Taste and See: Talents

Scripture Readings

WWTW- ME!!

Introduction: My first sermon.

I have actually preached this text at Beulah before.

It was one of the first sermons I gave here about a year ago, so if you are one of those folks who remember everything I’ve ever said, my apologies for the repeat!

But actually, it goes back even further than that.

When I was in High School, I played in the teen praise band here which went by the name of Plumbline.

Plumbline was awesome for a kid!

We were the house band for youth group here.

But we also went out and played at various camps and retreats.

At one of those camps, I was asked to preach.

Somewhere around here, in what can only be described as the best reason to clean up the storage areas of the church, is a VHS tape of me with ear piercings and blue hair dye and Christian Punk t-shirts preaching my first sermon.

The scavanger hunt begins after the service!

So while I apologize for the three-peat, I do love this text. I’ve always felt drawn to it.

I think because it has a lot to say to us about life in faith.

And it has a lot to say to us about stewardship of our talents.

Matthew 25

Talents aren’t what we think of them as.

A talent was actually a unit of money, and in fact a particularly huge unit of money!

A single talent was worth 20 years labor.

So using today’s minimum wage, a single talent was worth $301,600

The slave who got two talents would have had $603,200

And the guy who got five talents would have recieved $1,508,000

And it’s worth noting here, that these guys were entrusted with the Kings cash.

It wasn’t theirs.

They just took ownership of it for a while.

They were stewards.

So again, this is talking about cash.

But let’s play with this for a second, and assume that the word talent really means…talents.

What could we do with this story?

Everybody got something.

There are three servants.

And they are each put in charge of something.

According to their abilities.

Everybody in this story winds up getting something.

No one has empty pockets.

The First Two Guys played the stock market.

What is so compelling about this story is how much it has to do with risk.

Our first two servants go out and play the stock market, which is an inherently risky proposition!

They could have lost everything!

It is every bit as likely for them to come back with absolutely nothing as it is to come back with something, let alone doubling their resources.

The third servant knew this!

This is what he was afraid of, taking a risk and losing everything that the Master had given him.

And this is what seems so radically counter cultural to our understanding of the world.

Jesus seems more ok with the risk than with the sure thing.

The master in Jesus story is furious, and he hasn’t lost a single thing.

He’s mad that the third servant wouldn’t take a risk.

He’s mad that the third servant didn’t put anything on the line.

He’s mad that the third servant didn’t do even just the basics of investing.

The risk in this story is worth more to Jesus than the sure bet.

Using our talents requires risk.

I was thinking about how we use the talents that God has given us.

Which, he has given us these talents.

Everybody gets something.

But to properly invest our talents, we have to engage with some kind of risk.

We might lose.

Singing/Music- The risk of embarrassment.

My mind tends to run to musical talents first, if only because that’s a little bit close to home base.

The problem with being a musician is that it’s a very public proposition, you’re always performing in front of someone.

And there is the ever present reality that there are bad days waiting to happen.

Not every performance is going to be your best.

And so to be faithful with investing a musical talent, you have to be willing to risk embarrassment.

You might have the worst performance of your life on the biggest stage.

It happens.

And anyone who’s ever done anything with that talent will tell you that’s the price of admission.

You have to risk potential embarrassment.

Relational ministry- The risk of rejection.

Relational ministry is a big catch-all word for what we do around here.

If you are a deacon, you are engaged in relational ministry by looking after the needs of the least of these in our congregation and community.

If you are a part of our Mission team with MOST, you are engaged in relational ministry with our mission partners.

If you are part of the hospitality team, you are engaged in relational ministry with those we serve food to what is starting to feel like every single day.

If you’re an usher, you are engaged in relational ministry with every single person who walks in the doors on a Sunday.

Really, it’s all relational ministry around here!

And relational ministry, like just about any relationship, comes with the risk of rejection.

There is a term that hip millennials use called FOMO, or Fear of Missing Out.

I was listening to a podcast this week with Michael Gervais, who is a psychologist who works with elite athletes all around the world.

He reframed the phrase FOPO, or Fear of Other People’s Opinions.

And honestly, I can’t think of a bigger cause of someone in the church burying their talents than FOPO.

I’d better not speak up in Bible study, I don’t want to say something wrong.

I’d better not join in the planning team on that event, they already have a pretty tight group working together.

I’d better not join the leadership of the church as an elder, because what if people don’t like my ideas?

Our fear of what other people think of us can be one of the biggest reasons we bury talents.

Dreaming Big- The risk of failure.

A few weeks ago, we celebrated Beulah’s 239th birthday!

And because we’re Presbyterians, we gathered in MGB for fellowship time.

Someone had set up to play a video of the construction of this building, and I admit I was kind of mesmerized.

I was trying to imagine what kind of dreaming was required to build this.

Some one, or more likely, a few someone’s in the congregation, sitting over in that tiny chapel next door, looked out on this big empty field and had a dream.

Let’s build a church building that’s 2 or 3 times bigger than what we have.

Let’s engage the whole church in the process, let’s bring the choir!

Let’s pray over tractors and backhoes.

Let’s do something BIG!

And the risk of course to any big dream is failure.

The minute you utter something you’re dreaming about, the minute it gets real, is the minute your realize that it might not pan out.

You could fail.

And for a lot of us, there is no bigger fear than the fear of failure.

And so we stop dreaming.

Looking ahead just slightly in my own mind, I’m starting to wonder what the next big field is for Beulah?

What’s the next big dream for us to engage in as a congregation?

I don’t think it’s a new building project.

I think it will have to do with building the community around us.

And I think that dream will have an EXTREME potential for failure.

But I also know that’s what will make the pay off that much more rewarding if we get there.

Stay tuned.

