Mattress, Credit Union, Or World?
Children's sermon
Illustration
Preaching
Sermon
Worship
Object:
The parable of the talents is one of those scriptural passages that is so familiar -- particularly given that the lectionary has placed it during the time when many congregations are conducting their stewardship campaigns -- that it's often difficult to keep it fresh for our worshipers. Yet in the economic circumstances of the moment, it's striking just how much it speaks to the condition many of our people are experiencing. In this installment of The Immediate Word, team member Mary Austin notes how news reports that the top 1% more than doubled their share of the nation's income over the last three decades while poverty has also increased and many of those at the middle and lower ends of the spectrum find themselves squeezed more than ever mirror the condition of the servants in the parable: those with more (five talents) are easily able to increase their share, while the one with a single talent is paralyzed by fear and understandably is wary of losing what little he already possesses. But as Mary points out, the parable is not at all an invitation to imitate the behavior of Wall Street and voraciously maximize our share of the pie. Rather, Mary suggests, it is a call for us to let go of our anxiety and to multiply the gifts we have been given (both in wealth and talent) by investing them wisely -- and that means sharing them with others so that we are prepared for when our Master returns and asks for an accounting of our lives.
Team member Ron Love shares some additional thoughts about the epistle and gospel texts, and how a clear message that we can take from them is that a key aspect of using our gifts and talents wisely is having the courage to live faithfully -- even when it might be easier to bob along on the sea of life, riding the waves rather than making them. While Ron points out that it is easy for many of us to avoid risk and confrontation, to do so is merely to imitate the behavior of the servant who buried his talent rather than to be fully awake and ready for our Master.
Mattress, Credit Union, or World?
by Mary Austin
Matthew 25:14-30
With uncanny timing, the lectionary offers us the parable of the talents for this coming Sunday. The parable is both a mirror and a reverse of our current financial situation.
On one level the parable is about money and whether we hoard it or use it. Should we keep money under the mattress or heed the call to shift from a big bank to a credit union? Or should it be spent and given away to the best of our ability, letting tomorrow take care of itself?
On a deeper level, the parable is about the role of fear in our lives, whether we feel wealthy or poor or in between.
THE WORLD
Like the parable of the talents, in our world too those who start with more end up with more.
"The top 1% of earners more than doubled their share of the nation's income over the last three decades," the Congressional Budget Office [CBO] said in October, according to a New York Times article by Robert Pear. "In addition," the article continues, "the report said, government policy has become less redistributive since the late 1970s, doing less to reduce the concentration of income." The ability of federal taxes to equalize income was smaller in 2007 than in 1979, as "the composition of federal revenues shifted away from progressive income taxes to less-progressive payroll taxes," the budget office said. "Also, it said, federal benefit payments are doing less to even out the distribution of income, as a growing share of benefits, like Social Security, goes to older Americans, regardless of their income."
As the article explains the data, "the [congressional] budget office found that from 1979 to 2007, average inflation-adjusted after-tax income grew by 275% for the 1% of the population with the highest income. For others in the top 20% of the population, average real after-tax household income grew by 65%. By contrast, the budget office said, for the poorest fifth of the population, average real after-tax household income rose 18%." The findings are based on the nonpartisan CBO's analysis of Internal Revenue Service and Census Bureau data and align with studies by some academic economists.
Summing up the data, the article concludes: "The report found that higher-income households got a larger share of the pie, while other households got smaller shares."
Or, to put it another way, as Robert H. Frank says in the New York Times: "As documented by a recent Congressional Budget Office study, the top 1% of income recipients in the United States earned 275% more in 2007 than they did in 1979, adjusted for inflation, a period when the earnings of middle-income households grew by less than 40%." Almost all of the Republican presidential contenders have one version or another of a proposed flat tax. The same article notes: "A flat tax would increase inequality by substantially reducing rates on the most prosperous households, while increasing them on low- and middle-income households."
All of us -- at every income level -- are spending less and holding onto more money. Retailers report slower sales in October, even as holiday sales should be increasing. Also in the New York Times, Stephanie Clifford writes: "In a potentially troubling sign for the holiday shopping season, retailers released data on Thursday suggesting that Americans were slowing down spending and hunting for discounts.... Consumer sentiment continues to be weak, and ports have been reporting that much less holiday inventory has been coming through their docks than expected."
THE WORD
The parable of the talents is so familiar -- and so often used at stewardship time -- that it travels past our ears after so many hearings.
Yet this year, the plight of the servant with the one talent is all the more familiar. Why not hold onto the one, when you don't know if another one will come along? We understand the cautious impulse not to lose more money, not to fall further behind. The parable notes that the master gave out the talents "each to his ability." The servant with the one talent is already lacking something. Confidence? Savvy? Entrepreneurial skill? Opportunity? Like the poor of our world, he starts out behind.
True to the parable form, the master is not an exact stand-in for God. The story says that the master is well-known for being "a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed." He benefits from the work of the servants, and we can imagine that they were delighted when he went away and stayed gone. On his return, the servants are frightened enough or dutiful enough that no one has spent the money or run off, and they are ready to give an accounting. The parable could be about waiting as much as about how we use the things entrusted to us. The servants manage to wait a long time for the master's return and are ready when he returns.
Finally, the parable holds a lesson about fear. The anxiety of the last servant keeps him from sharing in the fullness of God's grace. As the economy grows worse, how often do we all do the same?
CRAFTING THE SERMON
Parables by definition are mysterious and open to interpretation on several levels. Our society, where the wealthy are wealthier and all of us are holding onto our money, is a parallel to the story right now. The people who have the equivalent of talents in our world have definitely multiplied what they were given. The people who started with less are even further behind where they began. And all of us hold onto money and security for the same reasons as the last servant -- we're afraid.
In another way, though, our world is a reverse of the story. In the economy of faith, growth comes from letting go, not holding on.
The parable is a call not to be Wall Street bankers (multiplying our money) or hedge fund traders (getting rich with other people's money). This is a call to live differently than the rest of the world... to trust more, and hold onto less; to lift up our heads and to look for God's grace in the world, not in the dirt or under the mattress.
As Sarah Dylan Breuer writes on her blog, "The live question for us, I think, about this Sunday's gospel is whether we can really believe that, if we really can trust in that enough to risk living as Jesus taught us rather than according to the demands of those who try to set themselves up in Jesus' place as our lord, who try to enslave us to worldly standards by telling us that our security is in acquiring resources for ourselves and striking out at our enemies." The talents in the story are meant to be used -- the sin comes in hiding them away.
