Stop Robbing Me!

I need oil and instead I'm given pebbles and rocks.  Yes I know that my lamp* will still burn with the oil already inside even with the rocks included.  But see, I'm learning that my lamp burns much better with pure oil.  The light lightens my path so much clearer when there is more oil than rocks.  And when I go to where I think I will be given oil and instead I'm given rocks.  I'm mad.  I'm angry.  I feel robbed.

So stop it!  Please Pastor give me the pure oil.

I don't want to hear stories, however nice and funny, or ones I might even enjoy at a roast or a toast.  I want to hear Christ and Him crucified preached.

I don't want to hear personal commentary, just read to me the Word of the Lord as prescribed for that day's readings.

I don't want to hear about a generic God.  I want to hear about the loving, merciful, forgiving God who sent His Son Jesus Christ to bear my sin on the cross.

I don't want to sing some pseudo-spiritual.  I want to sing the hymns that tell me about Jesus and what He did for me.

Yes, give me Jesus and only Jesus.

Dare to be Lutheran and let the lovely Lutheran liturgy reign you in from giving me pebbles and rocks, and instead be the guide that gives you direction in how to give me Jesus.

The world, the devil, and my own so-very-sinful flesh throw ample rocks into my lamp.  I need you pastor and church to give me what I can't.  Give me oil for my lamp. Give me Jesus, and only Him, that my lamp may be filled and I not be caught without when the bridegroom comes.

*Thanks to Professor Marquardt who first explained to me in a seminary wive's class about lamps and oil and rocks.