Extravagant Opportunity -- A Message for November 19, 2023

 

Scripture   Matthew 25: 14-30

“Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. 

To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. 

The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. 

So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. 

But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.

^“After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. 

The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’

“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

“The man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more.’

“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

“Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 

So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’

“His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? 

 Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.

“‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. 

For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. 

And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Here ends this reading of the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. Amen.

 

Sermon                         Extravagant Opportunity

 

          The parable of the talents is one of Jesus’ best known parables and teachings.  The word “talent” comes into the English language from this parable – in ancient times, a “talent” was an ancient unit of value – some historians believe the value of a talent in Jesus’ time was 13 years wages – other historians think it was worth double that – 26 years wages for a common laborer.  A talent was a lot of money.

          Because of this scripture passage, we have adjusted the meaning of talent to mean an aptitude – our talents are our athletic, creative, or artistic gifts.  Some of our talents are naturally inherent in us, other talents are skills we have practiced and have become experts at over a course of time,

          Although this parable is well-known, we can still be troubled by it. A master leaves his slaves in charge of his resources while he goes on a journey.  One slave receives 5 talents, one slave receives 2 talents, and one slave receives one talent, each according to his abilities. Two of the slaves were good investors – they were able to double the value of the money while their master was away. But, the slave with the least abilities was scared – he buried his talent and it therefore did not increase in value. If they had inflation, the buried talent would have depreciated in value. 

          When the master returned, he was pleased with the slaves who doubled their money and angry with the slave who was afraid to invest his talent.

          This is a parable, though, not an investment course.  Jesus wasn’t teaching about money.

          Instead, Jesus was talking about our relationship with God and our faith in God. God has given us each talents and gifts.  We have also developed abilities and talents over the course of our lives. God wants us to use our talents and share our gifts in order to make the world a better place.  We are called to follow Jesus and help make this world more and more into the kingdom God wants it to be. But, if we are like the last servant, and hide our gifts and talents for fear of losing them, or because we are scared to use them, or because we can’t be bothered to use them, we are ignoring the gifts we have been given by God and are not helping bring about God’s kingdom on earth.

          We are all talented at different things, and some of us have worked diligently to learn other skills.  When I was 7, I couldn’t sit down at the piano and make a song come out….but when I was 17, after 9 years of piano lessons, I could play a song or two.  We don’t have to be innately talented at something in order to share our gift with others – some of the skills we have to share are things we have learned to do. 

          We are called to work to identify our skills and talents and then consider how we can “plug” them in and use them to support the work of God here on earth. A wonderful example of this was the many faithful members of Trinity who stepped up while I was on maternity leave and led worship and preached sermons.  Our members and friends of the congregation were willing to do something most of us find difficult – lead worship, public speaking, write a sermon, speak from their hearts, and take on the unscripted things that happen during worship like the questions of our kids during the children’s sermon and the prayer requests during our joys and concerns.  This is not easy. I have been ordained for almost 20 years and I get nervous every Sunday.  But, our leaders were willing to exercise one of their talents, worship leadership, to help advance the kingdom of God and also help the rest of us have an opportunity to worship together weekly while I was on leave.

          We all have things we are able to do to contribute to the work of God in the world.  We are all able to pray for other people and for things happening in the world.  We are all called to read the Bible and learn the teachings of God. We are all called to be evangelists, and to share the word of God and the call to discipleship with the people we encounter in our lives.  And, we are also called to share our special talents – some of us are able to sing, some of us are able to preach, some of us are able to string Christmas lights, some of us are able to work with the tenacious volunteers at the Food Pantry, some of us are able to plan special events, some of us are able to teach, some of us are able to visit the sick, some of us are able to make investments on behalf of the church, some of us are able to cook meals for people who are recovering from medical procedures, some of us are able to help people find jobs, some of us are good listeners, some of us are supportive cheerleaders for people who are struggling. The opportunities are endless.

          When I was a freshly minted pastor, there were many things that surprised me when I talked to my parishioners. There were a few people in my congregation who said things like – “Oh, I did that activity for the church when I was younger, so I don’t need to help anymore.” But, instead of adjusting and contributing in another way, they felt like they had crossed “sharing my talents” off of their lifetime “to-do” list.  Servanthood is a life-long endeavor.  We may not have the interest or energy to do something we did in the past, which is ok. But, we are called to figure out what we are going to do now.  No matter our age, no matter our skillset, no matter our abilities, there is always work we can do to help bring about God’s kingdom here on earth.