Our math is too simple -- we see addition and subtraction. God is more interested in multiplication and in making all that is holy grow exponentially in our world.
SECOND THOUGHTS
A Euphonic Christian
by Ron Love
Matthew 25:14-30; 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
I was reading a book on preaching the other day, and the author said the central component of any sermon must be euphony. Euphony is defined as a series of words that have a pleasing sound. It is the absence of harshness.
Pondering this, I wondered if these sermons reflected the lives desired to be lived by Christians. These are lives that are pleasing to others and absent of any form of confrontation. A euphonic Christian lives quietly and undistinguished at the workplace. A euphonic Christian is indistinguishable from anyone else doing Christmas holiday shopping prior to Thanksgiving. A euphonic Christian is one who the only way his or her next door neighbor knows they might be a Christian is the absence of a car in the driveway from 11 to 12 every Sunday morning.
The Christian whom Paul discusses can be anything but described as euphonic. They are awake and vigilant, "knowing very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night." This is why while others are "sleeping," the Christians in Thessalonica are "awake and sober."
Mathew echoes this same theme of being active and alert. The disciple who was admonished was not one of the two who took a risk in serving his master; it was the one who found it better to be a euphonic Christian by burying his coin rather than lose it. Money lost in service to Christ is far better than money left listless and idle. The Christian who might mention something about Jesus or the church at the water cooler is a risk-taker, rather than the one touts the latest Steelers score. And if you live in Pittsburgh (as I once did), you know that for many people Heinz Field (the Steelers' stadium) is a church. What better place for a euphonic Christian to park himself on a Sunday than on the 50-yard line?
Rev. Harold Camping may be a spellbinding radio commentator, but he is lacking as a mathematician. Doing an intricate mathematical calculation, starting from the exact date when the earth was created, he surmised that Jesus was to return on May 21, 2011. When Jesus failed to descend riding the white horses of God's glory, Camping realized he made a slight error in the subtraction of his numbers. Now, any of us who has tried to balance a checkbook ought to be able to understand and sympathize with Camping. Camping realized that the new date was just a few pennies off, revised his forecast, and announced that the Rapture would occur on October 21, 2011. On the 21st Jesus must have decided it was not a good day to go horseback riding, so the day had a sunrise and sunset just like any other. Because of this Camping has become the butt of many jokes. But maybe, if we look at the flip side, he may be in better stead with God than we are. At least Camping is an expectant Christian, not a euphonic one.
Do we live with such expectancy? We may not be asleep, but we are certainly drowsy in our Christian lives.
William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army, once was preaching atop a box on a London street corner. A woman came up and criticized him for his street-corner preaching. His reply was "I like my way of doing it more than your way of not doing it."
It is time we stop being euphonic Christians and get about the "way of doing it."
CRAFTING THE SERMON
I. Discuss how we have become too complacent with our Christian faith, with a lack of desire to be active for the Lord.
II. Discuss how Jesus will return, though we do not know the day or the hour. Discuss how that expectancy must spur us on to be in active service for the Lord and involved in the church.
III. Discuss if we are asleep, preoccupied with other activities of the day. Discuss if we are drowsy, thinking about Jesus but not doing much with our thoughts. Discuss if we are fully awake, vibrant, and alive in serving our Lord.
ILLUSTRATIONS
The fear of failure is deeply ingrained in most of us -- our culture teaches us to be that way. What's the worst thing that can happen in school? To get an "F." What's the worst thing that can happen in a sport or game? To be on the losing side. Is it any wonder then that when it comes to risking ourselves for the sake of Jesus Christ, our first instinct is to play it safe, to avoid trying things that may not work?
* * *
In our economy, investing money is considered a good and wise thing to do -- we assume our economy is constantly growing and that there will always be new and better opportunities for investment. But in Jesus' time, people looked at the economy in an entirely different way. They thought of the economy as a closed system in which there was only a finite, limited amount of wealth to go around. Those who accumulated large amounts of financial capital -- like the master in Jesus' parable -- probably had done so through less-than-honest means.
For this reason, few wealthy people in Jesus' day would have publicly invested money themselves. Many of them quietly turned to certain slaves to manage their money for them. These slaves were educated and skillful, more akin to household managers than to field laborers doing grunt work.
The film The Shawshank Redemption offers an interesting parallel to this parable. One of the central plot elements involves a prison warden skimming off profits from certain investments that he is in charge of. To help him manage the embezzlement and to find the best way to put these dollars to work, the warden has turned to one of his prisoners (portrayed by Tim Robbins), who was a banker in his former life. For the prisoner, there is a great amount of risk in the arrangement. The warden is a dangerous and brutal man who literally holds over him the power of life and death. If the investments lose money, the warden will punish him; yet if they do well, he is still in a precarious position because he knows a secret that could cost him his life. Even so, Robbins' character finds a way to double-cross the crooked warden. The prisoner in The Shawshank Redemption is kind of like the servants in Jesus' parable. Each of them have the skill of making investments grow in value, yet the money they are investing is not their own but belongs to a powerful and even frightening master.
The conventional interpretation of the parable of the talents is to see the master as God and us as the slaves who invest God's simoleons. Yet nowhere in the story does Jesus identify the master as God. It's more likely that in Jesus' mind the master is just an ordinary (and rather crooked) human being. Jesus is telling a parable that might be classified as an "if this, then so much more..." type of story: "If even a crooked, shady operator like the master in my story knows how to reward his slaves for following his wishes, then how much more will God -- who is truly honest and generous -- reward you for doing the right thing!"
For us, doing the right thing has similarities to what the slaves are asked to do in the parable. The Lord has given us certain gifts in this life, which we are expected to use for godly purposes. Those gifts may take the form of either money or abilities -- but we have been entrusted with treasure... and at the end of our lives, like the master in the parable, God doesn't want to receive those talents back from us like an unopened gift. They are meant to be used boldly and lavishly.