But if we’re going to dream big, we need everybody’s talents to get the job done.

And to keep with the investment metaphor...

A diverse portfolio

This series is called Taste and See because I think when it comes to Stewardship, we ought to think about what’s possible rather than what we feel guilty about.

And when I think about this community gathered here, there’s a lot that’s possible.

In talking with someone getting ready for this sermon this week, I said that Beulah is the Swiss Army Knife of talents.

What do you need?

We probably have it!

Need a Bible whizz? We have more than a few of those.

Need help with lawn maintenance? We’ve got folks for you!

Need legal advice? We can cover you there!

Need some babysitting? We have caregivers aplenty!

What do you need?

Chances are it’s already here.

But that of course does point to the dark side of Church ministry sometimes.

Moses and the sanctuary

In our story in Exodus, we come across Moses trying to build the sanctuary.

Remember, these folks came from slavery in Egypt, which when it comes to sanctuary building, Egypt have to be some of the greatest in the world.

And so I’m guessing that they were imagining this great big structure, something super flashy.

Which is why Moses’ words in this passage are so interesting.

Stop! We have enough!

So many people were interested in building and contributing to the sanctuary project that Moses has to tell them to stop.

They had so many people giving so much of themselves, their time talents, and their treasures, that Moses actually didn’t have use for it any more.

He had to ask people to stop giving.

By the way, again as we’re thinking about Stewardship, I dare you to make me say that!

Everyone wanted to contribute to the big flashy thing.

Firstly, if you keep reading in the Torah, God actually didn’t want a big flashy sanctuary to call his home.

God goes for a more minimalist aesthetic.

But secondly, not everyone can contribute to the big flashy thing.

Moses stops this, so that talents and gifts can be given to other places.

If everyone contributes to the sanctuary, who will provide for the needs of the poor among them?

If everyone contributes to the sanctuary, what will Bezalel and Oholiab do with the talents God has given them for this work?

If everyone contributes to the sanctuary, what needs will they miss that fly just under the radar?

We have a diverse portfolio.

Some people think the same way that the Israelites did.

If I’m not part of the up front group, if I’m not contributing to the big flashy thing with my talents, I must not be making much of an impact.

But that’s really not true.

We need all kinds of leadership around here.

And friend of mine put this in terms of a sailboat metaphor.

Trust is the key.

A big piece of making all of this work is trust.

The Israelites had to trust that Bezalel and Oholiab were going to do good work.

And whether they meant to communicate this or not, the more other people tried to insert themselves into that work, the more they were saying in essence that they didn’t trust those two that God has chosen.

At other churches, this can happen.

A big decision is in the hands of the elder board, but others feel compelled to insert their ideas.

A major event is in the hands of a small planning team, but someone else starts doing the work for them.

A staff person is in charge of one ministry area, but another keeps showing up at their events.

At other churches.

Worse than just being annoying, when we don’t trust each other it leads to people burying their talents.

The feeling for most folks will be that if you’re not going to trust me to do the work, then I’m not going to do the work.

We end up in a situation where really talented people are sitting on the bench because they aren’t trusted with their own unique gifts and abilities.

We all suffer when someone buries something.

When there is a lack of volunteer support for vital children and youth ministries, somebody somewhere buried something.

When we don’t have the resources to give to those who are in need in our community, somebody somewhere buried something.

When the same 5 or 10 people wind up doing all the work for every event, somebody somewhere buried something.

When people feel alone, or isolated, or like they don’t belong in the community of faith, then somebody somewhere buried something.

And it’s tragic.

Action Items

Take an honest inventory.

Everybody gets something from God when it comes to talents.

Have you ever sat down to contemplate exactly what God has given to you?

Maybe you’re really good with kids!

Maybe you are an absolutely light’s out prayer warrior!

Maybe you have an extremely warm and welcoming smile!

Maybe just your presence alone can bring a sense of calm to difficult situations.

Take some time this week with an actual piece of paper or notecard, and take a quick inventory about talents.

Two big keys:

Be honest about this.

If you think “No, that’s not really a talent” about something God has gifted you with, it almost surely is a talent that God has gifted you with.

Write it down!

Don’t play the comparison game.

If you have a talent, but someone else is a little farther down the line in developing that talent than you, don’t sweat it.

Write it down!

Starting to think about the pledge.

As stewardship season is getting into full swing, we’re starting to think about pledge cards.

Usually this is a budget tool to help us understand what folks are planning on giving, and then we build our budget from there.

And it is that, and we will be encouraging you to fill them out!

But this year, we’re designing a whole new pledge card to pass out next week.

Of course it will have a space to pledge what kind of financial contribution you plan to make to the church in the coming year.

But we’re also going to have spaces for you to pledge your time and your talents.

How much time would you be willing to invest into our ministries here at Beulah in 2024?

What kind of talents, now that you’ve taken your inventory, are you willing to risk here at Beulah in 2024?

I don’t know many places that make room for those kind of pledges.

But I think it’s vital for us to understand where we can go next to know just what tools live in the Swiss Army Knife of talents around here.

Put your shovel down.

I’m betting, if only because it’s happened to me before too, that some folks in here have buried some talents.

I’m betting that some of us have been afraid to risk, afraid to fail, afraid of what other people think of us.

I’m betting that some of us have buried what God has given us in terms of our talents.

So I’m encouraging you, put the shovel down.

Let’s not bury what God has given us.

Let’s put it on display for all to see.

Yeah, we might risk it all.

But Jesus seems to be better with the risk than with playing it safe.

If for not other reason than Jesus would like us to rely on his grace, his mercy, and his salvation, rather than on our own abilities.

So my friends, let’s lean on grace and risk it all.

The Kingdom will be all the better for it.