          On this weekend before the Thanksgiving, we are in the mode of thinking about the many things we are thankful for in our lives – despite the serious nature of the pandemic, we are all here to worship God. We have a beautiful and safe place to worship God. We have fellow church members we can turn to for support when we are in need. We have many other blessings in our lives.

          As we consider those blessings, we are thankful to God for the many ways we benefit by being God’s children. Out of regard for those blessings, we are called use our talents and skills for the furtherance of God’s work in the world.

          May we do so with love in our hearts today and all days.. Amen. 

Tending God's Light -- A Message for November 12, 2023

 

This morning, we once again turn our attention to the Gospel of Matthew. Today, we focus on one of Jesus’ parables – a simple story that has a deeper meaning.

Please turn with me to the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 25, verses one through thirteen. 

 

 

Scripture                                Matthew 25: 14-30

“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 

² Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 

³ The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. 

⁴ The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. 

⁵ The 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. 

⁸ The 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. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’

¹² “But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’

¹³ “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.

Here ends this reading of the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. Amen.

 

Message                                Tending God’s Light

 

          I don’t know about the life experiences of many of you, but I have never trimmed a lamp or lantern wick. I have seen kerosene lanterns lit up, but have never had to rely on one to illuminate a room. So, I turned to a YouTube tutorial about how to light an ancient lamp to learn all about it.  In the first century, the lamps were made of stone, metal, and the most common form of lamps were made out of clay.  In Israel, the oil used in lamps was typically olive oil and the wicks were made of linen rope.

          The virgins who were supposed to meet the bridegroom would have trimmed the wick of their lamps by cutting off the burnt parts of the linen rope so that the light would burn clear.  The burnt part of the linen wick would have made the lamps smoky and the smoke would have blocked the light.

          Our wedding traditions differ from 1^st century wedding traditions, and we don’t have bridegrooms arriving to our wedding banquets at night. In the 1^st century, the virgins would have been relatively young girls, since women were married soon after puberty. I imagine it would have been pretty to have a bunch of little girls lined up with lamps welcoming the groom to the wedding – it would be similar to us having a group of 10 flower girls at one of our weddings. 

Parables have many meanings at the same time. On the surface, Jesus used this parable as an illustration to remind his listeners to prepare for Jesus’ return. In the timeline of Jesus’ life as found in the book of Matthew, Jesus gave this lesson in the middle of his final Holy Week. His followers didn’t know that Jesus was about to die on the cross. They also didn’t know Jesus would return on Easter. So, this parable is foreshadowing that Jesus would surprise his followers by returning on Easter.

This teaching also is about Jesus’s second coming. Christians have long believed that Jesus will return to earth. We don’t know when he will appear, so part of our work is to live out faith – don’t put off being a good Christian because Jesus can return any moment.  So, acting as a Christian is not something we should delay – we can’t start loving our neighbor later….we can’t start praying later….we can’t start keeping the 10 commandments later….because later may be too late. As Jesus said, we won’t know the day of the hour, so we must work to always be prepared.

In this parable, all of the virgins fell asleep while they were waiting for the bridegroom. None of them were perfectly faithful while on duty waiting for the groom to arrive. The parable teaches that the wise virgins were more prepared than the foolish virgins who ran out of oil. But, looking at this through a Christian lens, aren’t we commanded to be generous?  Why couldn’t the wise virgins share with the foolish virgins?  Our work as Christians is to share – to share with people who are foolish, to share with people who are troubled, to share with people who are suffering, to share with people who are in need. Part of our work is to share the Good News and to welcome others to also have a relationship with Jesus – we are called to both deepen our relationship with God and share the Christian message with others who don’t yet have a relationship with God.

Jesus wants us, his followers, to work on developing our lives of faith today – to pray, to study the scripture, to worship, to focus on our faith. And, we are called as believers to not keep our faith to ourselves – we are called to share generously with others, to demonstrate our faith with our attitude, our actions, and our words.

