Proper 28A-11
November 13, 2011
The universe is 14 billion years old. Our spiral-shaped galaxy, fondly dubbed the Milky Way contains 200-600 billion stars. At the speed of light you could zoom from one side of our galaxy to the other if you had between 100,000-120,000 years to do it. Scientists estimate the universe contains 125 billion galaxies like our own.
As if this were not awesome enough to contemplate, last week, I listened to theoretical physicist Brian Green explain to NPR’s Terry Gross about the high probability of multiple universes, layered and twisted around our own like fibrous strings in handmade paper, folded together in one unimaginably big and complex origami.
When we are confronted with the true size and scale of the universe—or multi-verse—the obvious question is who are we that God should be concerned with us? The psalm we sang today (Psalm 90) contrasts the infinity of God with the obvious finitude of human life: “For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday, which passes like a watch in the night. You sweep them away like a dream; they fade away suddenly like the grass.” (Psalm 90: 4-6).
An old Jewish proverb said we should carry two notes in our pockets: the first saying, you are dust and to dust you shall return; the second affirming, for you the universe was made! Indeed, the dust from which you are made is stardust. Incredibly, the faith we confess is that “God loves each one of us as if there were only one of us.” (St. Augustine) Moreover, what you choose to do or not to do makes a real and lasting difference—not only to God—but also to how the story of the universe unfolds.
Our scripture today is a call to awake to the wonder of each breath and every encounter. In the spirit of the American poet Mary Oliver, our readings ask us to consider: “what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” (Mary Oliver, The Summer Day)
The faith we confess stands in sharp contrast to the one in fashion today. Most people believe in God but will tell you, either with their words or actions, that God is very distant from their lives. God is an abstraction rather than a concrete reality. So God becomes irrelevant to the daily rhythm of our deliberations and decisions. Just be good and be happy. It’s all the same to God.
The prophet Zephaniah had strong words for those who believe that God is indifferent to us, or our world. They’re in for a surprise, and not a good one! Harm will come to those who “rest complacently (like old wine) on their dregs, those who say in their hearts, ‘The Lord will not do good, nor will he do harm.’” (Zephaniah 1:12). Could it be we all have something to lose when God leaves center stage in our lives?
Could there be tragedy and pain, not just for us but for the people we love –for our children and grandchildren when God is no longer someone in our lives, not a person to whom we must be accountable but is only an idea, an abstraction in a book but not in our hearts? The faulty faith many of us where raised with will say God jealously punishes those who withdraw from him. But our scripture preach something different: God is light, face into the light as the flowers and trees do so that you will may thrive; God is love, dwell in this love that drives away fear; God is undying life, partake in this abundance that you may become generous and warm in spirit.
With today’s readings we move into the twilight of the season of Pentecost and into the dawning of the season of Advent. From now until Christmas we’ll examine our life and our place in God’s graceful universe from what is often an uncomfortable point of view for us—namely that of God’s expectation, God’s judgment, and ultimately, weighing out the value of the lives we have lived—not just as individuals, but corporately. What kind of community have we built, what kind of society have we made together as members of the church and the children of heaven?
We’ll look fully into the face of the fact that the gracious gift of freedom we are given by a loving God means that the consequences of our actions cannot be nullified. The present becomes indelible past, and past has power either to open or close doors to the future.
God’s graceful universe is compatible with the reality that we shall reap what we sow. To be sure, God seeks to minimize the negative consequences of our actions, and to bring good out of evil, but our turning from God to do whatever we want, without regard to others, is a stumbling block to the abundance God desires for us. “The good news from Zephaniah’s words of apparent doom is that we and our actions really do matter to God and the future of the planet, and that we can, as Mother Teresa counsels, “do something beautiful for God.”” (Bruce Epperly) Our faithful and life-supporting actions become ripples in pond radiating into the universe that enable God to help us and future generations be more active and creative in bringing healing and justice to the world. (Bruce Epperly)
Rather than in hope and abundance, lots of people today are like the third servant in Jesus’ parable from Matthew. They live frozen with fear out of a false understanding of God and out of ignorance about the origins of their lives. Truly they live as people “…cast into the outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 25:30). We are called to show them another way. We all have something to lose when even one of us lives in fear rather than hope, in scarcity rather than abundance, in death rather than life.
Our readings today teach that God has placed a fabulous treasure in your hands. In this unimaginably immense and complex universe, God blesses each moment of your life with her full and loving attention. Still more, God has given you an ownership stake in the universe. God has given you power to shape the future. God has richly blessed you with talents and spiritual gifts.
Jesus’ parable of the talents challenges each of us. It confronts this congregation to think big and to live big. We are called and equipped to be spiritual visionaries. “God gives us the seeds, [but through our lives] we must produce the fruit” (Rev. Peter Gnomes). What great thing is God calling you toward today? What vision of Immanuel’s future is drawing our congregation forward? What self-imposed limitations and false understandings do we need to let Christ Jesus break –personally, and congregationally—in order to become God’s partners in healing the world? (Commentary by Bruce G. Epperly)
Jesus’ parable of the talents means that each of you is extravagantly blest with God-given talents and abilities. We are not all blessed equally. Some possess five, some two, some just one—but each of these God-given talents is indispensable. Each gift is intended to make its own contribution to the well being of the body of Christ, and to the wider community in which we live.
Like unused muscles, God’s spiritual gifts atrophy and become useless when they are not used. The consequences can be tragic, for us and for those we love. Like candlelight, the gifts we have from God, aren’t diminished when we share them with others; but are doubled and spread throughout the community to drive away the darkness in us all. Neither is our ability to love diminished by sharing it. There will be more love in the world. Neither is the power of the gospel diminished by spreading it. There will be more people living in confidence and love working to re-make our society as God intended it to be.
Our failure to trust God and, then, take appropriate risks shrinks the size of our world and diminishes our sense of possibility. Yet despite our timidity, new possibilities to love and serve God are always on the horizon when we awaken to the gift and power of God’s grace alive and at work in the far distant corners of the universe –and right here now.