Megan Elisabeth Sanders
The Episcopal Church of St. Paul
Chatham, New Jersey
For 13 November 2005
In the Name of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
In today’s collect, we are reminded that Holy Scripture is a gift that we are to “read, mark, learn and inwardly digest.” This morning’s Gospel and the Parable of the Talents is a tough one, for me, at least, to do any of those things. But I must admit that this is one of the great parables of the Bible. One of the best known even if it is not among the best loved. I love the way the Rev. Francis Wade from DC describes this parable as having a harder edge than the Good Samaritan, and lacking the Hollywood ending of the Prodigal Son. But here it is, and our ancestors learned from it, and they obviously think we have some inward digesting to do. Well, Jesus used to say after he told one of his parables, “Those who have ears to hear, let them hear.” So here we go…
I want to start with the ending. The servant who was given one talent, which equals about 15 years wages for a common laborer, was thrown in to the outer darkness after his master returns and finds that the servant has done nothing with the talent he was entrusted with. The other two servants were given amounts that they doubled in the time the master was gone. I’m going to jump to a theological conclusion here and say that each one of us has felt like the third servant from a variety of perspectives. First, let’s look at the way he perceives his master. He says to his face that he knows he’s harsh and that he reaps what he doesn’t sow and gathers where he doesn’t scatter. He insults his master, who is clearly the God-figure in this story. I’m not saying I like this parable…I’d take the image of the Good Shepherd any day over this one…but there’s more…he says he’s afraid. He was AFRIAD, and he became paralyzed by his fear and produced nothing for his master as a result. He was given a great sum of wealth, and he did nothing with it. His fear took control of his life, and he was alone.
Now, when it comes to weeping and gnashing teeth, I have this to offer:
When I am afraid, hidden, and isolated, I am miserable. When I am not living in to the abundance of God’s grace and mercy through my personal and communal/corporate relationship with Jesus Christ, I am miserable. And not because I’m imperfect and ashamed of myself – and not because I can never seem to measure up to the standards I set for myself or have set for me – although those things are true…I’m miserable because I am thinking small and living small about what God has for me and for us.
It’s okay to weep when we are miserable. But we are not created to weep alone.
Paul says, “For God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.” We have a hope in a perfect Master – one who wishes prosperity and abundance for us – a Master who loves us so much that we could not possibly be loved more than we already are.
While we’re on the subject of being in between seasons and being afraid, I can relate to the third servant right now. This is my first time preaching at St. Paul’s, and I’m a little nervous. I was going over this sermon with Elizabeth a few days ago in her office and when she asked me about this next part, I told her I had decided to take it out because it didn’t seem like a good enough story. But it’s YOUR story, she said. But I don’t think it’s good enough, I said. Did you read this parable, she asked?!?! Oh. I was afraid of sharing myself with you for fear of being too small. So here’s my story:
I moved from Pensacola, FL to NYC almost a year and a half ago. I was working as a hospital chaplain before coming to seminary and was ready to settle down for 3 years and devote all my energy to my formation as a future priest. I even started getting rid of all of my things…partly trying to be more like St. Francis, and mostly just trying to fit everything in to my dorm room. I came across something I hadn’t seen in a very long time when I was packing for my move. I found my favorite shirt. This is it. I think it’s the way it brings out my eyes…I don’t know, I just love it. So I carefully packed it up, placed it in my new closet in NY, and didn’t touch it again until I moved this summer to a different dorm room (closer to the bathroom). I couldn’t believe I hadn’t worn it all year. I took it from my closet and went to try it on, and do you know what I discovered? The tags were still on it. This was my favorite shirt, and I had never even worn it. Why?
Well, I’ll tell you why. Life is messy. And I’m the first person to start sweating no matter what temperature it is outside. And I hate to iron. I didn’t wear it because I didn’t want it to get dirty. And I didn’t want it to get dirty because it was my favorite thing of all the things I have to wear. How backwards is that thinking? The thing I’ve treasured most I’ve kept neatly tucked away, so I didn’t even enjoy it. I was afraid that if I enjoyed it, it would get ruined.