Let us work to be ready. Amen.

Partners in Service -- A Message for November 5, 2023

            I appreciate that many wise members and friends of Trinity who have led worship and preached over the past few months. I loved hearing the gospel proclaimed and the word of God preached by many different voices and perspectives. Thank you to everyone who volunteered to be brave and lead – they say public speaking is one of the most stressful activities people can take on, and everyone did a wonderful job of leading worship.

           

            This morning, we turn to the Gospel of Matthew. The passage we read comes from teachings Jesus said to crowds gathered in Jerusalem – Matthew situates this teaching after Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and before the events that led to Good Friday. In today’s teaching, Jesus emphasizes that his followers must strive be humble and to practice what they preach. Jesus’s words are just as relevant today as they were in the first century.

 

            Hear Jesus’s teaching as we turn to Matthew chapter 23 verses one through twelve:

 

Scripture:                Matthew 23:1-12

 

Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples:

 

“The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat.

 

So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.

 

They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.

 

“Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long;

 

they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues;

 

they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.

 

“But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers.

 

And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven.

 

Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah.

The greatest among you will be your servant.

 

For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

 

Here ends this reading of the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Let us pray: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

 

Sermon                                “Partners in Service”

 

            Americans love stories of people whose hypocrisy is revealed in ugly ways – we have tabloid magazines and 2020 “ex-po-ses'' that delight in describing the path to destruction once great people followed – powerful Harvey Weinstein, a renowned  film producer, who was revealed to be a sex offender who hurt countless victims– Reverend Jim Bakker, a famous pastor and televangelist, who was outed as someone who fraudulently gained personal riches by exploiting his followers – pastor and weight-loss guru Gwen Shamblin who cruelly exploited her church members to gain personal wealth. We read articles in People magazine and watch documentaries about great people whose lives imploded and their hypocrisy was exposed.

           

            In today’s scripture lesson, Jesus challenges his followers to not be hypocritical….don’t show off how pious you are in public – don’t put on a show for others about how wonderful you are when you may not be so wonderful in reality.  We are not supposed to be showy with our faith – instead we are called to follow God in our words and actions without making a big deal out of what we are doing. Jesus knew all people are a mixed bag – we have our moments of faithfulness and we have our moments of selfishness. We don’t always do a great job of following the scriptures, of following the teachings of Jesus. We make mistakes, we hurt other people, and we hurt ourselves.  So, we shouldn’t pretend to be perfect in our faithfulness when we are constantly working on doing better without ever completely achieving our goal.

 

            Things get yucky for people whose identity is tied to their perfection – no one can maintain perfection forever. Our tv screens and Instagram feeds are full of people who are trying to achieve the perfect body or trying to pretend like they have more money than they actually have or trying to show they are the one parent who has everything figured out. But, people who are reaching for perfection have flaws and make mistakes. And, sometimes people’s public posts or presentations are just fake – the posts are just masking the brokenness of the poster’s life.  They may be a tad hypocritical in that what they post on a screen is out of sync with what is happening in reality.

 

            As followers of Jesus, we don’t have to be perfect. We are just supposed to be working on following Jesus, working on following the teachings of the Bible and the teachings of Christianity.  We are all a work-in-progress. We are called to personally make choices that don’t just serve us, our wants and our needs, but we are called to be generous and do things that result in helping other people, especially people who don’t have the advantages we have. 

 

            Part of practicing what we preach is to work to be humble, and to be modest in our needs. This teaching of Jesus goes against the grain of our mainstream American cultural goals – The world tells us to stand out, to strive to be the most popular kid in the class, to be the maverick employee who climbs his way to the top of the pack – but, Jesus says: “For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”  So, instead of striving to become a Kim Kardashian or a Serena Williams, we are called to be humble….it is better to be known as the person other people can count on, other people can trust, other people can turn to for help, than it is to be person with the fanciest car or the poshest house.  It is better to be the kindest kid in the class than the trendiest kid in the class.

 

            This morning, we sung the hymn “Let Your Heart Be Broken.” Even though it is in our hymnal, this was a new hymn for me. But, the words resonate with today’s teaching from Jesus – we must practice what we preach – feed the mouths that hunger – soothe the wounds that bleed – give the cup of water and the loaf of bread – be the hands of Jesus, serving in his stead.