* * *
Bruce Malina and Richard Rohrbaugh, in their book Social-Science Commentary on the Synoptic Gospels (Fortress, 2003, pp. 124-125), offer a startling interpretation of the parable of the talents from the perspective of its original peasant audience. Rather than interpreting it in the typical fashion where the servants are seen as though they were stockbrokers competing for the privilege of investing a customer's money, Malina and Rohrbaugh see them as peasants living in a "limited good" moral universe. In this way of looking at the world, becoming rich is not morally admirable because the world's goods are seen as static and limited. Increasing the size of one's own piece of the pie means reducing someone else's. The master is a greedy, rapacious individual who -- reluctant to reveal his avaricious heart to his well-to-do neighbors -- commands his servants to secretly do the dirty work for him. Only one of the servants is virtuous: he buries the money in the ground, because that is the right thing to do. Moreover, this servant sees that master for who he truly is ("a harsh man") and tells him so. For this he is punished, which is exactly what first-century peasants would have expected to happen at the hands of such an unjust master.
If Malina and Rohrbaugh's interpretation is correct, then the master is not a stand-in for God. He is, rather, a scoundrel who provides a negative example. So where's the good news in this interpretation? It's that the third servant acted justly, derailing the master's unjust scheme. Yes, he suffers for it -- but that's the way things sometimes happen in this world. God can be trusted to vindicate him in the final judgment.
* * *
Here's a favorite story that is told by investment counselors and certified financial planners:
There once was a poor farmer who, no matter how he tried, couldn't make his farm pay enough to feed his family. One day a wealthy and successful farmer who lived in the same area felt sorry for the man and gave him a calf. The poor farmer fed and cared for the calf, but calves grow slowly and eat lots of grain. The farmer feared that it would take too long for the calf to grow into an ox and show a profit, so he sold it and bought six sheep. He fed and cared for the sheep, but before long he realized that sheep grow slowly too and cost money to feed. So he sold the sheep and bought two dozen hens. Hens, he thought, would lay eggs every day and so he would see an immediate profit. And he did. The hens laid eggs, allowing him to sell them and make some money -- but shortly the hens grew old and couldn't lay eggs any more. So he butchered the hens and cooked them for his family and had a feast... and his life was right back where it was before he got the calf.
* * *
A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business.
-- Henry Ford
* * *
This story may be apocryphal, but it is widely told in the food industry:
Jerome Smucker began his family business in 1897 near Orrville, Ohio, pressing apple cider and making apple butter from trees that had been planted by John "Johnny Appleseed" Chapman. He sold his cider and apple butter from the back of a horse-drawn wagon, and each container bore a label with J.M. Smucker's personal signature, guaranteeing its quality.
By the 1920s Smucker had begun to mass-produce his products in vacuum-sealed jars, but he realized that even though the jars contained the same amount of jam or jelly by weight, the volume varied so that the jars looked like they contained unequal amounts. Smucker solved the problem by filling each jar to the top, regardless of the weight. Every customer would get the amount they paid for and some would get a little more than they paid for -- and that was okay with Jerome Smucker. He considered it an investment in his company and his relationship with his customers.
* * *
Judi Sheppard Missett was a successful professional dancer, but time began to catch up with her and eventually she had to hang up her dancing shoes. So she opened a dance studio and started teaching dance classes to children and adult women.
Eventually she realized that the adult classes were becoming smaller and smaller, and she began to ask her remaining students why that was. It turns out that most of the women attending her classes weren't coming to learn how to dance but to lose weight and/or stay fit. When the curriculum turned to slow dances, they lost interest.
So Judy picked up the pace, turned up the volume, and created a fun class aimed more toward fitness than the intricacies of dance. She called it "Jazzercise," and it was so popular that she had to train other instructors to lead the classes she choreographed. Eventually she began to franchise the Jazzercise concept. Today, Jazzercise has over 7,500 locations worldwide, a clothing line, and an extremely loyal fan base -- all from a dance class.
* * *
When Brian Scudamore was a college student, he had $600 and an old pickup truck -- and he wanted to own a company and be his own boss. He invested the $600 in advertising that, when the junk in your home, yard, or office became overwhelming, he would come and haul it away.
The following year, the business was so busy he had to drop out of college to run it. Today, 1-800-GOT-JUNK has nearly 100 franchised locations across North America.
* * *
Jill Blashack Strahan's investment amounted to about $6,000 from her saving account, a backyard shed for storage, and a pool table in her garage as a work space. It was all she had but she invested it wisely. With only those things she started a mail-order gourmet food company -- and nearly went broke the first year. She recalls: "I remember sitting outside one day, thinking we were three months behind on our house payment, I had two employees I couldn't pay, and I ought to get a real job. But then I thought, No, this is your dream. Recommit and get to work." She came up with the idea of selling her food at taste-testing parties, and sales began slowly picking up. In twelve years her company, Tastefully Simple, has grown into a $120 million dollar business.
* * *
Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield took a correspondence course on how to make ice cream and searched until they found what may have been the only college town in America without an ice cream shop: Burlington, Vermont. With $8,000 in savings and a $4,000 loan they rented an old gas station, bought equipment, and started coming up with unique flavors. Today Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream takes in $237 million in annual revenue.
* * *
Pamela Skaist-Levy and Gela Nash-Taylor started their clothing line, Juicy Couture, with an investment of $200 and a revolving line of credit. Neither took a salary for the first two years while they established their brand, which is today sold at Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman-Marcus, and Bloomingdale's.
* * *
In 1995 Pierre Omidyar sold a broken laser pointer that he had originally bought as a cat toy on a website he started called AuctionWeb. The buyer inexplicably paid $14 for the pointer. Pierre readily admits that it was a dumb idea to try to sell a broken pointer and an even dumber idea to buy it. Nevertheless, today AuctionWeb is known by the name eBay and Pierre Omidyar is a multimillionaire.
* * *
In business, missed opportunities are often born of timidity and fear in the face of risk. Investments are not made and once missed can't be recaptured. Here are a few examples of some famous missed opportunities:
Mike Smith of Decca Records had heard a new band perform he thought had talent, and he invited them to come to London and audition for a recording contract on New Year's Day, 1962. They did and spent over two hours playing fifteen different songs at the Decca studios.
A few weeks later the band's manager received a letter from Mike Smith's business partner, Dick Rowe, which has become famous. In it he said, "Not to mince words, Mr. Epstein, but we don't like your boys' sound. Groups are out; four-piece groups with guitars particularly are finished."
Less than a year later the band signed a recording contract with EMI under the name "The Beatles."
* * *
In 1981, Universal Studios called Mars, Inc. and asked for permission to use M&M's in a new film they were making, a common practice called "product placement." The deal Universal offered was for a cross-promotion wherein the movie would feature their candy and Mars would help promote the movie.
The Mars brothers said "No."
