Excerpts From: The Messenger |
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You yourselves know very well that the Day of the Lord will come as a thief comes at night. When people say, "Everything is quiet and safe," then suddenly destruction will hit them! …. But you, friends, are not in the darkness, and the Day should not take you by surprise like a thief. … We should not be sleeping like the others; we should be awake and sober.
Matthew 25:14-30
A taxi driver’s first day on the job turned out to be a nightmare. He had picked up his very first passenger and was driving down a busy main road. The passenger in the back seat wanted to speak to the driver so tapped the driver on the shoulder.
The driver screamed, lost control of the car, swerved across the road, side-swiped a bus, just missed a police car, went up on to the footpath, caused a pedestrian to dive for safety and crashed through the front window of a shop.
The burst radiator hissed and shoppers screamed but inside the cab everything went quiet for a second. Then the driver said "Look mate, don't ever do that again. You scared the daylights out of me!"
The passenger apologized but was a bit confused. He said, "I didn’t realize that a little tap on the shoulder would scare you so much". The driver replied, "Sorry, it’s not really your fault. Today is my first day as a cab driver - I've been driving ‘hearses’ for the last 25 years".
On more serious, the parable of the talents is a parable about the manner in which God will judge the world and his people. It is a straightforward account. A man who is about to leave on a journey entrusts his servants with different portions of his property. They are to look after that property and to ensure that it continues to work for the master, that it continues to make a profit while he is away.
Two of the servants double the investment they are intrusted with, and are richly rewarded for doing so; but the third gains nothing from it for his master, all he does is keep what he is given safe - following the custom of the time he buries the money so that no harm might come to it.
The result for him? What was entrusted to him is taken from him and given to the servant with the 10 talents - and he is cast off the estate of his master and into the place where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth!
Among several other stories and teachings about the end of time - stories in the 24th and 25th chapters of the Gospel of Matthew about the coming of the master to his rightful estate As I said - it is a straightforward account this parable of the talents this parable of the three servants who each were entrusted with fabulous wealth by their master, - a straightforward account of how God judges the world.
So what should we make of it? Well - I think we need to consider ourselves to be one of the servants in the parable. Or perhaps even as a forth servant.
We need to consider ourselves - and our family - and our church as a servant entrusted with fabulous wealth - wealth to look after - wealth to steward - while our master goes on a long trip. We need to consider ourselves as having been given one or two, or three, our four, or five or maybe even ten talents and being left with this money - this treasure - to do with what we will.
What would we do? What will we do?
I ask that because that is what God has done. God has given each one of us a fabulous a treasure - each in a different but abundant measure, and left what we do with it up to us. God has endowed you. God has endowed me. God has endowed this church.
So where are we at with it? And we going to play it safe? And it put it in the bank? Like the third servant did? Or are we going to risk it? Like the first and second servants did?
Think about it…… Think about what God has entrusted to us.
Think about who God has entrusted to us..... Think about it.
Think about what we have been given in this life by our God. What we have been entrusted with for few years on earth and what we have been promised will be ours for the life to come.
Think of the fantastic treasure that has been poured out upon us
I don't think that most of us think about enough. If we did - things would be different wouldn't they? Different for us. Different for our world.
There is a story which was told by Rev. Richard J. Fairchild . It goes like this:
What would the church be like if every member were just like me?
Would our church be empty on Sunday, or full to overflowing, if everyone attended as I do? How much Bible Study and prayer would occur if everyone took the time I do? How many bruised, hurting, lonely people, would be touched by the church if every member acted exactly as I do? Would we need more ushers and offering plates if everyone gave like me? How many children would be led to faith through the Sunday School and church if everyone had my priorities? Would the church just be an attractive social club? Would it be closed, bankrupt, out of business? Or would it be a dynamic force for Jesus Christ in our community and our world --- if everyone were just like me? What would the church be like if every member were just like me?
You know - one of the basic teachings of the bible, of the whole bible, the New Testament as much if not more than the Old, is that if don't use it - we lose it.
Some once rewrote the Parable of the Talents to try to get at this point. The rewrite goes like this:
One there was a king who had three sons, each with a special talent. The first had a talent for growing fruit. The second for raising sheep. And the third for playing the violin. Once, the king had to go overseas on important business. Before departing he called his three sons together and told them he was depending on them to keep the people contented in his absence.
Now for a while things went well. But then came the winter, a bitter and cruel winter it was. There was an acute shortage of firewood. Thus the first son was faced with a very difficult decision. Should he allow the people to cut down some of his beloved fruit trees for firewood? When he saw the people shivering with cold, he finally allowed them to do so.
The second son was also faced with a difficult decision. Food became very scarce. Should he allow the people to kill some of his beloved sheep for food? When he saw the children crying for hunger, his heart went out to them and he allowed them to kill some of the sheep.
Thus the people had firewood for their fires, and food for their tables. Nevertheless the harsh winter continued to oppress them. Their spirits began to sag, and there was no one to cheer them up. They turned to the fiddler, but he refused to play for them. In the end things got so bad that in desperation many of them emigrated.
Then one day the king arrived back home. He was terribly sad to find that many of his people had left his kingdom.