 

            Jesus is present on earth right now as he lives in each of us. We are called to patiently and humbly care for each other. We are called to care for people in need.  This is why the work of the church is so important: together we can accomplish things that are very difficult for individuals to do alone. We may not personally have the tools to help a young mother in need develop the skills and find the resources to pull herself out of poverty, but as the church we support the work of Every Good Gift and help many young women every year. We may not have enough food in our cupboards to support the hungry people who live around us, but as the church we support the work of the Daily Bread Food Pantry and help feed over a thousand people every month. We may not have the connections or resources to personally help refugees from Ukraine or Afghanistan, but as the Church we support the many agencies that receive financial support through our One Great Hour of Sharing and Neighbors in Need offerings and do the work of helping refugees throughout the world.

           

            Today, we are honoring the Saints of the church, good Christian men and women of time immemorial. This is the day we remember the people who have passed away who made a meaningful impact on our lives – our parents and grandparents, our childhood Sunday School teachers and Boy Scout leaders, the co-workers who rooted for us and the neighbors who were there to help us shovel our driveway when it was too much for us to do alone. This is a day when we remember and thank God for people who humbly demonstrated faithful living for us. Most of the people we remember today were not movie stars or record breaking athletes – they were regular every-day people who were loving, kind and generous. They weren’t perfect, but they were able to teach us despite their imperfections. We have many role-models in the faith who humbled themselves and taught us attributes that are truly important – sincerity, kindness, generosity and grace. Let us humble ourselves to be like them. Amen

  

Weaving the Future -- A Message for July 30, 2023

 

            Last week, we visited Jacob on the road to Haran. He was fleeing to the home of his mother’s brother Laban. On the way, he stopped at the place that would be called Bethel and had a dream…in Jacob’s dream, God reiterated that Jacob would be the inheritor of the Covenant God had made with Abraham and Isaac. Jacob would be the ancestor of many nations of people and would be the conduit through which God would build a relationship with God’s followers.

            You may recall – Jacob was not always the most ethical of people. He tricked his brother out of the special blessing he was to receive from their father, Isaac. Esau would have technically been the person through which the covenant with God would have continued, but Jacob tricked Esau out of that privilege.  In this week’s reading, Jacob is the one who is the victim of trickery – what goes around comes around. Listen to how the story unfolded as we read from Genesis Chapter 29, verses fifteen through twenty-eight:

 

Proclamation of the Scripture                        Genesis 29: 15-28  

Laban said to him, “Just because you are a relative of mine, should you work for me for nothing? Tell me what your wages should be.”

Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. 

Leah had weak eyes, but Rachel had a lovely figure and was beautiful. 

Jacob was in love with Rachel and said, “I’ll work for you seven years in return for your younger daughter Rachel.”

Laban said, “It’s better that I give her to you than to some other man. Stay here with me.” 

So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her.

Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife. My time is completed, and I want to make love to her.”

So Laban brought together all the people of the place and gave a feast. 

But when evening came, he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob, and Jacob made love to her. 

And Laban gave his servant Zilpah to his daughter as her attendant.

When morning came, there was Leah! So Jacob said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? I served you for Rachel, didn’t I? Why have you deceived me?”

Laban replied, “It is not our custom here to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older one. 

Finish this daughter’s bridal week; then we will give you the younger one also, in return for another seven years of work.”

And Jacob did so. He finished the week with Leah, and then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife.

Here ends this reading of the word of God for the people of God; Thanks be to God. Amen.

Let us pray: God of mercy, you promised never to break your covenant with us. Amid all the changing words of our generation, speak your eternal Word that does not change. Then may we respond to your gracious promises with faithful and obedient lives; through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Message                                          Weaving the Future

            This morning, in our scripture reading, Jacob got his “just deserts.” He had colluded with his mother to successfully take over his brother’s rightful inheritance.  When he ran away in fear of his brother’s wrath, he learned that our gracious God was still going to extend the Covenant to him, to Jacob, despite his flaws. This was the good news. And, then Jacob went to the home of his uncle Laban…and there things got murky for Jacob…his winning streak was foiled.