The movie was E.T.: The Extra-Terrestial, directed by Stephen Spielberg, who went to Hershey's and struck a deal to use their new and little-known candy Reese's Pieces.
Within two weeks of the movie's release the sale of Reese's Pieces tripled, and it has been one of Hershey's best-selling candies ever since.
* * *
In 1876, Western Union had a monopoly on the telegraph and was the world's richest and most advanced communications company. That year William Orton, president of Western Union, was approached by Gardiner Greene Hubbard, a wealthy Bostonian, with a new communications technology he had helped finance. Hubbard offered to sell the new invention to Orton for the outrageous price of $100,000. Orton took a cursory look at the invention and insulted by the asking price, went directly to the inventor instead of talking to Hubbard. At least part of his letter has become famous:
"Mr. Bell," Orton wrote, "after careful consideration of your invention, while it is a very interesting novelty, we have come to the conclusion that it has no commercial possibilities.... What use could this company make of an electrical toy?"
Alexander Graham Bell retained the patent in his own name and it became the most valuable patent in history... and William Orton has gone down in history as a fool.
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: Lift up your eyes to the one who is enthroned in the heavens!
People: As the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master,
Leader: as the eyes of a maid look to the hand of her mistress,
People: so our eyes look to our God, until we receive mercy.
Leader: Have mercy upon us, O God, have mercy upon us,
People: for we have had more than enough of contempt.
OR
Leader: Come and praise the God of creation.
People: Great is God and wondrous is God's creation.
Leader: Come and worship the God of compassion.
People: Wonderful and gracious is our God.
Leader: Come and share in God's good works.
People: We will join in God's creating, compassionate work.
Hymns and Sacred Songs
"God of Grace and God of Glory"
found in:
UMH: 577
H82: 594, 595
PH: 420
NCH: 436
CH: 464
LBW: 415
ELW: 705
"Here I Am, Lord"
found in:
UMH: 593
PH: 525
AAHH: 567
CH: 452
ELW: 574
"Marching to Zion" / "Come, We That Love the Lord"
found in:
UMH: 732, 733
H82: 392
AAHH: 590
NNBH: 367
NCH: 379, 380
CH: 707
ELW: 625
"God Created Heaven and Earth"
found in:
UMH: 151
PH: 290
NCH: 33
ELW: 738
"Now Thank We All Our God"
found in:
UMH: 102
H82: 396, 397
PH: 555
NNBH: 330
NCH: 419
CH: 715
LBW: 533, 534
ELW: 839, 840
"For the Fruits of This Creation"
found in:
UMH: 97
H82: 424
PH: 553
NCH: 425
CH: 714
LBW: 563
ELW: 679
"Where Cross the Crowded Ways of Life"
found in:
UMH: 427
H82: 609
PH: 408
NCH: 543
CH: 665
LBW: 429
ELW: 719
"Lord, Whose Love Through Humble Service"
found in:
UMH: 581
H82: 610
PH: 427
CH: 461
LBW: 423
ELW: 712
"From the Rising of the Sun"
found in:
CCB: 4
"More Precious Than Silver"
found in:
CCB: 25
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982 (The Episcopal Church)
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African-American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELW: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Prayer for the Day / Collect
O God who has created all that is and calls us your own children: Grant us the faith to trust that you desire the best for us and that when we use creation rightly for others we will be blessed; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We come into your presence, O God, to acknowledge you as our Creator and Sustainer. We are because you love us and provide for us. Help us to trust in you enough that we may use the goodness of your creation in ways that glorify you and help others. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially the ways in which we fail to trust God with our wealth.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have been given all creation to sustain us and for us to sustain it in a harmonious relationship of mutual care. Yet we find ourselves always worried about whether or not we will have enough, and so we take more than we need and weaken the earth's supply. When we see that our greed has meant there is not enough for others, we congratulate ourselves for being "wise" and determine to take even more next time. Soon there is not enough for us or them. What foolish children we are and how slow to believe creation is both good and abundant. Forgive us and center our faith in you, O God, that we may truly trust you. Amen.
Leader: God's grace, like God's creation, is abundant and sufficient for all. Receive it and share it with others.
Prayer for Illumination
Send, O God, the light of your Spirit upon us that we may hear with faith the truth of the good news of Jesus. Amen.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord's Prayer)
We praise and glorify your name, O God, for you are the Creator and Redeemer of all. We rejoice in the wonders and abundance of your creative work.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have been given all creation to sustain us and for us to sustain it in a harmonious relationship of mutual care. Yet we find ourselves always worried about whether or not we will have enough, and so we take more than we need and weaken the earth's supply. When we see that our greed has meant there is not enough for others, we congratulate ourselves for being "wise" and determine to take even more next time. Soon there is not enough for us or them. What foolish children we are and how slow to believe creation is both good and abundant. Forgive us and center our faith in you, O God, that we may truly trust you.
We give you thanks for all the blessings of creation. We thank you for life and beauty and the joy of being your children. We thank you for the bounty the earth provides for all your children.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for one another in our needs and especially for those who are denied their share of the fruits of creation. We pray for those who are denied food, shelter, love, and compassion. We pray for those who face loneliness, poverty, violence, and death.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together, saying:
Our Father... Amen.
(or if the Lord's Prayer is not used at this point in the service)
All this we ask in the Name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Children's Sermon Starter
Have an assistant count the children as they come forward and deposit that number of items in a container (plus one for you). Pass the container around and have each child take one item. Ask them to put the items back in the container and then repeat. Ask them what would happen if you didn't pass the container or if you took two or three items instead of just one. Talk about how God gives us good things so we can share and use them for others.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Use It or Lose It
Matthew 25:14-30
Object: a dollar bill
Good morning, boys and girls! Can anyone tell me what this is? (show the dollar and let the children answer) Yes, it is a dollar bill. Now, if I take this dollar bill, hide it under my mattress, and leave it there for ten years, how much will it be worth at the end of ten years? (let them answer) It will only be worth whatever a dollar will buy ten years from now. That will probably be a lot less than it is worth right now. What could I do with the dollar that would make it be worth more than it is right now? (let them answer) Yes, I could put it in the bank or invest it in some way so that it will grow and get bigger. That would certainly be better than hiding it under my mattress.
