Worship
for the Lord’s Day
November
15, 2020
Announcements:
·
West
Elizabeth Food Bank at Olivet will distribute food on Tuesday, November 17 if
you would like to help.
·
The
sessions of both churches will meet via Zoom on Tuesday evening at 7pm
Let’s begin:
Prelude
Call to Worship
How shall we enter the house of the Lord? With
songs of great praise and rejoicing! How
shall we prepare ourselves to receive the blessings? With
hearts, minds, and spirits that are open.
Come, let us worship the Lord and bow down. Let
us offer our praise to God who has redeemed us. AMEN.
Hymn Lead On, O King Eternal (all 3 verses)
Prayer of Confession
Lord of mercy and justice, You have given us so
many talents and gifts to be used in Your world. You have given us these gifts because You
trust us to use them well — and You will be with us in all our work. But we disappoint You when we diminish the
value of the talents or become so fearful of failure that we don’t believe that
we are capable of helping in this world. Lord, forgive us. Help us trust in the gifts You have given to
us and trust in Your guidance in using them. Forgive us when we are fearful, stubborn,
apathetic, indifferent to the needs around us. Give us hearts for serving you all our days. In Jesus’ name we pray (Silent prayers are offered) AMEN.
Words of Assurance
Rejoice and celebrate! God has placed God’s own trust and love deep
within your hearts. You have been called
and trusted to serve God. Alleluia! AMEN.
Affirmation of Faith –
The Apostles’ Creed
I believe in God the
Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ His only Son
our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost; born of the Virgin Mary;
suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended
into hell; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven
and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall
come to judge the quick and the dead. I
believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy catholic church; the communion of saints;
the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life
everlasting. Amen.
Pastoral Prayer:
Wise
and Patient God, we know what You want us to do, but we are far too often
hesitant to follow through for You. You
give us multiple blessings and ask that we develop these gifts and use them to
help others. In times of great crisis we
come through, we mobilize. But in the
intermediate times, we hold back. We
develop a "let someone else do it" attitude. We often think of our gifts, our talents as
things that are less than worthy. In
this country in which competition is the ruling code, we don’t want to compete
with others, because we feel we just don’t have the right "stuff". How blind we are, Lord! To each one of us You have given gifts which
can be used to help others. Each gift
and talent is precious in Your sight. Rather
than compete with others to see who has the greater talent, let us use the
gifts we have been given joyfully.
One of the greatest
gifts is the gift of prayer. And we have
brought before You, Lord, the concerns which have been weighing on our hearts. Touch the lives of all these people and
situations with Your healing love. Give
each one a sense of Your powerful presence. Flood their lives with hope and peace. We pray specifically for…
Help each one of us to be workers for You. Help us trust in Your abiding presence and
love for us. Challenge us to use those
gifts and to honor the giver. We pray
now for all those whose cares and worries burden our hearts in a moment of
silence.
In Christ we are one and in His name, we pray…
Our Father, who art in
heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy
kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our debts as we forgive our
debtors. And lead us not into
temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. AMEN.
Hymn O Master, Let Me Walk With Thee (first and last verses)
Scripture Readings
Old Testament: Psalm 90
1Lord, you have been our
dwelling place in all generations.
2Before the mountains were brought
forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to
everlasting you are God.
3You turn us back to dust, and
say, “Turn back, you mortals.”
4For a thousand years in your
sight are like yesterday when it is past, or like a watch in the night.
5You sweep them away; they are
like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning;
6in the morning it flourishes
and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers.
7For we are consumed by your
anger; by your wrath we are overwhelmed.
8You have set our iniquities
before you, our secret sins in the light of your countenance.
9For all our days pass away
under your wrath; our years come to an end like a sigh.
10The days of our life are
seventy years, or perhaps eighty, if we are strong; even then their span is
only toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.
11Who considers the power of your
anger? Your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you.
12So teach us to count our days
that we may gain a wise heart.
13Turn, O Lord! How long? Have compassion
on your servants!
14Satisfy us in the morning with
your steadfast love, so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
15Make us glad as many days as
you have afflicted us, and as many years as we have seen evil.
16Let your work be manifest to
your servants, and your glorious power to their children.
17Let the favor of the Lord our
God be upon us, and prosper for us the work of our hands— O prosper the work of
our hands!
New Testament: Matthew
25:14-30
14“For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his
slaves and entrusted his property to them; 15to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one,
to each according to his ability. Then he went away. 16The one who had received the five talents went off at once
and traded with them, and made five more talents. 17In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two
more talents. 18But the one
who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid
his master’s money. 19After a long
time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. 20Then the one who had received the five talents came forward,
bringing five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me five
talents; see, I have made five more talents.’ 21His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy
slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of
many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ 22And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying,
‘Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more
talents.’ 23His master
said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy
in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of
your master.’ 24Then the one
who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew that
you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you
did not scatter seed; 25so I was
afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is
yours.’ 26But his master
replied, ‘You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did
not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? 27Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers,
and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. 28So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the
ten talents. 29For to all
those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from
those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. 30As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer
darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
Sermon – Just like the hymns, you can click on the
sermon title to hear/watch a video of today’s sermon via YouTube.
