In today's sermon we looked at the parable of the 10 virgins - five wise and five foolish. The wedding custom of the groom delaying his coming until midnight and the bridesmaids escorting him with lamps seems very strange to us, but check out the strangeness of the wedding customs in this link http://list25.com/25-extremely-strange-wedding-traditions/ . No matter how strange the customs are though, it is always very important for the bride and groom to follow them and very serious if they don't.

Jesus wanted us to think about this parable and compare it with the coming kingdom of heaven. The main point for us is that just as the bridesmaids (virgins) had to be prepared for the groom's coming, even more we have to be prepared for Christ's coming. The virgins knew the day, but not the hour of the groom's coming, so they could leave their preparations late. We know neither the day or the hour so we need to be always prepared for Christ's coming.

We also even need to be more prepared as we are not bridesmaids, but the bride of Christ.

May we be prepared in pure garments of white, covered by the blood of Christ and walking in righteousness. Let’s always follow the Lord’s ‘customs’ (commandments).