The Bible tells us that God expects us to do something like that with all the things he gives us. If God gives us a talent of some kind, he wants us to use it. If God gives us money, he expects us to use it wisely and be generous with it. God gives all of us faith and he expects us to use that too. God wants our faith to be used and get stronger and stronger. How do you think we ought to use our faith to make it stronger? (let them answer)
You are strengthening your faith right now by coming to church and Sunday school. You strengthen your faith every time you read the Bible or have it read to you. Faith, believing in Jesus, is what gets us into heaven. If we don't use our faith, we will lose it. Let's ask Jesus to help us strengthen our faith.
Prayer: Dear Jesus, we believe in you and know that you are our friend and Savior. Please help us use our faith so that we will never lose it. Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, November 13, 2011, issue.
Copyright 2011 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
Team member Ron Love shares some additional thoughts about the epistle and gospel texts, and how a clear message that we can take from them is that a key aspect of using our gifts and talents wisely is having the courage to live faithfully -- even when it might be easier to bob along on the sea of life, riding the waves rather than making them. While Ron points out that it is easy for many of us to avoid risk and confrontation, to do so is merely to imitate the behavior of the servant who buried his talent rather than to be fully awake and ready for our Master.
Mattress, Credit Union, or World?
by Mary Austin
Matthew 25:14-30
With uncanny timing, the lectionary offers us the parable of the talents for this coming Sunday. The parable is both a mirror and a reverse of our current financial situation.
On one level the parable is about money and whether we hoard it or use it. Should we keep money under the mattress or heed the call to shift from a big bank to a credit union? Or should it be spent and given away to the best of our ability, letting tomorrow take care of itself?
On a deeper level, the parable is about the role of fear in our lives, whether we feel wealthy or poor or in between.
THE WORLD
Like the parable of the talents, in our world too those who start with more end up with more.
"The top 1% of earners more than doubled their share of the nation's income over the last three decades," the Congressional Budget Office [CBO] said in October, according to a New York Times article by Robert Pear. "In addition," the article continues, "the report said, government policy has become less redistributive since the late 1970s, doing less to reduce the concentration of income." The ability of federal taxes to equalize income was smaller in 2007 than in 1979, as "the composition of federal revenues shifted away from progressive income taxes to less-progressive payroll taxes," the budget office said. "Also, it said, federal benefit payments are doing less to even out the distribution of income, as a growing share of benefits, like Social Security, goes to older Americans, regardless of their income."
As the article explains the data, "the [congressional] budget office found that from 1979 to 2007, average inflation-adjusted after-tax income grew by 275% for the 1% of the population with the highest income. For others in the top 20% of the population, average real after-tax household income grew by 65%. By contrast, the budget office said, for the poorest fifth of the population, average real after-tax household income rose 18%." The findings are based on the nonpartisan CBO's analysis of Internal Revenue Service and Census Bureau data and align with studies by some academic economists.
Summing up the data, the article concludes: "The report found that higher-income households got a larger share of the pie, while other households got smaller shares."
Or, to put it another way, as Robert H. Frank says in the New York Times: "As documented by a recent Congressional Budget Office study, the top 1% of income recipients in the United States earned 275% more in 2007 than they did in 1979, adjusted for inflation, a period when the earnings of middle-income households grew by less than 40%." Almost all of the Republican presidential contenders have one version or another of a proposed flat tax. The same article notes: "A flat tax would increase inequality by substantially reducing rates on the most prosperous households, while increasing them on low- and middle-income households."
All of us -- at every income level -- are spending less and holding onto more money. Retailers report slower sales in October, even as holiday sales should be increasing. Also in the New York Times, Stephanie Clifford writes: "In a potentially troubling sign for the holiday shopping season, retailers released data on Thursday suggesting that Americans were slowing down spending and hunting for discounts.... Consumer sentiment continues to be weak, and ports have been reporting that much less holiday inventory has been coming through their docks than expected."
THE WORD
The parable of the talents is so familiar -- and so often used at stewardship time -- that it travels past our ears after so many hearings.
Yet this year, the plight of the servant with the one talent is all the more familiar. Why not hold onto the one, when you don't know if another one will come along? We understand the cautious impulse not to lose more money, not to fall further behind. The parable notes that the master gave out the talents "each to his ability." The servant with the one talent is already lacking something. Confidence? Savvy? Entrepreneurial skill? Opportunity? Like the poor of our world, he starts out behind.
True to the parable form, the master is not an exact stand-in for God. The story says that the master is well-known for being "a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed." He benefits from the work of the servants, and we can imagine that they were delighted when he went away and stayed gone. On his return, the servants are frightened enough or dutiful enough that no one has spent the money or run off, and they are ready to give an accounting. The parable could be about waiting as much as about how we use the things entrusted to us. The servants manage to wait a long time for the master's return and are ready when he returns.
Finally, the parable holds a lesson about fear. The anxiety of the last servant keeps him from sharing in the fullness of God's grace. As the economy grows worse, how often do we all do the same?
CRAFTING THE SERMON
Parables by definition are mysterious and open to interpretation on several levels. Our society, where the wealthy are wealthier and all of us are holding onto our money, is a parallel to the story right now. The people who have the equivalent of talents in our world have definitely multiplied what they were given. The people who started with less are even further behind where they began. And all of us hold onto money and security for the same reasons as the last servant -- we're afraid.
In another way, though, our world is a reverse of the story. In the economy of faith, growth comes from letting go, not holding on.
The parable is a call not to be Wall Street bankers (multiplying our money) or hedge fund traders (getting rich with other people's money). This is a call to live differently than the rest of the world... to trust more, and hold onto less; to lift up our heads and to look for God's grace in the world, not in the dirt or under the mattress.
As Sarah Dylan Breuer writes on her blog, "The live question for us, I think, about this Sunday's gospel is whether we can really believe that, if we really can trust in that enough to risk living as Jesus taught us rather than according to the demands of those who try to set themselves up in Jesus' place as our lord, who try to enslave us to worldly standards by telling us that our security is in acquiring resources for ourselves and striking out at our enemies." The talents in the story are meant to be used -- the sin comes in hiding them away.
Our math is too simple -- we see addition and subtraction. God is more interested in multiplication and in making all that is holy grow exponentially in our world.
SECOND THOUGHTS
A Euphonic Christian
by Ron Love
Matthew 25:14-30; 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
I was reading a book on preaching the other day, and the author said the central component of any sermon must be euphony. Euphony is defined as a series of words that have a pleasing sound. It is the absence of harshness.
