This morning's gospel is one that I always think on first look seems a little odd. Are we really been told that we should try to make lots of money and that the more we make the more we will get and those that aren't successful will get nothing? That doesn't fit with how I understand God.The thing is, the story is a parable and not to be taken at face value,however Jesus may well have intended to shock his audience to get them talking,to ask if it doesn't mean what it seems to mean then what might it mean?
When I started thinking about this sermon, I looked up what a talent actually was, I had in my mind a gold coin, I was wrong. A talent was actually a unit of measurement. The standard days wage for a labourer at the time was one denarius. One talent was a unit of measurement for 6000 denarii. The equivalent of six thousand days wages. That is a lot more than one gold coin. So we aren't talking about a little gift from the master here, this is a big gift.It is a gift that, especially if used wisely, can be life changing.
Now, unfortunately God hasn't given most of us that level of financial gift.However God does give us other gifts. It can be hard though sometimes to recognise what those gifts are. I think most people probably take the view that there is nothing special about them, except in God's eyes we are all special. God creates us all to be unique individuals and we are all uniquely gifted. If we go back to the parable, each of the servants is given a different level of gift, but the two that did something with it receive exactly the same praise.
Your, or mine, individual gift may be a small thing but it is how we use it that is important. The third servant the one who buried his gift is criticised, because he didn't even attempt to use it, he didn't even ask a banker to help him use it. If we don't attempt to use our own gifts we are being like the third servant and rejecting what God has given us.
The gifts we have from God come in all shapes and sizes. In some people it is easy to see their gifts, for example in the musicians we have who help us worship through song. Over the past few months we have heard sermons from different people and we may have thought that one or more of these people has a real gift for preaching that they really helped me understand and grow in faith. Other gifts may be less noticeable but just as important. The gift of making a really good cup of tea or coffee,now that is one that is vital for the functioning of the church! The gift of being a good listener, or a good cleaner, definitely not a gift that I have but I am grateful for those that do and can keep our church looking nice!
To those who have much, much will be given. Sounds great when we are thinking about money, but what about in relation to using our talents?We all have talents given by God, we also have a responsibility to use those talents to serve God, to do his work on earth and prepare for the true coming of the kingdom of God. If we offer our talents in a small way,we may find that as our skills and confidence grow, that we then get asked to do more and more. We may begin to feel like we are being pushed outside our comfort zone. However, we need to remember that God is always there to strengthen, support and guide us as we grow into the people he created us to be using the talents that he gave us.
Sometimes it can be hard to recognise what our own talent might be,or we might be afraid of what will happen if we open ourselves and our talents up to God’s will. The temptation is there, to bury our heads or our talents,in the sand, to think I don't need to do anything, other people will do it.I don't want to take the risk in case something goes wrong. Yet we are reminded this morning that no one knows when the second coming will be,when we will be called before God to give account of how we have used our talents. Will we be the servant who buried their talents, who was too scared of getting it wrong that they took no action, or when we face God will he say well done good and faithful servant, you have used your talents to grow my kingdom?
In two weeks time we will be starting the season of Advent. Advent is traditionally the start of the church year. The start of the new year is linked with the idea of a fresh start, of making new years resolutions. As we approach the new church year, consider what your gift from God is and how you can use it to help support and grow God’s people in this place.
