23rd Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 33, Year A

Don’t Stuff God Under Your Mattress

Readings: Judges 4:1-7; Psalm 123; 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11; Matthew 25:14-30

It is a human trait, I suspect, to worry about the future. Consider an elderly friend of mine who when she was well into her eighties told me that she couldn't spend money on herself because she was saving it for her old age. Investment companies tell us that we need vast sums of money to take care of our needs when we retire. Even in this time of economic downturn we would never think of stuffing what money we have into a mattress. We set up investment portfolios hoping to get a good return on our savings. We worry that private and public coffers may not yield enough to look after society's needs.

The readings today reflect our need to consider, not primarily our investment in our earthly future, but to invest wisely in other ways. Stuffing God into a mattress makes about as much sense as stuffing money into one.

The Thessalonians felt a sense of anxiety over the future. Their newfound faith made every moment significant. Paul warns them that God's calling to account of the human race would be sudden and without warning "as a thief in the night". That may sound pretty ominous to you. However, Paul is not trying to frighten them into obedience. He is simply saying that being a Christian gives one the awareness that all human existence is accountable, always and at any moment. It is not his intention to immobilize his listeners. Rather he wants to prepare them, to provide them with the tools for living in the light, for living in readiness. He is writing to an expectant people. They believe that the Lord's coming again is imminent. They want to be prepared in every way. Paul resists any temptation to offer them false security by giving them a definite time. His images talk of the end times sneaking up on us – like a thief in the night, like labour pains – and of our need to live our lives ‘as if’. As if the Lord might return at any time! They are to encourage one another, helping the community to grow in faith and love. They are to reach out to others in need. They are to live their lives in the real world, facing up to their societal responsibilities. They are to face the problems of society creatively and constructively, to live in hope and to express their faith with love. They are to choose the right values in their lives and to be instruments of God's peace.

The Gospel reiterates that same message in terms of responsible stewardship. The master leaves the servants with a great responsibility. He gives them no time line, no directions and no right way to proceed. There is no on-the-job training. Yet when he returns each of the servants is held accountable for their actions, no matter what talents they possess, no matter what resources they call upon. It is, in fact, the inaction of one of the servants that raises the anger of the master. He has had no less opportunity; he is just as accountable.

These are readings seem to cross the ages to speak to our own time. We live in an age of great anxiety about the future. There are many questions about how we have wasted the world's resources and what, if anything can be done to reverse the damage that has already been done. It is a time of economic upheaval. We live in a world that has awakened to the reality that terrorism can touch every life in our world. Who would have thought that Canada would have to deal with terrorism? Haven’t we always considered ourselves to be somehow beyond that? And yet we have discovered our how vulnerable we really are.

On a personal level we worry about job security. We wonder whether our pension plans will be adequate for our needs once we retire. We worry about the breakdown of societal values. We worry about marriage breakdown, about our children and teenagers as they grow up in a very different world, about our health, about aging. And there are deep moral issues that we face as no other generation before us – euthanasia, genetic altering, and cloning to name just a few.

As a Church we must give leadership to society in dealing with the issues of our age. The Church must be committed not only to sharing the Good News of the Gospel, but also to giving ethical leadership to a floundering society. We have experienced how issues such as the blessing of same-sex unions can so easily become divisive. How do we take on that kind of leadership when we are faced with dwindling resources and aging congregations? Is it possible that we, by our neglect to lovingly invest our talents and gifts in the needs of people, are contributing to the end of Christendom?

God has equipped us with all that is needed to make the church a powerful, effective instrument in a power-mad but powerless world. God would do the impossible. God's purpose is to bring order into chaos, peace into destruction, purpose into purposelessness, fullness into emptiness and healing into sickness. It is to restore aching, hungry hearts. But it will not happen if we become a church that hides God under a mattress through fear of offending the status quo.

If we are to bring about that kingdom of shalom then we need to walk in faith, to serve in joy and to praise God in all the circumstances of our lives. In other words, we are to be as ready for the coming of the kingdom as were the people of Thessalonica. How can we discover or recover all the missing talents? How can we inspire the people of God to be all that they are meant to be? How can we change the structures of the church to make it a more inviting and inclusive community? It takes a risk on our part as Christians. Are we willing to invest in the future of the Church by challenging oppression? Are we willing to invest in a just society?

What is the mission of this community as you move forward in faith? Do you have a clear idea of who you are as God’s people? Some communities of faith cannot move beyond their glorious past. They live on the talents and treasures of past members. Some church communities look after themselves and fail to reach out missionally.

It begins, no doubt, with finding meaning in our own lives. It begins with nurturing each other in the faith, by praying for one another, and by becoming so seeped in spirituality that people smell God on us and want what we have. It comes about through having a clear mission. It comes about by being the kind of church that reaches out to those in need. It comes about by our actively becoming instruments of God in the world. It comes about when we actively invest ourselves in the pursuit of God's reign.