Pondering this, I wondered if these sermons reflected the lives desired to be lived by Christians. These are lives that are pleasing to others and absent of any form of confrontation. A euphonic Christian lives quietly and undistinguished at the workplace. A euphonic Christian is indistinguishable from anyone else doing Christmas holiday shopping prior to Thanksgiving. A euphonic Christian is one who the only way his or her next door neighbor knows they might be a Christian is the absence of a car in the driveway from 11 to 12 every Sunday morning.
The Christian whom Paul discusses can be anything but described as euphonic. They are awake and vigilant, "knowing very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night." This is why while others are "sleeping," the Christians in Thessalonica are "awake and sober."
Mathew echoes this same theme of being active and alert. The disciple who was admonished was not one of the two who took a risk in serving his master; it was the one who found it better to be a euphonic Christian by burying his coin rather than lose it. Money lost in service to Christ is far better than money left listless and idle. The Christian who might mention something about Jesus or the church at the water cooler is a risk-taker, rather than the one touts the latest Steelers score. And if you live in Pittsburgh (as I once did), you know that for many people Heinz Field (the Steelers' stadium) is a church. What better place for a euphonic Christian to park himself on a Sunday than on the 50-yard line?
Rev. Harold Camping may be a spellbinding radio commentator, but he is lacking as a mathematician. Doing an intricate mathematical calculation, starting from the exact date when the earth was created, he surmised that Jesus was to return on May 21, 2011. When Jesus failed to descend riding the white horses of God's glory, Camping realized he made a slight error in the subtraction of his numbers. Now, any of us who has tried to balance a checkbook ought to be able to understand and sympathize with Camping. Camping realized that the new date was just a few pennies off, revised his forecast, and announced that the Rapture would occur on October 21, 2011. On the 21st Jesus must have decided it was not a good day to go horseback riding, so the day had a sunrise and sunset just like any other. Because of this Camping has become the butt of many jokes. But maybe, if we look at the flip side, he may be in better stead with God than we are. At least Camping is an expectant Christian, not a euphonic one.
Do we live with such expectancy? We may not be asleep, but we are certainly drowsy in our Christian lives.
William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army, once was preaching atop a box on a London street corner. A woman came up and criticized him for his street-corner preaching. His reply was "I like my way of doing it more than your way of not doing it."
It is time we stop being euphonic Christians and get about the "way of doing it."
CRAFTING THE SERMON
I. Discuss how we have become too complacent with our Christian faith, with a lack of desire to be active for the Lord.
II. Discuss how Jesus will return, though we do not know the day or the hour. Discuss how that expectancy must spur us on to be in active service for the Lord and involved in the church.
III. Discuss if we are asleep, preoccupied with other activities of the day. Discuss if we are drowsy, thinking about Jesus but not doing much with our thoughts. Discuss if we are fully awake, vibrant, and alive in serving our Lord.
ILLUSTRATIONS
The fear of failure is deeply ingrained in most of us -- our culture teaches us to be that way. What's the worst thing that can happen in school? To get an "F." What's the worst thing that can happen in a sport or game? To be on the losing side. Is it any wonder then that when it comes to risking ourselves for the sake of Jesus Christ, our first instinct is to play it safe, to avoid trying things that may not work?
* * *
In our economy, investing money is considered a good and wise thing to do -- we assume our economy is constantly growing and that there will always be new and better opportunities for investment. But in Jesus' time, people looked at the economy in an entirely different way. They thought of the economy as a closed system in which there was only a finite, limited amount of wealth to go around. Those who accumulated large amounts of financial capital -- like the master in Jesus' parable -- probably had done so through less-than-honest means.
For this reason, few wealthy people in Jesus' day would have publicly invested money themselves. Many of them quietly turned to certain slaves to manage their money for them. These slaves were educated and skillful, more akin to household managers than to field laborers doing grunt work.
The film The Shawshank Redemption offers an interesting parallel to this parable. One of the central plot elements involves a prison warden skimming off profits from certain investments that he is in charge of. To help him manage the embezzlement and to find the best way to put these dollars to work, the warden has turned to one of his prisoners (portrayed by Tim Robbins), who was a banker in his former life. For the prisoner, there is a great amount of risk in the arrangement. The warden is a dangerous and brutal man who literally holds over him the power of life and death. If the investments lose money, the warden will punish him; yet if they do well, he is still in a precarious position because he knows a secret that could cost him his life. Even so, Robbins' character finds a way to double-cross the crooked warden. The prisoner in The Shawshank Redemption is kind of like the servants in Jesus' parable. Each of them have the skill of making investments grow in value, yet the money they are investing is not their own but belongs to a powerful and even frightening master.
The conventional interpretation of the parable of the talents is to see the master as God and us as the slaves who invest God's simoleons. Yet nowhere in the story does Jesus identify the master as God. It's more likely that in Jesus' mind the master is just an ordinary (and rather crooked) human being. Jesus is telling a parable that might be classified as an "if this, then so much more..." type of story: "If even a crooked, shady operator like the master in my story knows how to reward his slaves for following his wishes, then how much more will God -- who is truly honest and generous -- reward you for doing the right thing!"
For us, doing the right thing has similarities to what the slaves are asked to do in the parable. The Lord has given us certain gifts in this life, which we are expected to use for godly purposes. Those gifts may take the form of either money or abilities -- but we have been entrusted with treasure... and at the end of our lives, like the master in the parable, God doesn't want to receive those talents back from us like an unopened gift. They are meant to be used boldly and lavishly.
* * *
Bruce Malina and Richard Rohrbaugh, in their book Social-Science Commentary on the Synoptic Gospels (Fortress, 2003, pp. 124-125), offer a startling interpretation of the parable of the talents from the perspective of its original peasant audience. Rather than interpreting it in the typical fashion where the servants are seen as though they were stockbrokers competing for the privilege of investing a customer's money, Malina and Rohrbaugh see them as peasants living in a "limited good" moral universe. In this way of looking at the world, becoming rich is not morally admirable because the world's goods are seen as static and limited. Increasing the size of one's own piece of the pie means reducing someone else's. The master is a greedy, rapacious individual who -- reluctant to reveal his avaricious heart to his well-to-do neighbors -- commands his servants to secretly do the dirty work for him. Only one of the servants is virtuous: he buries the money in the ground, because that is the right thing to do. Moreover, this servant sees that master for who he truly is ("a harsh man") and tells him so. For this he is punished, which is exactly what first-century peasants would have expected to happen at the hands of such an unjust master.
