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26 Pentecost
November 13, 2005
Sermon by Rev. Barb Hauck, Deacon
Readings
How will we tell the story?
This morning’s opening
collect undoubtedly sounded familiar to those who attend either our
Tuesday or Wednesday morning Bible Study sessions. That collect is one
we say together before we begin discussing the Scripture readings for
the coming Sunday. Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be
written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn,
and inwardly digest them, that we may embrace and ever hold fast the
blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior
Jesus Christ… Herbert O’Driscoll, in his book entitled Prayers for the
Breaking of Bread, a book of his reflections on the Sunday collects,
tells us that as Anglicans “our vocation is to eat and drink the meal
and tell the story.”1 Our vocation is to eat and drink the meal and to
tell the story. And as he further points out, in order to ‘tell the
story’ we must know the story – something which takes study.
There is much food for thought, and study, in today’s readings. The
prophet Zephaniah tells us what will happen to those who believe the
world is independent from an all-powerful deity. But Zephaniah is also
clear with God’s people that they will face hardship because of their
complacence and lackadaisical attitude toward the covenant. The Psalm
seems to be a response to the first reading, For we consume away in your
displeasure; we are afraid because of your wrathful indignation. Our
iniquities you have set before you, and our secret sins in the light of
your countenance. So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our
hearts to wisdom. Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians states that the
children of light can expect not wrath, but, rather, salvation when the
Lord returns. Yes… best we stay prepared and awake until the day of the
Lord is at hand.
Then there’s the gospel. Often we hear this parable of the ‘talents’…
which most of us know refers to a sum of money roughly equivalent to 15
years’ wages… and we think, “oh, no! Here comes the pitch for increasing
our pledges, again.” But if this passage of Scripture was, as our
collect tells us, “written for our learning,” we’d be well-advised to
spend some time with it… so that we might “hear it, read, mark, learn,
and inwardly digest it…” making it our own in a way that empowers us to
follow the vocation Herbert O’Driscoll tells us is ours – indeed,
compels us to tell the story.
Now we must remember that the readings we’ve heard these past few weeks
are from the portion of this gospel which depicts the last several days
of our Lord’s life. He’s already ridden into Jerusalem and he’s now
preparing his closest followers for what will be theirs to do once he’s
gone.
Jesus said, “For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his
slaves and entrusted his property to them...” Think of the Mediterranean
society of which Jesus, and the writer of this gospel, was a part. It
would have been very unusual for the very rich to trust ‘slaves’ with
such great sums of money. And what happened to those who returned more
to their master than had been given them? Did they get a cash bonus to
spend as they pleased? Did they get their picture in the newspaper with
an article commending them for their good work? Were they given a gold
watch… or a plaque to hang on their wall? Not exactly… ‘Well done, good
and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will
put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’
Their ‘bonus’ was more responsibility and experiencing their master’s
joy. Huh! Not exactly the ‘bonus’ most people in our day would expect or
appreciate.
And what about that third slave… what did he get? Well, he was chastised
and his one talent was taken from him and given to the slave whose
talents had multiplied the most. For to all those who have, more will be
given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing,
even what they have will be taken away. Whew! That’s really harsh,
coming from a man known for preaching love and forgiveness. What had the
man done to deserve this?
Well, perhaps this parable says more about what he didn’t do, rather
than what he did. The rich man had entrusted a gift valuable beyond our
wildest dreams to his slaves. The first two slaves had received these
precious gifts and had taken risks with them which resulted in greatly
increasing the gifts. The third slave, however, had trembled in fear –
and, rather than risk losing them (or risk increasing them like the
first two slaves, I might add), he buried them until his master’s
return. Rather than risk increasing them…? Now let’s think about that
for a moment -- who isn’t willing to risk increasing something of value?
If the number of people who put their money down on the lottery is any
indication, there aren’t many of us who hesitate to do that! But, wait a
minute. What if we weren’t taking a risk to increase our money? What
would our attitude toward taking a risk be then?
Not long ago I asked a friend, who is a member of another faith
tradition and whose giftedness is widely-known to consider being trained
now, in mid-life, as a youth minister. “No way!” she replied. Now all I
did was look at her, but apparently that was enough to remind her far
too much of others who had encouraged her at various points in her life,
and out through her teeth flew the words, “I don’t want to learn I have
hidden talents! I have more than enough to deal with right now.”