Time, Talent, and Treasure
(based on Matthew 25:14-30)
The
parable we read this morning is called “The Parable of the Talents,” and a
talent was a denomination of ancient money.
So it would appear that this is a story about money and its usage. Which Jesus spoke about more than any other
subject matter. In this parable the
master gave sums of money to three of his servants and the text tells us that
the money was “entrusted” to them, which means that the master expected to have
it back. It wasn’t a gift, nor was it
even loan, for there is no reason to believe that the servants were in need;
the money was given to the servants to be held until the master’s return. Although Jesus doesn’t come right out and say
it in the story, the passage suggests that there was an expectation as to the
management of this money, for it says that he gave the sums to each “according
to their ability”.
Jesus
again suggests in the story that these servants were not only given unequal
amounts, but that their ability to manage the sums of money were also
unequal. One of the servants was given
more because he had a better capacity to manage money. One of the servants was given considerably
less because he had less ability, but that didn’t mean he had no ability. It was given exactly the right amount for his
ability to manage.
We
know from the story what they did with the money and how their ability was put
to work, and when the master returned to settle his accounts, we know that the
first servant went off immediately and began trading with them. He took his five talents and got five more in
return. The second servant did likewise
and doubled his money as well. The third
servant, however, fearing his master and being a cautious soul, did not risk
his talent, so he dug a hole and hid it afraid of losing it. Upon being summoned by the master, this third
servant was pleased and proud to be able to present to him exactly what he had
been entrusted. The master had given him
something to keep and safeguard and now the master had it back.
That’s
the problem with this passage. Of course
most of us relate to this poor third servant who was just being cautious and
returning to the master that which he had been entrusted. It’s so unlike Jesus to suddenly turn on this
servant, after all he didn’t lose any of it.
He didn’t go out and risk his one and only talent, his one and only
dollar and squander it on some foolish investment. Instead, he kept it safe. He kept it hidden so it wasn’t lost. Perhaps if we were to rewrite it the proper
way with all that we know about Jesus and his normal response, we would write
it something like this, “There, there, I understand your fear and your
ambitions. I know that you wanted to do
what was right, but your fear of losing that which I gave you prevented you
from taking the risk, stepping out in faith.
It could have been worse; you could have lost all of the money in some
foolish investment. As it is, you did
the best you could; I appreciate your concern for protecting my money. You can keep what you have. You could have made more, but at least you
haven’t lost out completely.” This then
would have been a story about the cautious servant and the forgiving master; a
much more common and appropriate story of Jesus and how God acts with us.
However, that’s not what the passage
tells us. That’s not the story that
Jesus leaves us with. Instead we’ve got
a tale whose moral is more like those who have will get more and those who have
less will go to hell where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. And somehow that doesn’t sit so well with
me. So there has to me more to it.
I read a story about an Old Swedish
Lutheran pastor who preached on this text to his elderly congregation, one of
whom was worried about the fate of people similar to this servant, who might
find themselves in hell rather than being rewarded for faithful
stewardship. The biggest concern for
this elderly member was not that they would be thrown into the firey blaze of
hell, but rather that they were so elderly that they no longer had any teeth to
gnash. The pastor, not willing to
undermine the poor man’s faith replied, “I’m sure teeth will be provided.”
But that’s not the point, either.
This parable needs to be understood
in its full breadth if we are to find the real message Jesus was trying to tell
us. It isn’t a parable about
forgiveness, so that’s why Jesus doesn’t end it the way we think it should be ended. And actually, it’s not really even about
money, even though money is the object of the story and this parable is often
used as a stewardship sermon, which I am using as a prelude to our congregation
al meeting and the announcement you heard this morning about our stewardship
commitment to “Strive to Tithe”.
Instead, I think it’s more about time. The time in which we find ourselves now. The time between the beginning and the end. The parable is told by Jesus between the
story of the ten bridesmaids and the story of the last judgment. The ten bridesmaids is a story about not
knowing when the end of the age is to come but to be watchful, because it will
come like a thief in the night. And the
story of the last judgment puts a finality on all that Jesus has been trying to
teach them. So, I think this story
places a premium not on how to use and spend money, but on how to use and spend
time, especially for Jesus as there was not very much time left. This parable is the second to last story that
he tells the disciples.
I think Jesus wants to warn his
disciples about how we are going to use what time we have left, what resources
we’ve been given to become creative in gaining more, and how we are going to
redeem the present. This parable really
has nothing to do with physical or monetary investments. It has nothing to do with interest rates or
the carefully selected stocks that we have chosen for our portfolios. These days, who knows what they would be,
anyway. Instead, it has everything to do
with what we are doing with what we have, where we are, right now – in this
very moment. When the master in the
parable went away he didn’t tell his servants how long he would be gone or when
he would return. The test was to see
how, living in that insecurity of not knowing, each would manage what they had
been entrusted. Which is exactly where
we live everyday, anyway; isn’t it? We
never know what tomorrow will bring.