            Laban, like Abraham and Isaac, was a shepherd. His family followed the sheep as they moved from grazing land to grazing land.  It was a harsh life. When Jacob came to Haran and to live with his uncle’s family, he agreed to work for seven years to earn the right to marry Rachel, the cousin he was enamored with. But, on the night of the wedding, after the seven years of work, Laban placed Leah in the tent. Somehow, Jacob and Leah had marital relations before Jacob noticed the switch-a-roo. We don’t know why Jacob didn’t notice the women had been swapped – was he too excited to look at the face of the woman? Was he drunk? Was he exhausted by the wedding festivities? This question of how Jacob failed to notice the difference has been asked for more than 4000 years…I guess we will never know.

            Jacob married the wrong woman. And the next day, he had words with his uncle/father-in-law about the switch. Laban agreed to allow him to also marry Rachel, but Jacob had to sleep for Leah for a week first. Sigh.

            This is not how we do things in our culture. These events also expose some of the flaws in how they did things in their culture: Women were property. Their fathers used them as bargaining chips. And, families had very different rules about incest than we have now. We do things differently.

            Things worked out ok for Jacob for a while. He had two wives and they brought 2 concubines into the marriage. Jacob had relations with 4 women. He ended up with many offspring which eventually included 12 sons and a daughter. We have probably all watched tv shows with this kind of arrangement, and things are complicated. For Jacob’s family, relationships were not harmonious among all of the wives and children. The wives were jealous of each other. Rachel had trouble conceiving children. She eventually had Joseph and Benjamin. The sons of all the wives were exceedingly jealous of each other. Some of them weren’t nice to their sister either. It became a pretty tense situation. Laban continued to try to trick Jacob into working for free.  Eventually, Jacob made an agreement with Laban to take a portion of the sheep and return to his homeland. But, Laban changed his mind at the last minute and chased after Jacob and his family. They barely escaped. And, even when they went to the land promised to Abraham, things didn’t always work out well.

Jacob and his family had a lot of colorful adventures and mishaps. They were not always well-behaved or kind. Instead, they perhaps point to the reality that God loves us even when we are not good at following God’s commandments.  

Jacob went from being a lonely man running away from his angry brother to being the husband and father of many people. He would never be lonely again. And, although Laban was not necessarily kind to Jacob, he helped Jacob have a job, a place to live, and a family.

The story of Jacob’s life contains many ironies. Jacob tricked his father Isaac – he took advantage of his father’s vision impairment to pretend to be his brother and receive the blessing and inheritance reserved for the first born son. Then, his uncle Laban tricked him – he took advantage of Jacob’s vision impairment in the darkened tent to substitute his older daughter for his younger daughter.   Jacob unintentionally married the wrong woman, who was very fertile and is able to bear many children, and his chosen woman struggled with fertility and was only able to have two children – and died when the second son was born.  Jacob overtly favors the sons of Rachel, which trigged his other sons’ jealousy and results in them pretending to kill off her older son, Joseph. Jacob’s preference for his wives and sons mirrored the preferences his parents had for their children – leading to broken relationships, jealousy, and nearly murder among the children. Almost everyone in the family is negatively affected by the consequences of Jacob’s sins.

This is one of the soap-opera-tic stories of the Old Testament that is entertaining to read but was not entertaining to live. The people in this story experienced many harrowing consequences because of their sins. Yet, there is still hope in the midst of their pain. God loved them and fulfilled God’s promises to them – God had promised Jacob that his descendants would be as many as the dust in the desert – we are all descendants of Jacob’s and inheritors of the Covenant. We are now able to be in relationship with God, who loves us despite our flaws, just as God loved Jacob despite his flaws. I hope none of us have been as flawed as Jacob, but we all have made countless mistakes, and God loves us and supports us anyway. We all can do better – over time Jacob did better – we all can seek to do a better job of being compassionate, loving towards others, and less-selfish. God pays attention to us and appreciates when we make good choices. God also carries us through the difficult times of our lives.

The story of Jacob is like a master lesson in learning about how sinful behavior backfires. It is our work to do better. And, it is also our blessing to know that despite our personal flaws, God loves us and roots for us.

Thanks be to God. Amen.