Like many of us who’ve been approached to do more, be more – folks
invited to host book groups, to serve as board members, to teach Sunday
School, to serve on committees, to develop their writing or public
speaking skills – my friend was having no part of it. She didn’t want to
know she could do anything more, be expected to become anything more,
feel responsible to be anything more. What she really wanted to do was
run away and bury the gifts she’d been given in the sterile ground of
her own self-imposed limitations. She told me she had no energy to try
to learn something new and besides that she was scared to death she’d
fail. It seemed that, more than anything she wanted to offload the
weight of responsibility she felt on her shoulders… and she wanted to be
surrounded by her security blanket – her belief that she’d already given
enough of herself and nothing more was necessary. Sounds like she had a
healthy portion of whatever was ailing that third slave inside her, too…
this was just too risky.
Let’s take a few moments to think of the people we’ve known who have
been risk-takers. We honor some of them today – our veterans who were
willing to risk their lives in service of their country – our country –
as well as all those who are serving to restore or preserve peace
throughout the world right now. There are others, as well… those who
have reduced their hours at work so that someone else might earn enough
to provide for their family… those who have given up comfortable jobs
with large salaries to work for non-profit agencies that serve the
homeless and hungry… those who have left the security of life in this
country to serve as Peace Corps volunteers in areas of the world ravaged
by poverty, famine, war. Now I don’t imagine any of these folks are
fearless yahoos – however, it is clear they are not controlled by their
fears.
But what about us? Jesus used this parable as he prepared his closest
followers for what they would need to do once he was gone. We are Jesus’
disciples, too… so this parable is also meant for us. It might be useful
for us to consider who we are most like in the parable.
Given the abundant blessings in our lives, perhaps some of us see
ourselves in the man going on a trip… trusting others with all that we
are and all that we have. If that is our perspective, how do we think
others view us – as a community willing to risk what we hold as precious
in the hope that by letting loose of the strings attached to it we will
see it grow and flourish… or as a community watching over the shoulders
of those to whom we’ve entrusted our riches to be sure they are
responding as we would like? Others among us may see our reflection in
the first two slaves. If that is the case, we likely see God as a
Creator who loves us and empowers us to embrace life for all it’s worth
– playing our part with confidence, willing – even eager – to risk the
pain of failure, the pain of spiritual growth, and yes… even the
discomfort that can come with success. To all those who have, more will
be given, and they will have an abundance… On the other hand, if, when
we look in the mirror we see the last slave, our view of God may more
closely resemble a harsh taskmaster… one who’s just waiting for us to
slip up and make mistakes… one who gets excited at the prospect of
punishing us – causing us to respond by approaching life with fear and
trepidation, our knees knocking, hands sweating, running to hide and
bury our talents (whatever they may be) every time. Whatever part we
might have played in life will be gone, because we’ll have been too
afraid to risk participating. From those who have nothing, even what
they have will be taken away.
Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our
learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly
digest them, that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of
everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ… In
light of this gospel reading through which Jesus was teaching his
closest followers what would be theirs to do once he was gone, what have
we learned about ourselves and our relationship with God? As disciples,
how prepared are we to do whatever God calls us to do? What are we
willing to risk losing… or increasing… to follow our Lord? How much are
we willing to risk investing (financially and otherwise) in the Lord’s
work – simply in gratitude for the abundant blessings God bestows upon
us and for the gift of God’s love which sustains us?
When we come forward to eat and drink the meal this morning, I pray that
each of us will consider how we might tell this story to others. Would
we share a vision of God as a harsh taskmaster, just waiting for us to
screw up? Or would we share a vision of God as one who loves us, wants
only what’s best for us, and is with us whether we succeed or fail? And
what part will we play in the story – are we willing to risk learning we
have “hidden talents” that might result in more responsibility for us as
individuals and/or for St. Paul’s in the Duluth area, in the state or
nation, in the world? Will the way we choose to “tell the story”… in all
of life, not just in conversation… provide the opportunity for others to
“… enter into the joy of (y)our master.”? Consider carefully how we
might tell this story to others – for our responses will tell our story
more eloquently than we dare imagine. AMEN.
____________________
1 O’Driscoll, Herbert, 1991.
Prayers for the Breaking of Bread: Meditations on the Collects of the
Church Year. Boston, MA: Cowley Publications, p. 180.