I remember sitting in the upstairs
hallway of my parents’ house when I was probably no older than seven or eight
years old. Some people had come to the
door to speak to my mom about religion and their particular brand of
faith. I wanted to hear what they had to
say, but not being welcomed in the living room (as I was just a kid), I sat
just out of sight upstairs listening.
One of the women regaled my mother with scripture verse after scripture
verse. I wasn’t yet that familiar with
the Bible, but none of the passages sounded comforting. They all had this tone about them, or perhaps
it was just the way the woman related them, but I had this feeling of urgency,
consequence and doom. “We’re living in
the end times,” she said over and over again.
“I tell you, it is the end. You
must get your affairs in order, make sure that you, your family and
particularly your children are prepared before it’s too late.”
As my mother said Goodbye to the
women who had sat in our living room sharing their gospel of fear, I went to my
room and sat on my bed and cried. I
already knew that it was too late. There
wouldn’t be enough time left to get prepared – my father drank too much, my
mother hated the neighbors down the street (I heard her say it), I had stolen
my cousin’s plastic horse a couple of months ago and who knew what my sister
had done. What if God came that very
night to pass down his judgment upon us?
My mother knocked on the door. She saw my tears and sat down on the
bed. “I’m so sorry you heard all of
that” she said over and over again. “God
isn’t like that.”
“But we’re going to go to hell,
aren’t we?” I said.
My mom took me in her arms, hugged
me and said, “No, sweetheart. We’re not
going to go to hell. God wants us to try
and be the best that we can be, but we’re not perfect. I’m not perfect. Your father isn’t perfect. And you’re not perfect. But God forgives us when we say our prayers
and ask for forgiveness and then encourages us to try it all over again.”
I got up off the bed and went to my
dresser drawer. Tentatively, I opened it
and reached into the far back of the drawer underneath a collection of rubber
balls, underneath socks and underwear, and finally behind a small box that held
odds and ends. In the very back of the
drawer on the bottom, in the deepest, darkest place I could find - was my
cousin’s horse. I took it out and got
back on the bed. Mom didn’t say a word,
she just sat there.
“I took this from Dwayne. I wanted it.
He doesn’t know that I have it.
He didn’t give it to me.” I just
couldn’t quite come out and say that I stole it.
“Well, we’ll give it back to him the
next time we see him, okay.” my Mom said.
“But what if God comes tonight?” I
wondered.
Mom hugged me again and said, “I
rather doubt that God is going to come tonight, I can’t promise that he won’t
because we don’t ever know, but I doubt it.
What I do know is that God has already forgiven you, because you
wouldn’t have hidden it so well if you didn’t already feel guilty about taking
it. Just ask God to forgive you and
we’ll take it back to Dwayne as soon as we get a chance.”
“But what if I do something bad
again? Sometimes I can’t help it. I try.”
“What did I just tell you? None of us are perfect. All that God wants us to do is try. Life is a risk. You could sit here in your room – not speak
to anyone, play with your toys nicely, eat all of your meals and go to
bed. Maybe, just maybe if you did that
everyday you wouldn’t do something bad again.
But what kind of life is that?
You couldn’t have any friends, ‘cause sometimes we say things we don’t
mean to other people. So you wouldn’t
want to risk that. God knows that we
aren’t going to be perfect and he doesn’t want us shut up in our rooms by
ourselves. God wants us to risk making
mistakes. God wants us to use whatever
time he’s given us to live a full and complete life – mistakes and all.”
“The important thing I want you to
remember is that we believe in a God of love and forgiveness. Not a God of wrath and doom. Some people never get over the consequences
of their sins, they don’t know that God has already forgiven them and moved
on. They’re afraid of God. Whether God comes for us today or a hundred
years from now, you are one of God’s children, just like you are mine. And although I might get mad at you and
punish you for something that you did wrong, I don’t stay mad forever, do I? God’s an even better parent than I am and he
never stays mad at us.”
My mom taught me that day that we
don’t believe in a vengeful, angry God but that we believe in a God who
forgives and loves us. Nearly fifty
years have come and gone since that day and I still hear people saying that we
are living in the end times.
If I had taken the advice of the
women that came that day to my parents’ home, I may not have risked life in the
same way. I may have hidden my talent,
for fear of a harsh master who reaps where he does not sow, carefully guarding my
small corner of the world, keeping safe what God gave to me. In the end I don’t know what I would be able
to give back to God; my days and my time maybe, but not much of a life.
Instead, I took my mother’s advice
and I have a lifetime already of blessings to hand back to God when the time
comes. What have you been doing with the
time that God has given you? How have
you managed that time? Rather than be so
concerned about when the end will come and worrying about that, what are you
doing with what God has given you, now?
AMEN.
Hymn Come, Thou Almighty King (first
and last verses)
Benediction
As you have been blessed, now go to be a blessing to others. Go, bringing the news of peace and hope, of
healing and love. Go and the God of
peace will always go with you. AMEN.
Postlude
