What? Something! When? Now!

The Rev. Dr. Skip Ferguson

Manassas Presbyterian Church

Manassas, Virginia

April 29, 2012

What? Something! When? Now!

Matthew 25:14-18

The white cloth covering the Lord’s Table,

the white pulpit-hanging in front of me,

the white stoles the choir and I wear --

all serve to remind us that we are still in Easter,

that Easter is not just a Sunday that rolls around once a year,

a joy-filled day that comes and goes,

but a season in the church.

Where Advent lasts four weeks,

and we walk through Lent over 40 days,

the Easter season runs for fifty days.

It will end this year on May 27: Pentecost Sunday,

Pentecost,

when the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples,

releasing them from bondage to fear,

filling them with courage,

empowering them,

enabling them to go out into the world boldly

to share the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We are still a month away from Pentecost, though,

still in the in-between time,

the time when the disciples were still frozen with fear,

still filled with uncertainty.

What the disciples did during those fifty days isn’t clear.

Matthew tells us that the 11 went to Galilee

to wait for Jesus to come to them,

to appear to them following his resurrection.

(Matthew 28:16)

Mark tells us nothing of what happened to the disciples

following the death of Jesus.

(I do not include either the “Shorter or Longer Ending”)

Luke tells us that Jesus appeared to the disciples

that first Easter night,

while they were still hiding behind locked doors in Jerusalem,

and that they then remained in Jerusalem,

to await the coming of the Spirit.

In John’s gospel Jesus first appears to the disciples

in Jerusalem,

and then again on the shore of

the Sea of Galilee as they fished.

The stories may differ but the end result is the same:

The Holy Spirit came upon the disciples,

the original 11 and Matthias as Judas’ replacement.

The Spirit breathed new life into the men,

and they were then sent out into the world

to spread the good news,

and to serve in the name of Jesus Christ.

This is not just the disciples’s story;

it is our story, too,

for we too have been graced

with the power of the Holy Spirit,

every one of us,

given the Spirit in exactly the same way

it was given to the 12:

to free us from fear and hesitancy,

to empower us,

to grace us with courage and wisdom,

to enable us to do, just as the disciples did,

to go out and share the good news

of the gospel of Jesus Christ,

to share the love God gives us through Christ,

to live as Jesus calls us to live:

with mercy and forgiveness,

as we work to build the Kingdom.

“Feed my lambs;

Tend my sheep;

Feed my sheep;”

That’s what the Risen Christ said to an utterly confused Peter

as they ate fish together in the early morning light

by a smoky fire burning on the shore of the Sea of Galilee.

“As the Father has sent me,

so I now send you”

(John 20 & 21)

Jesus says these words to us, too.

It is not enough that we gather on Sunday morning

to worship and praise God.

We gather here to be renewed and refreshed for service,

to spend an hour preparing ourselves to serve

all the other hours that will fill our week,

to prepare ourselves to serve in our vocations,

at school,

in our neighborhoods and communities,

through our involvement in our larger society,

and of course, through our activities

here within our church.

The Spirit has given us each gifts, every one of us,

And, as Paul teaches us in his letter to the Corinthians:

“… there are varieties of gifts,

…and there are varieties of services,

…and there are varieties of activities,

but it is the same God who activates all of them

in everyone.

To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit

for the common good.”

(1 Corinthians 12:4-7)

We are given the manifestation of the Spirit

for the common good.

We are to use our gifts and talents

to build the Body of Christ,

to build the Kingdom of God.

In our lesson, the master summons his servants

and gives them talents: five to the first,

two to the second, one to the third.

In Jesus’ day, a talent was money,

in fact, it was an enormous sum of money:

One talent was the equivalent of 15 years’ pay

for an average laborer.

Giving five talents to the first servant

was like giving any of us millions of dollars.

It isn’t the dollar value that matters, though.

What Jesus wants us to learn is that

the master gave each servant talent in abundance;

that the master graced each servant

with extraordinary generosity.

Now, we’d think that after doling out all those talents,

the master would then tell each servant,

“Here’s what I want you to do with the talents

I’ve just given you.

