24th Sunday after Pentecost
The Rev. Rod Sprange

Matthew 25:14-30

Treasure to Share

I thought when I transferred from being Pastor of Stewardship to Pastor of Christian Education I wouldn’t be called on to preach as much on stewardship. But how can we hear today’s parable of the talents and not reflect on stewardship? I think one of the most significant points we need to hear and reflect on in this parable of Jesus, is where he says “he entrusted his property to them”. Entrusted. The landowner didn’t give them a gift to use for themselves, but entrusted them with what was his. He expected them to make good use of the money, to grow it for him.

It’s easy to see a connection between this parable and our finances, and understand God’s expectation that we are to use our resources to help grow God’s kingdom on earth. One way for us to do that is to provide financial support to the ministries offered in and through St. Peter’s. This year is a particularly important year to support those ministries. I have heard many stories of how people are being comforted, encouraged, shown they are loved, and given hope, through our shared ministries. The Stewardship Development Group has been busy working through the fall to prepare a financial stewardship package to help you. They will be mailing this out soon. Please support their work and the ministries of this parish by giving careful, prayerful consideration to your financial offerings for the remainder of this year and the next.

However,. Jesus was using the story of the land owner and his money allegorically, and was thinking of something far more important even than using our financial resources for God’s purposes.

If I asked you to list the things that belong to God - those gifts God has entrusted to you, what could you leave out? What doesn’t come from God? Suppose I asked you to rank those gifts, which, will you list as the most significant, the most precious?

I am sure we would all list things like family, friends and health. We need to add to these our giftedness; those things that we do well. Everyone of us has gifts: maybe you are good at making people feel welcome, or a good listener. Maybe you are physically strong, good with your hands. Perhaps you are good at organizing things. It may be that you are artistically gifted, or perhaps a very good helper - someone who says, “show me what you want done and I’ll do it”. All these are wonderful gifts that God is calling you to develop and use in furthering Jesus’s mission - to bring about God’s Kingdom on on earth.

There is one really big gift we need to put at the top of our list, the greatest treasure ever; we have been entrusted with the Gospel of Christ! God has blessed each one of us with that treasure. God has not entrusted the Gospel to us to hoard, or lock up in our church liturgy. God wants us to share it, to help the Good News spread in our community and around the world. God is calling you to share the Gospel. I know, that can be a scary proposition. But you are not alone. God has surrounded you with others who can help. And, we have the gift of the Holy Spirit, with whose guidance we can do more than we can ask or imagine. The technical term for sharing the Gospel is evangelism, meaning to share good news. Last week I attended a Zoom lecture on evangelism. It was titled “But I’m Anglican” inferring that we Anglicans don’t do things like evangelism. It would be unseemly to go around sharing our faith with others. We worry about embarrassment when we should be excited about this great treasure we have to share.

Of course, to share the Gospel, we need first to be able to say what it is. Just what is this good news? We need to be able to summarize the Good News in our own words. We can only develop our understanding of the Gospel by engaging the Bible in conversation with others. I’m so glad that we have been able to offer ‘Making Sense of the Christian Faith’ this year, as a group study. Helping us to understand the meaning of the story of God’s people and to recognize that this is our story and that we have a part to play in how that story develops. We have had some lively discussions which have both challenged some of our preconceptions and brought us to a new level of understanding. Most of all we are enjoying gathering and talking in a safe place about our faith, sharing our doubts and our questions.

At the evangelism seminar, the presenter offered a few short statements that for him, summarize the Gospel. This from St. Paul: “all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe - people and things, animals and atoms - get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death” Colossians 1:20 (The Message). “The Gospel is the Good News, that through Jesus Christ, God is at work to redeem, reconcile, restore, and renew the cosmos”. While I can’t argue with the truth in these statements, they don’t exactly grab my imagination and lead me to wanting to know more. We need to think about what the Gospel means to us, personally.

Some elements for me are: The Holy One came and lived among us to show us the true nature of God. Jesus showed us the Good News of God’s love for each one of us and for all creation. He gave us the gift of relationship with God through him. He came to assure us that through his life, death, resurrection and ascension our loving and forgiving God is reconciling, restoring and renewing all creation. And here is the wonderful thing, we are invited to share in that work.

At the Evangelism seminar last week the presenter, John Bowen, told a true story of an English woman named Becky. This is a very short version of her story as I remember it.

Becky was a middle-aged, single woman. She was in a relationship with a married man that had been going on for several years. She was an accomplished organist but did not go to any church. A friend of hers asked her to play for her wedding at her church. The female vicar recognized her talent, and asked her if she would like to play for their church regularly. Becky agreed. The vicar asked Becky if she would like to go for a walk with her. The two became friends and regularly went out walking together. The vicar noticed that Becky was curious about spirituality and encouraged her questions, but didn’t push her. Somehow Becky connected, on-line, with John Bowen, the Canadian theologian. Becky had many questions, including the usual big ones. Why are we here? Why is anything here? Is there really life following death? John introduced her to the works of C.S Lewis. A member of the parish leadership team was a woman who was the Minister of Discipleship and Evangelism. As Becky was new, she invited her to go for a coffee. These two also became good friends and would discuss Becky’s faith journey. Later she asked Becky if she was ready to become a follower of Jesus Christ - was she ready to be baptized? Becky was and became a member of the parish. After a while Becky decided she needed to end her affair with the married man. She also changed jobs and now works in a mission for street people. Happily, Becky later met a single man in the congregation and they have become a couple.

John summarized the elements of evangelism that were at play in Becky’s story.

• She was spiritually curious and hungry
• She encountered Christians who: 

• • thought they had something worth sharing
  • were her friends who encouraged her questions
  • tried to show her the love of Christ and answer her questions
  • contributed their different gifts
  • were patient, prayerful and non-pressuring
  • knew when to challenge her

You never know when the opportunity will come and someone will ask you about Jesus Christ, or express curiosity about what and why you believe. We need to be prepared, otherwise we will likely fumble around for the right words.

We are getting close to Advent and the busy season of preparation for Christmas. This year we have the opportunity of time. You can’t go shopping, you can’t go out to eat or to a movie. You shouldn’t be socializing with others outside of your household. What are you going to do with the freed-up time? I have an idea, you could take a little time to think about what the Gospel means to you. Seriously, find yourself a quiet spot some time, close your eyes and imagine you are with a friend, or neighbour or even someone you don’t know well. They ask you to tell them about being a Christian. They have questions: Why are you a Christian? Why do you like to go to church? What is it you believe?

Think about what is most important to you about being a Christian. How would you tell them about the Gospel of Christ? What is it about belonging to a Christian community, like St. Peter’s, that gives you joy, comfort, hope that you would like them to get to experience too?

Your personal story is part of the great story of God and God’s people. Be the blessing to others you were made to be.

As we journey through this time of unpredictability let’s give thanks for the certainty of God’s steadfast love; for the certainty of the Gospel. Amen