If Malina and Rohrbaugh's interpretation is correct, then the master is not a stand-in for God. He is, rather, a scoundrel who provides a negative example. So where's the good news in this interpretation? It's that the third servant acted justly, derailing the master's unjust scheme. Yes, he suffers for it -- but that's the way things sometimes happen in this world. God can be trusted to vindicate him in the final judgment.
* * *
Here's a favorite story that is told by investment counselors and certified financial planners:
There once was a poor farmer who, no matter how he tried, couldn't make his farm pay enough to feed his family. One day a wealthy and successful farmer who lived in the same area felt sorry for the man and gave him a calf. The poor farmer fed and cared for the calf, but calves grow slowly and eat lots of grain. The farmer feared that it would take too long for the calf to grow into an ox and show a profit, so he sold it and bought six sheep. He fed and cared for the sheep, but before long he realized that sheep grow slowly too and cost money to feed. So he sold the sheep and bought two dozen hens. Hens, he thought, would lay eggs every day and so he would see an immediate profit. And he did. The hens laid eggs, allowing him to sell them and make some money -- but shortly the hens grew old and couldn't lay eggs any more. So he butchered the hens and cooked them for his family and had a feast... and his life was right back where it was before he got the calf.
* * *
A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business.
-- Henry Ford
* * *
This story may be apocryphal, but it is widely told in the food industry:
Jerome Smucker began his family business in 1897 near Orrville, Ohio, pressing apple cider and making apple butter from trees that had been planted by John "Johnny Appleseed" Chapman. He sold his cider and apple butter from the back of a horse-drawn wagon, and each container bore a label with J.M. Smucker's personal signature, guaranteeing its quality.
By the 1920s Smucker had begun to mass-produce his products in vacuum-sealed jars, but he realized that even though the jars contained the same amount of jam or jelly by weight, the volume varied so that the jars looked like they contained unequal amounts. Smucker solved the problem by filling each jar to the top, regardless of the weight. Every customer would get the amount they paid for and some would get a little more than they paid for -- and that was okay with Jerome Smucker. He considered it an investment in his company and his relationship with his customers.
* * *
Judi Sheppard Missett was a successful professional dancer, but time began to catch up with her and eventually she had to hang up her dancing shoes. So she opened a dance studio and started teaching dance classes to children and adult women.
Eventually she realized that the adult classes were becoming smaller and smaller, and she began to ask her remaining students why that was. It turns out that most of the women attending her classes weren't coming to learn how to dance but to lose weight and/or stay fit. When the curriculum turned to slow dances, they lost interest.
So Judy picked up the pace, turned up the volume, and created a fun class aimed more toward fitness than the intricacies of dance. She called it "Jazzercise," and it was so popular that she had to train other instructors to lead the classes she choreographed. Eventually she began to franchise the Jazzercise concept. Today, Jazzercise has over 7,500 locations worldwide, a clothing line, and an extremely loyal fan base -- all from a dance class.
* * *
When Brian Scudamore was a college student, he had $600 and an old pickup truck -- and he wanted to own a company and be his own boss. He invested the $600 in advertising that, when the junk in your home, yard, or office became overwhelming, he would come and haul it away.
The following year, the business was so busy he had to drop out of college to run it. Today, 1-800-GOT-JUNK has nearly 100 franchised locations across North America.
* * *
Jill Blashack Strahan's investment amounted to about $6,000 from her saving account, a backyard shed for storage, and a pool table in her garage as a work space. It was all she had but she invested it wisely. With only those things she started a mail-order gourmet food company -- and nearly went broke the first year. She recalls: "I remember sitting outside one day, thinking we were three months behind on our house payment, I had two employees I couldn't pay, and I ought to get a real job. But then I thought, No, this is your dream. Recommit and get to work." She came up with the idea of selling her food at taste-testing parties, and sales began slowly picking up. In twelve years her company, Tastefully Simple, has grown into a $120 million dollar business.
* * *
Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield took a correspondence course on how to make ice cream and searched until they found what may have been the only college town in America without an ice cream shop: Burlington, Vermont. With $8,000 in savings and a $4,000 loan they rented an old gas station, bought equipment, and started coming up with unique flavors. Today Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream takes in $237 million in annual revenue.
* * *
Pamela Skaist-Levy and Gela Nash-Taylor started their clothing line, Juicy Couture, with an investment of $200 and a revolving line of credit. Neither took a salary for the first two years while they established their brand, which is today sold at Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman-Marcus, and Bloomingdale's.
* * *
In 1995 Pierre Omidyar sold a broken laser pointer that he had originally bought as a cat toy on a website he started called AuctionWeb. The buyer inexplicably paid $14 for the pointer. Pierre readily admits that it was a dumb idea to try to sell a broken pointer and an even dumber idea to buy it. Nevertheless, today AuctionWeb is known by the name eBay and Pierre Omidyar is a multimillionaire.
* * *
In business, missed opportunities are often born of timidity and fear in the face of risk. Investments are not made and once missed can't be recaptured. Here are a few examples of some famous missed opportunities:
Mike Smith of Decca Records had heard a new band perform he thought had talent, and he invited them to come to London and audition for a recording contract on New Year's Day, 1962. They did and spent over two hours playing fifteen different songs at the Decca studios.
A few weeks later the band's manager received a letter from Mike Smith's business partner, Dick Rowe, which has become famous. In it he said, "Not to mince words, Mr. Epstein, but we don't like your boys' sound. Groups are out; four-piece groups with guitars particularly are finished."
Less than a year later the band signed a recording contract with EMI under the name "The Beatles."
* * *
In 1981, Universal Studios called Mars, Inc. and asked for permission to use M&M's in a new film they were making, a common practice called "product placement." The deal Universal offered was for a cross-promotion wherein the movie would feature their candy and Mars would help promote the movie.
The Mars brothers said "No."
The movie was E.T.: The Extra-Terrestial, directed by Stephen Spielberg, who went to Hershey's and struck a deal to use their new and little-known candy Reese's Pieces.
Within two weeks of the movie's release the sale of Reese's Pieces tripled, and it has been one of Hershey's best-selling candies ever since.
