24 Pentecost Proper 28 Yr A Nov 19 2017

24 Pentecost Proper 28 Yr A Nov 19 2017 Audio

Here we have another terribly troubling parable from Matthew. This parable is the second of three in this section of Matthew, last week we heard the parable of the ten bridesmaids, and lastly is the parable of the sheep and goats. Usually, when placed like this, the stories have something to do with each other. The first parable taught us the importance of being ready, this one shows us what readiness looks like.

The kingdom of God is like a man who was leaving on a journey. Upon leaving, he handed everything over to his servants according to their ability. After the man left, the servants did as they pleased with what they were given. The first two took what was given them, immediately went to work with it, and when the man returned, gave an accounting. Each of them had increased the original capital. The third man was a different sort of man. In contrast to the other two, he hid the money that had been entrusted to him. Now, this was a common way of hiding things. With no bank, no secure place to leave valuable things when going away, burying it was an accepted way to keep it secure. So the important thing for this man was that the money was safe and secure and that he could produce it when the time came. Keeping it in this way meant that there was no possibility of loss, but is also meant there was no possibility of gain.

Matthew makes a point to let us know that this master was a very rich man, and these amounts are huge, each talent may be worth about twenty years wages. And Matthew points us to a master who encourages his servants to use whatever they have been given for good, and to use it faithfully. The third servant was afraid, and did not use what he had been given for any purpose at all. The result of this fear was being consigned to the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

So let's imagine today that in this parable the master is God who loves creation, who loves humanity. This  is God in our midst, God who loves creation so very much that God is willing and wanting and yearning to be in relationship with God's people. God whose love is so deep and so wide and so broad. God who walks through this life with us, each one of us and all of us. In this kingdom God is like a man who was leaving on a trip. He handed everything over to his servants according to their ability, and then he left on his journey. It sounds to me like this is a relationship of trust and of grace. The man entrusts all he has to his servants. No instructions, no lists of what to do and what not to do, nothing. And yet this abundance doesn't belong to the servants. This abundance was not assigned to the servants based on who deserved what and how much. This abundance is not even dependent on my ability today, tomorrow, or any other day to do exactly the right thing with it.

It seems to me that the kingdom of God is this way. God leaves us with and trusts us with the entirety of creation. So much more than we can even see and experience. God entrusts us with the sea and the sky, with the animals and the vegetables. God entrusts us with all that is valuable, and God entrusts us with one another. And God lets go of the outcome, God does not control what we do with any of it. We can do with it what we want. That is what is at the very center of this relationship. God creates us and all of what is seen and unseen, God declares it good, and God loves us. God trusts us, what are we to do? 

Imagine a God who loves us so very much that this God is willing to live and die as one of us to show us the way. Imagine a God who is the creator of all that is seen and unseen, and to whom each and every one of us matters. Imagine a God whose hearts desire is to be in relationship with us. Imagine a God to whom justice matters, the kind of justice that includes everyone having enough to eat, everyone staying warm when it is cold, everyone being able to feed their families. 

We are to respond to this abundant and amazing grace with all of our heart and our soul and our strength. It's not about our trustworthiness, it's about God's trust and love and grace. It's not about our ability or inability to use the gift properly, it's about God's trust and love and grace. It's not about what we deserve or don't deserve, it's about God's trust and love and grace. It's not about our fearfulness, but it is about fearlessly being about God's business of love, and healing.

Our readiness in the kingdom is not about being safe and secure. It is to not be afraid. You see, when it comes to serving Christ, when it comes to following Jesus, we should be bold and not be afraid of risks. Not so much concerned about securing our own lives, but getting on with lives of self-abandon and witness, knowing that the grace of God in Jesus will more than compensate for any mistakes we may make.

We can choose in small ways and in large ways how God's amazing gift is made available by our lives and by our love. Choose love. Choose to be a steward of all of God's gift. Choose not only to care for creation and all you have been given, but do something great with it. Don't bury it out of fear, but share it knowing that is was never yours in the first place. Choose to be a part of relationships that do what Jesus asks us to do, feed those who are hungry, love your neighbor. Share your hearts and your lives and your treasure, not because of what you will get, but because of what you have been given. Love. Amen. 

23 Pentecost Proper 27 Yr A Nov 12 2017, Annual meeting

23 Pentecost Proper 27 Yr A Nov 12 2017, Audio

What Matthew presents to us today, as he has throughout his gospel, is terribly troubling. This is a nightmare parable about what happens if you don’t take this life seriously in being formed as a follower of Jesus. It is based on Matthew’s understanding that Jesus, through death, resurrection, and ascension, is always with us, therefore, be ready, Jesus will return when all things are fulfilled. And it is a story about what happens if you fritter your life away.

The problem is not that five fell asleep and five stayed awake, everybody falls asleep, that’s not the issue. And this parable is not about believing the wrong things. Remember, that Matthew has no patience, no empathy for people who don’t get this stuff the first time. This is a story about five people who are not ready because they are clueless, and five people who are ready because they get it. Maybe if we put a line on a picture to make a meme, it would say, “Don’t be clueless like these people, just be ready like these people.” And, this is a story about the end of all things, and the beginning of the new, with the coming of Christ. And it is about how we live in the world, the place God has given for human habitation.

So what does being ready for living in the world God has given us look like? What does being ready for the fulfillment of time look like? It has everything to do with what we do today, in the present moment. And it has everything to do with the long haul of our lives. It is about staying focused on what is important today, tomorrow, and for the future.

Around here, at Trinity, we have a vision for being ready. We Love God, Love others, and we Show it. These aren’t just words, this is a way to be ready. Being ready is taking seriously our baptismal promises, those promises we reaffirmed last week on the Feast of All Saints. We will continue in the apostle’s teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers. We will persevere in resisting evil, and, whenever we fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord. We will proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ. We will seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbor as yourself. We will strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being.

The world needs the church today. Not the institution of church, but the body of Christ. The people who take seriously these promises, and are ready with mercy, and compassion, justice and love.

The sadness I have about empty pews is not grief about the death of a church. It is the sadness for people not knowing God’s love, I am sad because so many people do not know about forgiveness, in the midst of brokenness, that people do not know or care about how good life can be when lived in the fullness of God’s embrace, and the embrace of people who are ready to celebrate the feast.

The church needs you today, you who are here, and those who are not yet here. I pray, each time before we gather on Sunday morning, that God continues to prepare the hearts of those who will come here to worship, and that God continues to prepare us to welcome all who are sent and called. The world needs the church, the witness to Christ in each other. And the witness to brokenness that so desperately looks for healing, healing that only happens when the fragments of our lives get put back together in the mystery of the bread and wine, the body and blood.

And the church needs world to keep us from being full of ourselves and our rightness.

I love you, and I love this church, and I am filled with hope, because that is what being ready is for me. Hope, that today all that I am, and all that I was, and all that I will be is acceptable, not just acceptable, but cherished in God’s sight. I am filled with hope, the loving God, loving others, our neighbor, will change the world. Amen.