Talents and Treasures

Sermon by: Rev. Mary Alice Mulligan, Ph.D.

Scripture: Isaiah 9:1-4, Matthew 4:12-23

Start by reading John 1:35-42, which was last week’s Gospel lection, reminding us that St. Andrew’s first response after he came to Jesus was to bring word to his brother Peter. We are St. Andrew U.C.C., because we too want to share the love of God we receive through Jesus Christ.

Most of us love the stories of Jesus. We can retell many of them, even if we don’t remember all the details and have to fill in the blanks with our own imaginations a little. The writers of the Gospels must have been a bit like that also. The stories we read vary from Gospel to Gospel. If we investigate the different reports of the calling of disciples, we don’t get a unified snapshot from Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Instead, each shows us meaningful scenes of Jesus’ reaching out to invite strangers into his closest group. “Follow me,” he calls, although we lack exact details of the moments. Obviously biblical reports of calling the first disciples are not intended to be historically accurate, which is to our benefit since Jesus calls each of us in our own setting, so we can respond in our own way. Some drop everything immediately and follow, but some of us make a slower, more deliberate response. What is clear from all reports is, Jesus does not call disciples to a someday home in heaven. He calls us to action now, in our Earthly life. Jesus is preparing the foundations of the Church. Stop now and read Matthew 4:12-23.

Here we are at church, which for most of us is a synonym for worship. To invite someone “to church,” usually means to worship. “Church is at 10:30,” we might say. A crucial part of Christ’s call to be church is a call to worship, because God is worthy of the absolute best devotion our human efforts can muster. God deserves great cathedrals with gold ornaments and Michelangelo’s paintings on the ceiling; God deserves the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing praises, and also the mumbled prayers of children. Our Heavenly Parent is worthy of our voices singing in joyous adoration. Because God is worthy, Jesus calls the church together and we respond in worship.

But “church” is more than worship. Jesus is shaping our lives together as 24/7 church. If we are people of God, we have continuous responsibilities to each other. What’s the first message Matthew tells us Jesus proclaims? “Repent!” Repent for the Realm of God is near. In the call to be church, Jesus gives directions. Repent! But repent doesn’t mean sit around feeling bad about all the crummy things we performed through the years. Repent means “change.” If we answer Jesus’ call to be church, he expects us to change.

Probably everyone knows the old adage given to young pastors: Preach to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. But actually such advice is not only for preachers. Jesus expects each of us to be accountable to all the others. We are responsible for supporting and caring for those who are broken by circumstances of life. The flip side is we are required to accept correction from others when we are in the wrong. The early church, for instance, rightly confronted members who put their thumbs on their shop scales when weighing goods for sale. By the power of the Holy Spirit, church members must be accountable to each other in the name of Jesus Christ. Of course, this doesn’t mean we willy-nilly criticize each other. Criticizing someone for wearing too much make-up is not what mutual accountability means. But Jesus does expect us to be a community of faith together. Helping each other sometimes means carrying a person through difficulties. Sometimes it means letting them lie in the bed they made. And sometimes it means telling them it’s time to get up out of the muck. We are responsible to each other as parts of the body of Christ. Together we can be stronger than any of us can be alone. Jesus is shaping our lives together.

Because the church exists to serve the world. The purpose of the church is to be servant to the world. Of course, we serve each other in the church to strengthen who we are together. But Christ calls us to serve the entire world. When we go to a ballgame and someone on the sideline is holding a sign reading: John 3:16 – we remember what the verse says: “God so loved the world.” Not the church, but the world is the reason God became incarnate and was willing even to be murdered in order to show full divine love to all humanity. God gives everything for the world.

Jesus calls people to follow saying, “Change your life. Do what I do,” which means we are to proclaim the nearness of God’s Realm. Heal whoever is ill. Teach others to be compassionate. And take care of those who suffer. When we see those photos of people wrapped in blankets, huddled against a wall, in the midst of the storms charging across the US this winter, we shudder and feel helpless. We are so far away. But there are hungry, vulnerable people pushing shopping carts with all their possessions along the streets of Sarasota. Each person who is struggling to survive, to keep safe, to find a meal, is a person, a beloved child whose name God knows. Jesus is not calling us to beat our chests in guilt or to feel terrible. But in calling us to repentance, Jesus is asking us to consider what changes we can make to serve a world crippled by poverty and pain. We know there is tremendous need all around us. All over the world. And we also know the church exists to serve the world.

So our job is to offer what we have. Each of us is part of the St. Andrew family and God has tucked holy gifts into each of us which are then to be used in service to the world. The talents some people have are obvious – taking donations to Resurrection House, a readiness to cook for the Project 180 dinners, over and above giving to each monthly mission, or volunteering at the SPARCC Treasure Chest store. But some of us may question whether we have gifts that could make a difference in the world.

So, here’s a true story. In my stricter vegetarian time, when I had little money to share, soy grit was a cooking staple I made from soaking soybeans overnight, chopping them into pieces in the blender and cooking them briefly. Then I drained and refrigerated the grit. One day, my next-door neighbor mentioned his allergies and how glad he was for soymilk which he made each week. So I asked, “How do you even make soymilk?” He replied, “I soak soybeans overnight, chop them up in a blender, cook them briefly, then drain off the milk to chill. It took me several minutes to figure out: every week, I was making soy grit and letting the soymilk run down the drain. Every week, he made soymilk and threw away the soy grit. We were throwing away what our neighbor needed, every week.

In community, we discover what talents we have which can bless our neighbors. It’s one of the reasons we have Stewardship Season, to let each of us talk and think about our financial abilities and our talents which God can use through St. Andrew to bless our neighbors throughout the world. When we commit to being church, we are committing to placing our little gifts, our treasure and our talents, into the hands of Jesus Christ to carry out God’s purposes through us as church, trusting God to continue to mold us into a servant people. As followers of Jesus Christ, we offer what we have.