A Sermon by the Rev. Dr. Rhonda Abbott Blevins
Pastor of Chapel by the Sea, Clearwater Beach FL
(The sermon begins with an awkward silence.)
How do you feel during an awkward silence? It’s uncomfortable isn’t it? Doesn’t it make the anxiety rise up in you? Now, during that very awkward silence, how many of you thought to yourselves, “somebody should be doing something?”
My most vivid experience with silence came not too long after seminary, early in my ministry, when I chose to take a continuing education course called “Clinical Pastoral Education.” Part of the experience was clinical. . .they threw me in as chaplain at a hospital in the Metro Atlanta area. Part of the experience was didactic. . .we had a textbook out of which a teacher instructed us. The third part of the experience was. . .let’s say communal. Here’s what I mean. They took roughly 8 or 10 of us students, formed us into a group, and placed us in a circle with our leader. I’ll never forget that first meeting. Our leader walked in, sat down in the circle, and said, “Let’s get started.” That was it. Silence. More silence. Still more silence. The anxiety in me rose. The thought “somebody should be doing something” surfaced. Nobody did anything. More silence. Finally, I couldn’t take it any longer. I broke the silence and said something to our leader, “So what are we supposed to be doing in here?” That’s how it went for the next several sessions. It was out of that experience, sitting in that awkward silence, that I realized my most natural, God-given gift. I knew I had some talents here and there. A kind of “jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none” sort, I was pretty good at academics, I was a pretty good preacher & minister, pretty good at rhythm guitar, pretty good at a few things. But in that circle I realized that God made me a catalyst. I’m a catalyst. I get things going. Blessing or curse? Yes. But that was something so inherent in my personality. . .so innate. . .that I never even realized that about myself. Being a “spark-plug” was so natural to me that it didn’t seem special or unique. So I was “pretty good” at lots of things, but I was really good at being a catalyst.
Along about that same time I read a book by a Quaker fellow named Parker Palmer. Palmer drew the title from an old Quaker saying, Let Your Life Speak. The book is all about the process of discovering your most God-given abilities and discerning your life’s calling, or as he calls it, vocation. Palmer told his own story about finding his way into his true calling. At one time, he was offered the presidency of a small college. He engaged in a Quaker discernment process with a team of peers about the decision on whether or not he would accept the offer. In that discernment process, one of the team members asked Palmer, “What would you most like about being the president?” After a long silence, Palmer confessed, “I would most like holding the title of ‘president.’” Therein lay his answer. He declined the position, and went about pursuing his true calling—that of being an author.
He tells another story in the book. As a kid, while other boys were out playing football, Palmer would sit in his room, and create books. Literally. He would write the text and painstakingly bind the pages together with yarn or whatever he could find. Volume upon volume of “books” that Palmer created as a child. How many of you played like that when you were a kid? Yeah, me neither. You see, unlike most of us, Palmer’s deepest calling was to be an author. That “play” of choice when he was a kid was incredibly indicative of the most natural, innate, God-given calling in him. As a kid, he didn’t realize it was an unusual pastime. It was just FUN. He missed that sign for a lot of years, but thanks be to God he finally wrote those books. What an influence on me and countless others who have grown because of his wisdom and insight and giftedness!
Too many of us miss the signs. To many of us fail to “let our lives speak” and go our whole lives without discovering our highest calling. . .our true vocation.
I once heard a sermon by this title: “Don’t let your BUT get in the way.” The preacher was a friend of mine, [1] and his talk centered on all the excuses we use for not living into our fullest potential, or our highest God-given calling. I WOULD help the homeless. . .BUT. . . I WOULD become a leader in the church BUT. . . I would serve victims of child abuse. . .BUT. We can find “BUTs” for everything , can’t we? Reasons for not using our gifts? We all make excuses. . .we all let our BUTS get in the way! We all miss the mark, and fail to live into our fullest potential.
That’s exactly what happened to the poor sap in the parable of the talents read earlier (Mt. 25:14-30). He let his “but” get in the way. His master entrusted one talent, a unit of money, to him and asked him to put it to work and turn a profit in his absence. BUT. . .he was afraid. . .afraid of failure. So he let that “but” get in the way and he buried his talent in the ground. It was the safest thing to do. No gain—no loss. Safe.