Why am I so afraid of losing what I have? Where does this fearful mentality come from? My inner dialogue says things like: if I WEAR IT and something HAPPENS to it, what if I can’t find ANOTHER one just like it? What if it gets stained or ripped or loses a button or fades or whatever, and I have to see it as less than the perfect shirt I have loved for so long, (kind of), in the back of my closet?
Or – WORSE – what if I have to get RID of it?
The truth is, I’ve actually forgotten about my most favorite shirt – several times. When I’ve found it and remembered how much it means to me and how beautiful I think it is, I’ve taken several moments to seriously discern whether or not I’ll actually WEAR it.
But I never have. Until it hit me when I found it this summer - I was wasting my energy on being afraid.
Okay, let’s consider reality - So what if something does happen to it? Well, let me remind myself that having something simply for the sake of HAVING it just doesn’t make sense in a world with such abundance.
My fear comes from thinking in terms of SCARCITY…I’m so afraid of using what I HAVE, because using it could mean losing it.
Paul knows what I’m talking about, and instead of using the words scarcity and abundance, he talks about DARKNESS and LIGHT.
He says to us today -
But YOU, beloved, are not in darkness for that DAY – that day when Christ comes - to surprise you like a THEIF; for you are all children of light and children of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness.
Brothers and sisters, the light of the love of God that lives within us and lives among us is not tucked away safely where we can use it like a freshly cleaned and pressed shirt. God’s abundance is meant to be consumed TODAY, by as many of us as it can feed and clothe and shelter. There will be MORE, but storing up our gifts because we’re afraid keeps us from using our energy to live INTO the MORE that God has for us.
Of COURSE the things of this world are going to wear out and break and lose buttons and die. But better that they do all of those things while being used for what they were CREATED to do…like keeping us warm and filling our bellies and bringing us closer together and keeping the rain off our heads and the cold from our bones…
I have too much stuff, not because I NEED it, but because I think I MIGHT need it someday, and I’m afraid to use it NOW, just in case I figure out what I could use it for LATER -- you get the point
But hiding it away, like the slave in Matthew’s gospel, doesn’t lead to safety or gain…it just makes the fear BIGGER - and the darkness DARKER.
So from our epistle when Paul says that - God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live with him --- God means for us to live with joy, not hide in fear.
In his inaugural speech in 1994, Nelson Mandela quotes Marianne Williamson about what in the world we’re afraid of:
"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest
fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light,
not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who
am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your
playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing
enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel
insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of
God that is within us.
It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone. And as we let our
light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do
the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence
automatically liberates others.
We are afraid of all that will be required of us if we dare to be faithful.
But we have been given so much – WE are beautiful - WE are gifted – We have enough, because God is enough. We are capable of using everything we have and using everything we have for a plain and simple reason: the God who has supplied us will never run out of love and mercy. Only when we begin thinking of God as a harsh master do we run off to our fields to bury our share of the world’s gifts.
I need to HEAR Jesus today in the gospel -- I need to hear him tell me not to be afraid so much. I need to believe him when he tells me that his love for me and for ALL of us is SO abundant that there's NOTHING -- NOTHING in my life that I can get dirty enough that he can't make clean again. I need to hear it.
So - what are you afraid to get dirty in your life?
What is it in your life that you’re so afraid of losing that you haven't shared in the beauty of its gifts?
Wear the shirt - in the rain.
Have the conversation, even if you know it's going to change the relationship.
Burn the candle, even though it won’t last.
Things and feelings and relationships that are scary are still meant to be worn, felt, and to be lived in…we can’t keep everything and everybody safe from harm by keeping what we treasure most locked up in a closet or buried in a field.
We just can’t.
And letting our fear rule our hearts locks out the joy that God intends for us to feel surrounded with - all the time.
The power we give to the talents in our own lives is only real when it’s used for the GLORY of God.
So let’s dig up our talents and get on with this journey together…we HAVE what we NEED. But only if we’re not afraid to use it or lose it.
I am CERTAIN that our Lord Jesus wants us to rest in his LOVE - INFINITELY more than our fear.
Blessed Lord, grant that we may read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest your holy Scriptures this day – that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life – Amen.
