Sunday, November 19, 2017

The Power of Call

PROPERS:          PROPER 28, YEAR A 
TEXT:                 MATTHEW 25:14-30
PREACHED AT ST. PAUL’S, MAGNOLIA SPRINGS, ON SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2017.

ONE SENTENCE:        Your gift is your call; you should be prepared to answer it.
                                   

            What is your call?

            Be assured you have one.  Three brief stories may prompt you to think more deeply.

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            In the year 386, a wealthy young man sat quietly in a courtyard.  His life had been one of ease, but searching.  He had followed various philosophies popular in the day.  His journey had taken him from his birth home in modern-day Algeria to his courtyard in Milan, Italy.

            His mother was a devout Christian; his father a pagan.  He had had various concubines during his profligate life, and now he was 31, seeking a direction for his life.

            He sat quietly in his courtyard.  Perhaps he slumbered.  But he heard a childs voice chanting the Latin words: Tolle, legge Tolle, legge.  Take up and read take up and read.

            Within reach he found a scroll with Pauls Letter to the Romans.

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            More than 1,000 years later, a young monastic student wrestled with life.  He had always been quite bright and gifted.  His father a cruel and oppressive man wanted him to study law, but this young man had his heart set on a religious vocation.

            His abusive childhood had left a mark on him.  Modern-day psychotherapists may have diagnosed as obsessive-compulsive disorder.  Safe within his monastic community away from most temptations of the world he nevertheless felt compelled to go to confession many times a day.

            No sooner would he emerge from confession than he would realize some personal flaw he had failed to mention.  He would return to confession. His life was broken and he saw no way out.

            But a kindly mentor perhaps inspired by the Spirit guided this young man into teaching.  And teach he did.  The topic was the New Testament, and the young man torn and distraught found himself.

            He set the Christian world aflame.

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            The third story.

            Some 300 years later, there was a woman 32-years-old, struck down by a devastating illness.  She had previously been a writer of humorous articles. The illness left her bed-ridden for the next 50 years of her life.

            She was the daughter and granddaughter of Anglican clergy.  Her father was a well-known Evangelical preacher.  Their house was a whirlwind of activity, being a center of the social activist Clapham Sect, which had been founded by John Newton, the former slave trader and author of Amazing Grace.

            Her illness frequently left her depressed.  One evening, her family had gone to a church bazaar and she was alone at home.  She was feeling lost, worthless, and depressed.  It was in that fog that the words of one of her pastors came to her, as she had wrestled with her sense of worthlessness.  His words: Come to Jesus just as you are.

            She put pen to paper.  The year was 1834.  We remember her and her words to this day.

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            So, who were these three individuals?  And why do they matter today?

            I mention them because they had gifts that were not being utilized.  Those gifts are analogous to the talents we heard about in the gospel lesson today.  If those talents had been buried and not invested we would all be poorer today.

            There is a call from God as we hear in the Parable of the Talents to use our gifts.

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            The first person I mentioned sat quietly in a courtyard in Milan, Italy, having lived a brilliant but profligate life.  He heard a voice saying, Tolle, legge Tolle, legge.  Take up and read, take up and read.  He reached for a scroll containing Pauls Letter to the Romans.

            That young man was Augustine of Hippo who, out of his sordid background, became perhaps the greatest theologian in the history of the church.  His writings such as The City of God and Confessions have a profound impact on the church today.

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            The obsessive-compulsive monastic, so overwrought with his own sinfulness, was Martin Luther.  As he taught scripture to the other young monks, he discovered a depth and graciousness to God that he had not known.  And the Reformation was born.
            His life was not easy afterwards, but his calling was answered, and his gifts were uncovered and utilized.  He shook the foundations of the church, and we exist as a parish because of his calling.

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            The bedridden English woman, so convinced of her lack of purpose in life, penned words that have caused hearts to turn, tears to stream, and lives to change in the last 180 years.  Charlotte Elliott, lying in her bed as her family went to a church bazaar, wrote the words to Just as I Am.

            I should note that she was an Anglican, but her hymn has been sung by millions of worshippers at Billy Graham Crusades and is found on page 693 of our hymnal.

            Charlotte Elliott had shown a gift for writing much earlier.  Now she uncovered that gift again and responded to Gods call.

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            These three people lived fairly unremarkable lives until they allowed their gifts to be uncovered.  Through meandering, lost and struggling lives, they invested what they had and those investments paid rich dividends.  In many ways, we live on those dividends today.

            Besides his Parable of the Talents, Jesus says other things in Matthew to make the same point.  In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says:

5:15No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.


            I invite you to reflect today:  What is your light?  What is your call?  How may you invest it in a way that pays dividends for Gods work in the world?

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