As we allow God to work in and through us, our lives change. We open ourselves to God's kingdom. Our communities change. God has entrusted us with so much. Let us not be held back by fear. Let us act; let us risk. For it is risking that we will truly discover everything we are meant to be. So don’t stuff God under a mattress. Let us use all of our talents to further the work of God’s Kingdom of Shalom. Amen.

23rd Sun. after Pentecost, Proper 29, Year A

A Credit Crisis

Readings: Exodus 33:12-23; Psalm 99; 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10; Matthew 22:15-22

Sometimes it seems as if the only way through life is to flip a coin and leave it to chance. Take for example the current economic conditions in the world. It is impossible to avoid hearing about the ups and downs of a very volatile stock market. It is impossible to avoid worrying about our own ability to cope with the future. According to Paul Krugman, professor of economics at Princeton University, this time period is for the American economy a crisis of faith. There is a growing lack of trust in the financial institutions and businesses that have backed much of the debt of the United States. The result, of course, is that they are no longer able to extend credit and so world markets have plunged. Here is an interesting observation for you! A friend pointed out to me that the word ‘credit’, comes from the Latin, ‘credere’, to believe or trust. When the banks extend credit to people they trust their ability to repay the debt. Credit has the same root as the word ‘creed’. That makes it a part of our faith language. We affirm our faith in the words of the creed. We put our trust in God. The current economic crisis is about lack of trust between creditors and those to whom they lend. Faith crisis at any time of our lives is about our inability to put our trust in God. The passages of Scripture today point out our need to do exactly that.

The Pharisees are up to their usual tricks. Once again they are trying to entrap Jesus. “Tell us what you think?” they say to him. “Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor or not?” The Jews had to pay a poll tax directly to Rome. It was a mark of their political subjection to a foreign power. It was a big issue for them, one which made it impossible to separate politics and religion. Rome, a pagan power, controlled the Promised Land, the land that God gave to the people of Israel. In the eyes of many that polluted their land. And so they ask Jesus, “Should the people of God express allegiance to a pagan emperor?”

It is a very clever trap! We all know that religion and politics do not mix. Their trap involves money, power, politics and ultimately, allegiance. On top of it all, they bait Jesus with false flattery. “We know that you are sincere. You teach the way of God with truth.”

But Jesus is not fooled. With the toss of a coin, he flips the question back to them. “Whose head is this, and whose title?” he asks. Taxes were paid with the Roman denarius. The Jews used coins without the portrait for the temple tax. The only answer they can give is “the emperor’s”.

“Give to the emperor the things that the emperors. Give to God the things that are God’s.” His answer is every bit as clever as the question. It literally flips the coin back to them. It gives credit where credit is due. The secular finds its place within the sacred. Jesus does not deny or ignore the dues owed to the secular world. At the same time he does not lose sight of the eternal and ultimate world of the spiritual and the divine. Indeed he leaves it up to us to decide what we mean by ‘what is God’s’.

The gospel message is an invitation to believe, to have faith, to put your trust in God. It is an important message for us to take in when we are undergoing any crisis of faith. So many things cause our faith to falter! Being a Christian does not mean that we do not suffer. To be human is to suffer. We will suffer life’s losses. In this congregation right now are people who are suffering loss. Our prayer list fills up every week with people who are suffering from sickness, mental illness, job loss, bereavement. How do we trust God’s promises at such times in our lives?

The Thessalonians are people who know how to trust God’s promises. This fledgling congregation has been open to God's call through many trials and tribulations. They trust that God is among them in a new way. They are able to experience Christian joy even in the midst of suffering and persecution. They live a life of faithfulness to the Gospel. Paul commends them for "their work of faith, their labour of love and their steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ".

Could Paul speak that way about our community? Do we really trust God’s promises? Do we live out the faith of our baptism? Are we faithful to our calling? What labours of love are done among us? What quality of hope do we possess? Does faith give us a basis for hope amidst the turmoil of our lives?

How do we learn to trust in God? “A television program preceding the 1988 Winter Olympics featured blind skiers being trained for slalom skiing, impossible as that sounds. Paired with sighted skiers, the blind skiers were taught on the flats how to make right and left turns. When that was mastered, they were taken to the slalom slope, where their sighted partners skied beside them shouting, "Left!" and "Right!" As they obeyed the commands, they were able to negotiate the course and cross the finish line, depending solely on the sighted skiers' word. It was either complete trust or catastrophe.”

That is a wonderful parable for us in our life of faith. As we navigate life’s journey, in our blindness we often wander far from the path. And yet God is there showing us the way, shouting “left” and “right”. We can ignore the guidance, or we can put our trust in God. We can pray for our needs to be met. We can give thanks to God for all of God’s blessings. We can trust in God’s promises.