Here is the final draft of my story and message for Sunday.
Story: The Gospel reading for today is the parable of the talents. In this parable, Jesus describes a wealthy man leaving on a trip. Because he cannot manage his money while he is gone, he trusts 80 years of wages to his first servant, 32 years of wages to his second servant and 16 years of wages to his third servant according to their abilities. When he returns, he commends the first two servants for doubling the money and condemns the third servant who buried his money and returned it.
The amount of money he gave to each servant depended on how much he could trust each servant.
How do you make decisions about trusting others? How do people earn your trust? How do we earn the trust of others? Who do you trust to look after a pet? A vehicle? Your house? A child? Your money?
Trust provides part of the foundation for all our relationships. Our relationships make the difference in our lives. Trust in God encourages us to join here in worship and to take risks in our living. Thanks be to God.
Message: Trust: Stay Awake
We are always in the middle of time. Last week, many people recognized the sacrifices made by military people and others in wars. Next week, Reign of Christ Sunday or Christ the King Sunday celebrates the promise of a world in which war will be no more.
Right now we have brutal wars in Ukraine, Palestine and Israel, Afghanistan, and West Africa. We have wars of less violence between developers or colonialists and locals and Indigenous people trying to protect their spaces. Protests in Panama against a corrupt government and a Canadian copper mining company closed a port and disrupt the life and economy of the country. In this time of being in the middle of time, we need to be as awake and trust in our relationships to help us through this time.
I begin with the experiences described by the psalmist in the psalm we read in the service.
Scorn marks many relationships in religion as many religious people scorn other religious people who are different. Scorn poisons those relationships as it hurts those who are scorned and blocks the ones who scorn from really seeing and understanding the other, missing opportunities to deepen their faith.
When we feel beaten down by scorn from others, we need to choose humility in seeking God’s mercy or grace to ease the pain we feel. I hated verse 2 about looking to God as a maid servant looks to her mistress. The image felt like begging, and I do not like feeling like a beggar. However, humility opens a door for receiving the grace or mercy we need, whatever it may be.
As we pursue our mission of serving Jesus, the One who related to everybody who sought relationship, we need to ask our Creator for the encouragement and strength we need to follow the path on which we are led by faith. We need to trust God enough to allow ourselves to be changed by that path. .
Our reading from first Thessalonians provides important guidance for our journey.
Paul wrote this passage expecting the end times at any moment, as Jesus did when he said all these things would happen before this generation passed away. I choose to look at his words through the lens of different end times that disrupt our lives, usually changing them. These include loss of a job, broken relationships, destructive diseases, deaths of loved ones, acts of violence, accidents, and natural disasters.
He provided helpful guidance for all kinds of end times. Stay awake, pay attention to what is happening to us and in the world. For example, if we are feeling scorned, notice our feelings and act to make sure our feelings do not control our actions or block us from seeing what we need to see.
Notice what is happening in the world. This includes the economy and the business world, culture, international events, weather, and politics as well as what is happening in our community.
Be children of the light. Live by the light offered by Jesus. Live with compassion, hope, joy, faith, love, and courage. As much as possible make decisions guided by these principles of the light of Christ. When Paul said put on the breastplate of faith and love, chose these for defense, trusting in the Holy Mystery. I spoke about trust in the story time. Trusting in God or the Holy Mystery and in Jesus helps us chose faith and love when circumstances prompt us to chose distrust and resentment or anger or hate or fear.
The helmet of hope of salvation confidence that helps us trust in love, helps us choose to act with love when we are prompted to react defensively. This trust that, whatever may happen, obeying Jesus and his command to love one another and to love our enemy will lead our lives to wholeness and healing.
All of this depends on living in the light, letting the light of truth and understanding help us make better choices and correct our errors. A member of the board challenged me, helping me see that my passion for evangelism, for seeking ways to open doors to people outside of our faith community prompted me to make a suggestion that was simply wrong. It is often light shed by other people, such as this time, that helps us see our errors.
I believe you have been entrusted by the Holy Mystery, by Jesus, with a welcoming and caring ministry in Rockland and area, a task you have embraced with deep commitment and week by week actions.
How can you build trust by others in your ministry that will grow their participation?
I hope everyone here is ready to invite people you know into becoming part of this faith community, letting them know what we do and what we strive to be. I hope all of us are eager to help anyone who chooses to connect with this community feel safe, welcome, and important.
Final story. When I was serving a three point charge in rural Alberta, I sought ways to help each congregation strengthen its connections to its community. On the way to a camp meeting one day, I stopped in the smallest community and went door to door with a leaflet about the pastoral charge and what I was willing to do including lead a bible or faith study. On the way back from the meeting, I finished going door to door.
Several people were surprised the church was still open as a rumor circulated that the church had closed. The next day I went to a Presbytery meeting. While I was at the meeting, a person from that community phoned me with an interest in joining a bible study. They had found the leaflet I left in their door. I set up a bible study and this couple and a few people from the congregation took part.
I learned that each Sunday, this couple drove past many churches in Camrose and in other communities on the way to a church in a small hamlet about 90 km away. They did this because they had become part of that congregation when they lived there and it was a special congregation. It was a place like a healthy family where everybody cared about everyone else. When a family hit a tough financial situation, no one said anything but boxes of groceries showed up on their doorstep. No gossip. No mean words. Just love.
I understood why they did what they did. Belonging to a faith family like that is as precious as a pearl of great worth. My hope is that more congregations can learn to be more like that. Entering conflicts with love first, seeking the well-being of each other as we seek the good of the church. Staying awake to what is happening to us, each other, and the community. Trusting always in the love of the Holy Mystery and in each other.
Trusting the Holy Mystery completely can make incredible things happen in our lives. Thanks be to God.