When the master returned, he was livid. The servant broke the master’s trust, so the master cast him away into the darkness. What a vivid metaphor for what happens to us when we bury our talent. . .we find ourselves in the darkness. Yet, this is so common. So many of us do exactly what the fearful servant did. We fail to use the good gifts God has given. We fail to live into our fullest potential because our “buts” get in the way. “But I’m afraid,” like the servant in the parable. “But I’m tired. But I’ve “been there, done that.” But I’m not as healthy as I used to be. But I’m busy. But I’m not good enough. . .or maybe I’m too good. But what will they think of me?” Some of us have really BIG BUTS!
Two things happen when we bury our talent:
- We die a little inside. We lose vitality. We lose joy.
- The community we’re a part of (marriage, family, neighborhood, church, community) dies a little. It loses vitality. It loses joy.
There is a reason God gives us gifts. 1 Corinthians 12 teaches us about spiritual gifts. It tells us that gifts are given for one reason and one reason only—for the common good (v. 7). God doesn’t “gift” us for our own pleasure, and when we don’t use our gifts in community, the community suffers, and so do we.
The word translated as “gift” in our Bible is the Greek word “charis,” from which we draw our English word, “charisma.” When we know our gifts and use them “for the common good”—the word to describe that experience is CHARISMA! It’s the sense of being fully alive! And that’s what we’re all searching for, right? The experience of being fully alive? That’s the panacea of human existence, and it’s also God’s desire for us. That is realizing our fullest potential.
So how do we know our “charisma?” Frederich Buechner famously puts it this way: “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” If you’re a golfer, that place is the “sweet spot!”
Let’s break down this sage advice.
- First: When you hear yourself thinking “Somebody should be doing something”—that’s your recognition of the world’s deep hunger. Not everybody sees it. In fact, you may be the only one.
- Second: When you follow up the thought “Somebody should be doing something” with “I would enjoy that”—that’s your recognition of your deep gladness meeting the world’s deep hunger. Not everyone sees the need. Even fewer would enjoy meeting it. That’s vocation. That’s calling. That’s life abundant.
Because I get to be a pastor, I see people discover this all the time. There are so many examples of people finding the intersection of their joy and the world’s need—many of them here within the ministry of the church. Here’s what it looks like around here:
One day, somebody at the Community Church thought, “You know, somebody should give some life to the coffee hour at the church.” That same guy said, “You know, I think I’d enjoy that.” His name was Joe K. And Tellico Joe Café was born.
One day, somebody at the Community Church thought, “You know, somebody should start a prayer shawl ministry.” That same person said, “You know, I think I’d enjoy that.” Her name was Sharon K. And the prayer shawl ministry was born.
One day, somebody at the Community Church thought, “You know, somebody should start children’s church.” That same woman said, “You know, I think I’d enjoy that.” Her name was Regina E. And children’s church was born.
One day, three beautiful ladies at the Community Church thought, “You know, somebody should start a grief support group.” Those same ladies said, “You know, we think we’d enjoy that.” Their names were Char B, Betty L, and Marce S. And Healing Hearts was born.
One day, somebody at the Community Church thought, “You know, somebody should coordinate a group of volunteers to clean the church. That same guy was crazy enough to say, “You know, I think I’d enjoy that.” His name was Bob K. And he and his strangely happy team of volunteers clean up our mess every week!
I could cite so many more examples—these are just the tip of the iceberg. This doesn’t even include so many of you who live out your calling outside the church doing God’s work in our community!
The place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet—that’s the place God calls you! Maybe you think the folks I mentioned above are crazy—I kind of do! But this work—this kingdom work—this is a source of JOY for these folks. Maybe the place of your deep hunger meeting the world’s deep need is here in this church. If so, come talk to me. Maybe it’s out there—there’s a big wide world out there waiting for you and gift God has given you. Wherever it is, using your talent—your gift—for the kingdom of God, that’s the pathway to wholeness and a sense of enduring JOY.
We all are called. Everybody has a calling. Everybody. Our job. . .our primary vocation. . .is to get about the business of doing it. It’s about living out of our passion. . .and when we do that, we get the sense that we are exactly where we are supposed to be, doing exactly what we are supposed to be doing.
What’s it going to take to unearth that talent you buried, maybe a long time ago?
Don’t have a shovel? No excuse. I’ve got one you can borrow!
Dig it up, put it to work where your gladness meets the world’s need, and go forth to illuminate the world
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