* * *
In 1876, Western Union had a monopoly on the telegraph and was the world's richest and most advanced communications company. That year William Orton, president of Western Union, was approached by Gardiner Greene Hubbard, a wealthy Bostonian, with a new communications technology he had helped finance. Hubbard offered to sell the new invention to Orton for the outrageous price of $100,000. Orton took a cursory look at the invention and insulted by the asking price, went directly to the inventor instead of talking to Hubbard. At least part of his letter has become famous:
"Mr. Bell," Orton wrote, "after careful consideration of your invention, while it is a very interesting novelty, we have come to the conclusion that it has no commercial possibilities.... What use could this company make of an electrical toy?"
Alexander Graham Bell retained the patent in his own name and it became the most valuable patent in history... and William Orton has gone down in history as a fool.
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: Lift up your eyes to the one who is enthroned in the heavens!
People: As the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master,
Leader: as the eyes of a maid look to the hand of her mistress,
People: so our eyes look to our God, until we receive mercy.
Leader: Have mercy upon us, O God, have mercy upon us,
People: for we have had more than enough of contempt.
OR
Leader: Come and praise the God of creation.
People: Great is God and wondrous is God's creation.
Leader: Come and worship the God of compassion.
People: Wonderful and gracious is our God.
Leader: Come and share in God's good works.
People: We will join in God's creating, compassionate work.
Hymns and Sacred Songs
"God of Grace and God of Glory"
found in:
UMH: 577
H82: 594, 595
PH: 420
NCH: 436
CH: 464
LBW: 415
ELW: 705
"Here I Am, Lord"
found in:
UMH: 593
PH: 525
AAHH: 567
CH: 452
ELW: 574
"Marching to Zion" / "Come, We That Love the Lord"
found in:
UMH: 732, 733
H82: 392
AAHH: 590
NNBH: 367
NCH: 379, 380
CH: 707
ELW: 625
"God Created Heaven and Earth"
found in:
UMH: 151
PH: 290
NCH: 33
ELW: 738
"Now Thank We All Our God"
found in:
UMH: 102
H82: 396, 397
PH: 555
NNBH: 330
NCH: 419
CH: 715
LBW: 533, 534
ELW: 839, 840
"For the Fruits of This Creation"
found in:
UMH: 97
H82: 424
PH: 553
NCH: 425
CH: 714
LBW: 563
ELW: 679
"Where Cross the Crowded Ways of Life"
found in:
UMH: 427
H82: 609
PH: 408
NCH: 543
CH: 665
LBW: 429
ELW: 719
"Lord, Whose Love Through Humble Service"
found in:
UMH: 581
H82: 610
PH: 427
CH: 461
LBW: 423
ELW: 712
"From the Rising of the Sun"
found in:
CCB: 4
"More Precious Than Silver"
found in:
CCB: 25
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982 (The Episcopal Church)
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African-American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELW: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Prayer for the Day / Collect
O God who has created all that is and calls us your own children: Grant us the faith to trust that you desire the best for us and that when we use creation rightly for others we will be blessed; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We come into your presence, O God, to acknowledge you as our Creator and Sustainer. We are because you love us and provide for us. Help us to trust in you enough that we may use the goodness of your creation in ways that glorify you and help others. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially the ways in which we fail to trust God with our wealth.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have been given all creation to sustain us and for us to sustain it in a harmonious relationship of mutual care. Yet we find ourselves always worried about whether or not we will have enough, and so we take more than we need and weaken the earth's supply. When we see that our greed has meant there is not enough for others, we congratulate ourselves for being "wise" and determine to take even more next time. Soon there is not enough for us or them. What foolish children we are and how slow to believe creation is both good and abundant. Forgive us and center our faith in you, O God, that we may truly trust you. Amen.
Leader: God's grace, like God's creation, is abundant and sufficient for all. Receive it and share it with others.
Prayer for Illumination
Send, O God, the light of your Spirit upon us that we may hear with faith the truth of the good news of Jesus. Amen.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord's Prayer)
We praise and glorify your name, O God, for you are the Creator and Redeemer of all. We rejoice in the wonders and abundance of your creative work.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have been given all creation to sustain us and for us to sustain it in a harmonious relationship of mutual care. Yet we find ourselves always worried about whether or not we will have enough, and so we take more than we need and weaken the earth's supply. When we see that our greed has meant there is not enough for others, we congratulate ourselves for being "wise" and determine to take even more next time. Soon there is not enough for us or them. What foolish children we are and how slow to believe creation is both good and abundant. Forgive us and center our faith in you, O God, that we may truly trust you.
We give you thanks for all the blessings of creation. We thank you for life and beauty and the joy of being your children. We thank you for the bounty the earth provides for all your children.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for one another in our needs and especially for those who are denied their share of the fruits of creation. We pray for those who are denied food, shelter, love, and compassion. We pray for those who face loneliness, poverty, violence, and death.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together, saying:
Our Father... Amen.
(or if the Lord's Prayer is not used at this point in the service)
All this we ask in the Name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Children's Sermon Starter
Have an assistant count the children as they come forward and deposit that number of items in a container (plus one for you). Pass the container around and have each child take one item. Ask them to put the items back in the container and then repeat. Ask them what would happen if you didn't pass the container or if you took two or three items instead of just one. Talk about how God gives us good things so we can share and use them for others.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Use It or Lose It
Matthew 25:14-30
Object: a dollar bill
Good morning, boys and girls! Can anyone tell me what this is? (show the dollar and let the children answer) Yes, it is a dollar bill. Now, if I take this dollar bill, hide it under my mattress, and leave it there for ten years, how much will it be worth at the end of ten years? (let them answer) It will only be worth whatever a dollar will buy ten years from now. That will probably be a lot less than it is worth right now. What could I do with the dollar that would make it be worth more than it is right now? (let them answer) Yes, I could put it in the bank or invest it in some way so that it will grow and get bigger. That would certainly be better than hiding it under my mattress.
The Bible tells us that God expects us to do something like that with all the things he gives us. If God gives us a talent of some kind, he wants us to use it. If God gives us money, he expects us to use it wisely and be generous with it. God gives all of us faith and he expects us to use that too. God wants our faith to be used and get stronger and stronger. How do you think we ought to use our faith to make it stronger? (let them answer)
You are strengthening your faith right now by coming to church and Sunday school. You strengthen your faith every time you read the Bible or have it read to you. Faith, believing in Jesus, is what gets us into heaven. If we don't use our faith, we will lose it. Let's ask Jesus to help us strengthen our faith.
Prayer: Dear Jesus, we believe in you and know that you are our friend and Savior. Please help us use our faith so that we will never lose it. Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, November 13, 2011, issue.
Copyright 2011 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
