oil can't simply borrow from the others because there would not be enough oil to go round. They are then barred from entering the wedding feast (Mt 25:10).

Waiting is a form of listening and here we are listening to the past. Isaiah tells the Israelites to slow down and to put their trust in God. In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength (Is 30:15). In Elijah's confrontation with the prophets of Baal, God was not in the powerful wind, or the earthquake or the fire. Instead God was in the gentle whisper (1 Kings 19:12).

Waiting is an act of trust and love. If I stop talking for a short time, you will wait for me to start again. If I stop talking for a long period you may wonder what I am doing. I was speaking at a conference and waited for people to ask questions. No one asked a question and so I waited. After a while began to feel uneasy at the silence. They expected me to start talking again but I waited. Gradually the silence turned comfortable and people felt happy to sit and think together. People had time to sit and ponder what I had said. Then when someone finally did ask a question, we had become a community of learning and the discussion did not stop until the end of the session. Today on Remembrance Sunday are we prepared to sit and wait and pray that beyond the madness of war there is a loving God in whom we can trust?