He called in his three sons to give an account of what had gone wrong. The first said, "Father, I hope you won't be mad at me, but the winter was very cold and so I allowed the people to cut down some of the fruit trees for firewood." And the second son said, "Father, I hope you won't be mad with me because when food got scarce I allowed the people to kill some of my sheep."
On hearing this, far from being angry, the father embraced his two sons, and told them that he was proud of them. Then the third son came forward carrying his fiddle with him. "Father", he said, "I refused to play because you weren't here to enjoy the music."
"Well then", said the king, "play me a tune now because my heart is full of sorrow." The son raised the violin and bow, but found that his fingers had gone stiff from lack of exercise. No matter how hard he tried, he could not get them to move. Then the father said, "You could have cheered up the people with your music, but you refused. If the kingdom is half-empty, the fault is yours. But now you can no longer play. That will be your punishment."
What would the church be like if every member was like me?
What would the world be like if every believer believed like I do?
We know the problem with the third servant don't we? His problem was his fear. He either feared too much - or not enough. And so he was very very careful of all that the master gave him.
Like the man who is afraid to love - because he might get hurt
Like the woman who is afraid to reach out - because she might be rejected
Like the child who is afraid to walk - because he might fall down, the third servant was afraid; and as in the case of all most fears, his fear came true - what he had was not enough for his master.
The third servant was afraid. He was afraid even though the constant message of God the message seen whenever God visits his people - is - "be not afraid". Be not afraid. But trust God. Trust in the one who said "they who seek to save their lives will lose them, but they who give their lives for me and for the gospel, will save them."
Trust in the one who gave himself on the cross - and who in doing so made an end of death. The parable of the talents is not a lesson about our degree of ability or productivity. It is a lesson about our attitude and our responsibility:
The sin of the third servant that could not be forgiven, is the sin of not daring to risk - the sin of not believing that God will reward all who trust in him, the sin of not trusting the one who gave his life for us to raise us up when we give our lives for him.
The mystery of the Gospel is not entrusted to the Church to be buried in the ground. It is given to the Church in order to be risked in the change and interchange of the spiritual commerce of humanity.
Be not afraid:
God will be pleased with us - and we will enter into his joy we will sit down and eat with groom and we will abide in the blessedness saved up for all who trust and believe, both now - and forevermore.
Amen
(Portions copyright by Rev. Richard J. Fairchild 2002 - 2005)
This message is taken from a sermon preached by Pastor Samuel King-Kabu on November 13, 2005
For more encouragement and messages, many of these previous sermons can be accessed on our website. ( http://www.st-ansgars-montreal.ca)
Yours Faithfully,
Pastor Samuel K. King-Kabu
One of the projects Zerf Challenge 2020 Team worked on in Kilimanjaro region of Tanzania in September of 2008 was HIV/AIDS testing at the KIKUHE Community and Orphans Center in Hedaru. The same district has one of the highest HIV rates in the Kilimanjaro region. KIKUHE in Swahili is an acronym for a Group Fighting AIDS in Hedaru. KIKUHE Chairman, Emmanuel Msinga, told us KIKUHE works to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS and holds seminars and workshops to teach how to prevent acquiring the virus. In Tanzania there is a dangerous stigma attached to HIV/AIDS. People are afraid to come out and get tested. If a person is known to have HIV they risk being ostracized from their family, friends, and community. In some cases even a person who knows they are HIV positive will hide this information and continue to spread the disease because they are afraid to talk about their HIV positive status. Hiding a positive HIV status prevents a person from getting the medicine they need to help prolong their life and the education they need to stop the spread of the disease. We tested many mothers and children. Several were positive. However, these children will be taken care of the rest of their lives by Zerf productions along with their partners and the Notre Dame de Grace community. Life in this orphanage is difficult for these children. They have no running water, no food, they eat porridge, twice a day, have no sanitary facilities, no kitchen. Hunger and HIV / AIDS is a deadly combination The children in KiKuhe Centre need all the help they can get.
In July of 2007 the president of Tanzania, Jakaya Kikwete, took an HIV test in public. Tanzania has instituted free voluntary HIV testing, but with the stigma surrounding HIV and the fact that many people don’t live near a facility where they can get tested - HIV/AIDS continues to be a problem.
Trinity Biotech of United States gave Zerf (USA) 40,000 tests, worth $750, 000 (US) for free, to test the people. The tests were delivered to St. Joseph Hospital in Moshi Kilimanjaro. Zerf Productions Canada, delivered $150,000 worth of medicine, from the people of Canada. THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR DONATIONS. www.zerfchallenge2020.com
20th Anniversary of Zerf:
The 20th Anniversary of Zerf will be celebrated at St. Ansgar’s Church on
Saturday, Nov 29 at 7:30 p.m. Community groups will participate in a concert
to commemorate the event. As usual, the cost is a donation of non-perishable food
for the NDG Food Bank. A freewill donation will be collected during the
evening.
Web Page prepared by:
Roger Kenner
& Jette Blair.
Content-New Topics Last Updated: 2008/09/16
St. Ansgar's Lutheran Church - Montreal