Community Church Sermons
October 23, 2005
Deuternomy 34:1-12
Thessalonians 2:1-12
“No one has ever shown the mighty power or performed the
awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.”
That’s how the book of
Deuteronomy sums up Moses’ life, and that’s how the Hebrew people remembered
the man who delivered them from the bondage of Egypt.
Many
generations later, no less a prophet than Tommy Smothers of the Smothers
Brothers would put it this way: “Holy Moses!”
What else can you say when an
ordinary man like Moses finds a way to get the most powerful leader in the
world to let God’s people go? How else could you describe the crossing of the
Red Sea when Moses holds open his arms, and the waters part and the Hebrew
people escape the Egyptian armies? What other words adequately describe how a
very human, very ordinary guy could enter into the very presence of God, and
meet with God face-to-face, and find wisdom for leading the people to the
Promised Land?
Holy
Moses! Those are the only words that seem
to fit!
Our
faith is a Holy Moses kind of faith in which standard-issue human beings
like you and me, with no particular distinction, end up being powerful
contributors to the building of the better world we describe as the Kingdom of
God.
Moses,
Joshua, Deborah, Ruth, David…Mary. You know, every year when we celebrate the
birth of Mary’s baby born in the stable at Bethlehem on that Christmas night
long ago, we come together at the manger and say things and sing things that
express our amazement at what Mary has done….Holy Moses!
Think
about Peter and Paul and Martin Luther and St. Joan of Arc who halted the
English war machine. Think about Teresa of Avila, the first woman church
doctor, and William Booth whose concern for the poor and hungry became the
Salvation Army. Think about Martin Luther King and Mother Theresa of Calcutta. Think
about all the ordinary run-of-the-mill, plain, flawed, weak human beings who
have contributed such great things to the purposes of God in the world, and
what else can you say, but “Holy Moses!”
The
Bible teaches that God has deposited into the life of every one of us some
seeds of extraordinary talent that, when unleashed and used faithfully, cause
God’s Kingdom to grow. St. Paul, in First Corinthians 12:7 says that each of us
has been given spiritual gifts to build up God’s Church. There are a wide variety
of such gifts, Paul says, but they all come from the Holy Spirit. Often, in the
life of the Church, we refer to these special gifts as talents.
What
talent or talents have you been given to help build the Church of Jesus
Christ?
In
Stewardship campaigns, like our “Trails Through Tellico”, you often hear
an appeal to be faithful stewards of your time, TALENT and treasure. We
have explored the treasure and time parts of stewardship in previous weeks, but
today, we want to focus in on talents.
You know,
you are the most talented group of people I’ve ever encountered! We have people
in this church family of ours who can do just about anything. You need
musicians? We’ve got musicians. You need financial leadership? We’ve got bean
counters galore! You Crafters say you need BEAD counters instead of BEAN
counters? Well, we’ve got those too. We have people who can organize a bucket
of minnows, and engineers who can build a better bucket. We’ve got folks who
can tell you everything you want to know – and sometimes more than you want to
know – on any subject you can think of!
I mean,
we’ve got a lot of talented people!
And
some will surprise you. Sandy and I were out to dinner the other night at the
home of a church couple. What a beautiful home they’ve built, and what fun
people to be with! We had a superb meal, and great conversation. And then,
after dinner, the husband said he was in charge of dessert. I thought, “This
oughta be good!” After all, guys are sort of plain and simple about things
like dessert, so I figured for sure we’d have “make-your-own-sundaes” or – I
secretly hoped – maybe Krispy Kreme donuts right out of the bag.
So off
behind the kitchen island he went, and there was banging and clanging. At one
point, I looked over and the man actually had a TORCH in his hand, and I
thought we were all going to go up in smoke!
Finally,
he came out with the dessert. Make-your-own-sundaes? Nope. Krispy Kremes right
out of the bag? Nope?
What
would you expect out of a guy who is a man’s man, a true reflection of
testosterone-laced masculinity whose passion in life, I found out, is shooting
guns and hunting? (PAUSE)
Crème
brulee!
And it
was the best crème brulee I’ve ever had! And he let me have seconds! And I
said, “Holy Moses!”
Talented
people. We’ve got lots of them!
What’s your
talent?
A young priest preached a sermon on the parable of the talents.
Remember that famous story Jesus told about the faithless servant who buried
his talent in the ground? Well, the priest urged his people to not do what the
unfaithful servant did, but rather to place at God’s disposal the gifts and
abilities with which God had endowed them.
After the service, a man came up to him and said, “Father, I am
not a particularly gifted man. I really don’t feel capable of teaching in the
Sunday school or canvassing for money or doing any of the other things that you
talked about this morning. But I do have one talent that might be of use to the
church.”