The Episcopal Church of St. Paul
Chatham, New Jersey
For 13 November 2005
In the Name of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
In today’s collect, we are reminded that Holy Scripture is a gift that we are to “read, mark, learn and inwardly digest.” This morning’s Gospel and the Parable of the Talents is a tough one, for me, at least, to do any of those things. But I must admit that this is one of the great parables of the Bible. One of the best known even if it is not among the best loved. I love the way the Rev. Francis Wade from DC describes this parable as having a harder edge than the Good Samaritan, and lacking the Hollywood ending of the Prodigal Son. But here it is, and our ancestors learned from it, and they obviously think we have some inward digesting to do. Well, Jesus used to say after he told one of his parables, “Those who have ears to hear, let them hear.” So here we go…
I want to start with the ending. The servant who was given one talent, which equals about 15 years wages for a common laborer, was thrown in to the outer darkness after his master returns and finds that the servant has done nothing with the talent he was entrusted with. The other two servants were given amounts that they doubled in the time the master was gone. I’m going to jump to a theological conclusion here and say that each one of us has felt like the third servant from a variety of perspectives. First, let’s look at the way he perceives his master. He says to his face that he knows he’s harsh and that he reaps what he doesn’t sow and gathers where he doesn’t scatter. He insults his master, who is clearly the God-figure in this story. I’m not saying I like this parable…I’d take the image of the Good Shepherd any day over this one…but there’s more…he says he’s afraid. He was AFRIAD, and he became paralyzed by his fear and produced nothing for his master as a result. He was given a great sum of wealth, and he did nothing with it. His fear took control of his life, and he was alone.
Now, when it comes to weeping and gnashing teeth, I have this to offer:
When I am afraid, hidden, and isolated, I am miserable. When I am not living in to the abundance of God’s grace and mercy through my personal and communal/corporate relationship with Jesus Christ, I am miserable. And not because I’m imperfect and ashamed of myself – and not because I can never seem to measure up to the standards I set for myself or have set for me – although those things are true…I’m miserable because I am thinking small and living small about what God has for me and for us.
It’s okay to weep when we are miserable. But we are not created to weep alone.
Paul says, “For God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.” We have a hope in a perfect Master – one who wishes prosperity and abundance for us – a Master who loves us so much that we could not possibly be loved more than we already are.
While we’re on the subject of being in between seasons and being afraid, I can relate to the third servant right now. This is my first time preaching at St. Paul’s, and I’m a little nervous. I was going over this sermon with Elizabeth a few days ago in her office and when she asked me about this next part, I told her I had decided to take it out because it didn’t seem like a good enough story. But it’s YOUR story, she said. But I don’t think it’s good enough, I said. Did you read this parable, she asked?!?! Oh. I was afraid of sharing myself with you for fear of being too small. So here’s my story:
I moved from Pensacola, FL to NYC almost a year and a half ago. I was working as a hospital chaplain before coming to seminary and was ready to settle down for 3 years and devote all my energy to my formation as a future priest. I even started getting rid of all of my things…partly trying to be more like St. Francis, and mostly just trying to fit everything in to my dorm room. I came across something I hadn’t seen in a very long time when I was packing for my move. I found my favorite shirt. This is it. I think it’s the way it brings out my eyes…I don’t know, I just love it. So I carefully packed it up, placed it in my new closet in NY, and didn’t touch it again until I moved this summer to a different dorm room (closer to the bathroom). I couldn’t believe I hadn’t worn it all year. I took it from my closet and went to try it on, and do you know what I discovered? The tags were still on it. This was my favorite shirt, and I had never even worn it. Why?
Well, I’ll tell you why. Life is messy. And I’m the first person to start sweating no matter what temperature it is outside. And I hate to iron. I didn’t wear it because I didn’t want it to get dirty. And I didn’t want it to get dirty because it was my favorite thing of all the things I have to wear. How backwards is that thinking? The thing I’ve treasured most I’ve kept neatly tucked away, so I didn’t even enjoy it. I was afraid that if I enjoyed it, it would get ruined.