Use them just as I tell you.”

But he doesn’t do that;

the master leaves it to each servant

to decide for himself

what he will do with the talents given him.

The first two don’t hesitate;

they take the initiative

and put the talents  to use immediately,

making more in the process,

making more not to benefit themselves,

but to benefit their master,

the one who’d given them the talents in the first place.

Their focus was not on their own enrichment,

but on taking what their master had given them,

and using them in a way

that would honor and benefit their master,

doing so to the best of their ability,

each of them.

The third servant doesn’t seize the initiative,

doesn’t put the talent given him to work.

In fairness to him, he doesn’t squander it either.

The servant simply puts the talent aside in a safe place,

to be returned unused to the Master.

The servant chooses to do nothing with the talent

so freely and generously given him.

Now, what do you suppose

Jesus wants us to learn from this parable?

Certainly one lesson is that

God the Master graces us with talents in abundance.

And another lesson is that God calls us to use our talents,

to put our talents to work,

to take initiative and use our talents

for the benefit of our Master,

to the glory of the Lord our God.

In her book “Christianity After Religion”,

Diana Butler Bass reminds us that believing,

having faith, proclaiming faith;

this is only the beginning,

that having been graced with faith by the Holy Spirit,

we are to act on our faith as we live out our faith.

We are to do that in the world all around us, of course,

as we put our talents to work in the world.

But we also are to put our talents to work

here in our church,

each of us helping to do the work Jesus,

the Head of our Church,

calls us to do.

This is why we are updating our Time and Talent database,

and asking everyone to fill out a new Time & Talent form.

There is an old aphorism that says that in most churches

20% of the people do 80% of the work.

It is very easy to become a church like that,

but that’s not what the Head of our Church wants.

Jesus wants everyone to be involved –

after all, it is his church.

He wants each of us to put the talents our Father in Heaven

has given us to work for the glory of God.

To work for God in our vocations,

in our family lives,

and here in this Body of Christ.

If you are one of those folks who filled out

a Time & Talent form the last time we did this

and then found that no one contacted you,

fear not,

and complain not!

We know that happened,

but that was also five years ago,

and the Session and the Stewardship Ministry Team

are committed to seeing to it

that if you fill out a form and return it,

someone will call you,

someone will follow up

and invite you to put your talents to work

for this Church,

for our Lord.  

What should you do within this church?

That depends upon the abilities and talents

God has given you through the Holy Spirit.

You should do something;

Jesus expects that of you;

The Holy Spirit will help you to discern just what it is

you are called to do.

Butler Bass calls on us to look on what we do

here at the church not as work, not as a task,

but as ministry in the name of Christ.

She provides a wonderful example in the person

who sets up the Lord’s Table for worship.

That’s a job that seems to combine equally tedious parts of

kitchen work, serving, and washing up.

Not very interesting, not very inviting.

No wonder we struggle to find volunteers

for our Chancel Guild.

But Butler Bass encourages the person called to the task

to approach it as though he or she

were standing in the sandals of Peter,

asked by Christ himself to prepare his table

for the meal to which all the world is invited,

friend and stranger alike,

to which all who come will find refreshment, renewal,

community and acceptance,

hope and peace,

grace, and love.

Looked at this way,

what seemed like a tedious task

glows brightly as ministry with and for Jesus himself.

Everything we do here is ministry:

ministry with Jesus,

ministry through Jesus,

ministry for Jesus,

our Lord, our leader.

The parable in our lesson, like all Jesus’ parables,

isn’t just a winsome story for us to hear.

Parables call us to action,

to move us to respond.

What will you do here in this church

this Body of Christ

to serve our Lord more faithfully with the talents given you

so generously by God?

Take your form,

and spend a few minutes first in prayer,

and then fill it out, and then return it.

And even if,

in fact especially if,

no one calls,

find me,

find Lois Roy, chair of our Stewardship Team,

find the chair of the team

you feel called to be part of

and say simply and boldly,

“I am ready to put my talents to work for Christ.”

AMEN