“And what is that?” asked the
priest.
“Well,” said the young man, “I have
the talent of criticism. I can criticize your sermons. I can criticize the
choir. I can criticize everything about the church. What should I do with my
talent?”
The priest thought about it for a moment, and then he said, “Bury
it, son, bury it!”
All of which is to say that there are talents, and then there are talents.
The talents God has placed in our lives are for the building UP of
the church and God’s people, not for tearing them DOWN. Some of us have talents
that need to be buried and never allowed to see the light of day in God’s
Church.
The talents God gives build UP the church and God’s people. And
the talents God has placed in our lives for the building of the Kingdom are
often much different than the talents we think we have.
Dick Adamick was a very talented man. When he died in a tragic
motorcycle accident last Sunday, we had a chance to reflect on Dick’s life and
his many gifts. He was a terrific police officer, decorated for valor. He was a
woodworker. He was funny. He had a beautiful singing voice. He was a good dad
to his kids, and a great friend to have. Dick had lots of obvious God-given
talents.
But in the midst of our celebrating Dick’s life, I encountered the
result of a very special talent that had been given Dick. There in the room off
the Narthex where the family gathers before coming into the Memorial service,
in the middle of Dick’s family, was a little 12-year old Mexican boy named
Fabian. His face was buried in his hands and he was sobbing, but his hands
could not keep the tears from spilling to the floor.
Dick had responded to a call for volunteers to become mentors for
kids who need a positive adult presence in their lives. Now Dick was 66-years
old. His own kids are grown. He was retired and loved to ride motorcycles and make
things of wood and hang around with his many friends. He didn’t have to
volunteer to mentor a child. But he did. He had been given a talent. And
putting it to use for the building of God’s Kingdom, Dick made an incredible
contribution to the life of Fabi who has grown in so many ways into a beautiful
young man. And let me say to you today, there are children in our county who
are still waiting for loving mentors like Dick.
The talents that God places in our lives for the building of the
Kingdom are quite often not the gifts and talents we’ve used in our careers and
throughout our lives. Yes, those are God-given gifts that help us succeed in
life, and contribute to the well-being of society. And those are gifts that can
and should be used in the life of the Church. We DO need musicians and bean
counters and bead counters and organizers and engineers!
But often there are other unknown talents God has tucked inside us
that, when discovered and used, require us to step out into unfamiliar
territory where we have to completely depend upon God to empower the use of
those talents. And so often, these talents result in Holy Moses! kinds
of experiences - that is, they become almost miraculous in changing the world
and manifesting the Kingdom of God.
Roberta Burwell was a gifted banker during her working career. But
her talent is in conceiving and organizing mission projects that help
people experience the love of God. Bill Morgan is a fine dentist. But Bill’s talent
is helping people find God through simple conversation and opening up God’s
word for them in ways they can understand. A bunch of our church members
represent a variety of successful careers, but their talent has become
working with local industry in non-destructive ways to produce better air
quality for all of us. My old colleague Ralph Marsden who with his wife Anna
were our house guests last weekend is a great minister, but one of his talents
is remembering to call up people on their birthdays and anniversaries and
other significant dates, and letting them know how important they are to him
and to God – and Ralph has a list longer than you can imagine!
What is your talent?
What God-given talent is there in your life that you haven’t even
discovered yet? What talent have you received that has nothing to do with what
you’ve done all your life, but that calls you out to the unfamiliar territory
of the Spirit?
In our New Testament reading from First Thessalonians, Paul
describes the talents that he and his co-workers put to use when they first
brought the Gospel to the people there, and led them to faith and growth in
Jesus. Did you hear the talents described?
They are not big theological things, nor are they the kinds of
things you learn in college, or graduate school, or adult education courses at
the local high school.
Listen to St. Paul:
·
We were gentle among you,
like a mother caring for her little children –
that’s quite a talent for a bunch of guys to develop, don’t you think?
·
We loved you so much that we
shared not only the Gospel with you, but our very lives – what a wonderful talent to not just preach, but to share the
life of the people we serve!
·
We dealt with each of you as
a father deals with his own children – encouraging,
comforting, and always urging you to live lives worthy of God
Simple things! And, Holy Moses!, these talents brought into
being a church, and a whole community was blessed!
What talent or talents has God given you??
Will you dare ask God to help you discover them, and put them to
use as God intends – building up the Kingdom of God, and making the world a
better place?
Holy Moses! You are such a talented
people!
Come and discover the gifts God has planted in you, and let us
join them together to build up the Church and to bless the children of God!
Amen.