Why am I so afraid of losing what I have? Where does this fearful mentality come from? My inner dialogue says things like: if I WEAR IT and something HAPPENS to it, what if I can’t find ANOTHER one just like it? What if it gets stained or ripped or loses a button or fades or whatever, and I have to see it as less than the perfect shirt I have loved for so long, (kind of), in the back of my closet?
Or – WORSE – what if I have to get RID of it?
The truth is, I’ve actually forgotten about my most favorite shirt – several times. When I’ve found it and remembered how much it means to me and how beautiful I think it is, I’ve taken several moments to seriously discern whether or not I’ll actually WEAR it.
But I never have. Until it hit me when I found it this summer - I was wasting my energy on being afraid.
Okay, let’s consider reality - So what if something does happen to it? Well, let me remind myself that having something simply for the sake of HAVING it just doesn’t make sense in a world with such abundance.
My fear comes from thinking in terms of SCARCITY…I’m so afraid of using what I HAVE, because using it could mean losing it.
Paul knows what I’m talking about, and instead of using the words scarcity and abundance, he talks about DARKNESS and LIGHT.
He says to us today -
But YOU, beloved, are not in darkness for that DAY – that day when Christ comes - to surprise you like a THEIF; for you are all children of light and children of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness.
Brothers and sisters, the light of the love of God that lives within us and lives among us is not tucked away safely where we can use it like a freshly cleaned and pressed shirt. God’s abundance is meant to be consumed TODAY, by as many of us as it can feed and clothe and shelter. There will be MORE, but storing up our gifts because we’re afraid keeps us from using our energy to live INTO the MORE that God has for us.
Of COURSE the things of this world are going to wear out and break and lose buttons and die. But better that they do all of those things while being used for what they were CREATED to do…like keeping us warm and filling our bellies and bringing us closer together and keeping the rain off our heads and the cold from our bones…
I have too much stuff, not because I NEED it, but because I think I MIGHT need it someday, and I’m afraid to use it NOW, just in case I figure out what I could use it for LATER -- you get the point
But hiding it away, like the slave in Matthew’s gospel, doesn’t lead to safety or gain…it just makes the fear BIGGER - and the darkness DARKER.
So from our epistle when Paul says that - God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live with him --- God means for us to live with joy, not hide in fear.
In his inaugural speech in 1994, Nelson Mandela quotes Marianne Williamson about what in the world we’re afraid of:
"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest
fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light,
not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who
am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your
playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing
enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel
insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of
God that is within us.
It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone. And as we let our
light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do
the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence
automatically liberates others.
We are afraid of all that will be required of us if we dare to be faithful.
But we have been given so much – WE are beautiful - WE are gifted – We have enough, because God is enough. We are capable of using everything we have and using everything we have for a plain and simple reason: the God who has supplied us will never run out of love and mercy. Only when we begin thinking of God as a harsh master do we run off to our fields to bury our share of the world’s gifts.
I need to HEAR Jesus today in the gospel -- I need to hear him tell me not to be afraid so much. I need to believe him when he tells me that his love for me and for ALL of us is SO abundant that there's NOTHING -- NOTHING in my life that I can get dirty enough that he can't make clean again. I need to hear it.
So - what are you afraid to get dirty in your life?
What is it in your life that you’re so afraid of losing that you haven't shared in the beauty of its gifts?
Wear the shirt - in the rain.
Have the conversation, even if you know it's going to change the relationship.
Burn the candle, even though it won’t last.
Things and feelings and relationships that are scary are still meant to be worn, felt, and to be lived in…we can’t keep everything and everybody safe from harm by keeping what we treasure most locked up in a closet or buried in a field.
We just can’t.
And letting our fear rule our hearts locks out the joy that God intends for us to feel surrounded with - all the time.
The power we give to the talents in our own lives is only real when it’s used for the GLORY of God.
So let’s dig up our talents and get on with this journey together…we HAVE what we NEED. But only if we’re not afraid to use it or lose it.
I am CERTAIN that our Lord Jesus wants us to rest in his LOVE - INFINITELY more than our fear.
Blessed Lord, grant that we may read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest your holy Scriptures this day – that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life – Amen.
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