“Worshipful Lives”
“Worshipful Lives”
Amos 5:18-24 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 Matthew 25:1-13
Year A, Twenty Fifth Sunday after Pentecost RM 2011
November 19, 2023
Pastor Andy Kennaly, Sandpoint, Idaho
“Glendi Perez worked in a factory in Lima, Peru. Because of the long hours, low pay, and unsafe working conditions, she and four other women in her neighborhood left their factory jobs and formed a sewing cooperative called Grupo Mana. The name—Manna Group in English—refers to the food God gave to the people of Israel during their journey through the wilderness from Egypt to the Promised Land (see Exodus 16).
Leaving their factory jobs was a courageous thing for the women to do, because they had no savings and thus no money with which to feed their children. “But they realized they would always be living hand to mouth and never have the opportunity to get ahead working in the factory. The group struggled the first year with low sales but kept working. Then they got an order from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).” The Churchwide Gathering of Presbyterian Women needed 1,500 tote bags. This gave them three months of
steady work. But halfway into the order, Perez broke her arm. You can’t sew if you break your arm, it is not possible to work. In the United States, worker’s compensation or sick leave may help, but in many countries, you don’t have that and you’re out of luck.
Instead of treating one another the way they had been treated in the factories, with a corporate model based on reward/punishment and meritocracy, the women divided Perez’s part of the production among themselves, and they did her sewing [for her]. They also decided that all of them, including Glendi Perez, would receive equal payment. This decision supported Glendi and her family, but even more, they found it life-giving to all the women. They discovered that they themselves could provide a bit of security to one another.” (Presbyterians Today November 2011).
Glendi's story shows tremendous courage by the women in her neighborhood, and their desire to make something of themselves in order to benefit themselves, their families, and the community. The International Co-operative Alliance defines cooperative as an “autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically controlled enterprise.” More than one billion people around the world are involved in some form of cooperative enterprise, which includes one in four Americans. This is more than a business model, it transforms society.
Glendi's story shows courage in the face of large, systemic problems; it shows people working together; and God's people supporting one another beyond boundaries and borders; there is action and steps taken in faith, trusting God's providential care; and God's Spirit is celebrated.
Similar themes emerge from today's scriptures, from Judges, 1 Thessalonians, and Matthew. In Judges we see Deborah coordinating the movement of the army because she’s chosen to act in response to God's leading. She has set an intention, and in that there is power. The story goes on beyond what we read to show the general's hesitation, but Deborah has no such pause, and she acts assuredly even in unexpected and culturally challenged ways. She makes a difference for the larger community.
The Apostle Paul in the passage from 1 Thessalonians shares Christ's resurrection promise, a resurrection hope to live by, being destined not for wrath, but for salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. Whether we live or whether we die, we may live with Jesus Christ. Paul talks about living as children of light, children of the day; and to “put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.” Now remember, a breastplate is a piece of armor that is worn across the front of you so if things come at you, they just bounce off without doing any damage to your vital organs. Breastplates change lethal attacks into glancing blows. And you know what helmets do, again a defensive article. These garments are linked to spiritual qualities, each connected to time. One commentator suggests that “Faith is for now, and hope is for the future, but love is associated with the present, and love has no end.” (Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary, Yr. A, After Pentecost 2, pg. 149)
In other words, God's eternal love is given to us now and experienced through faith. This means there is no part of our life present, future, or eternal, that is untouched by God's love given through Christ. Then the commentator says this, “The outcome of the assurance of salvation is a security that sets us free to live our lives for others. We do not simply “rest assured”; rather, we “act assuredly” by providing others encouragement that ensures the mutual growth of the members of the body of believers....The Christians' concern with the future is the substance of a forward-looking, active life.”
I would add an observation: that comment comes from a mental concept based on a three-dimensional world. It assumes we are in the present, looking with hope toward a horizon of the future, which is out in front of us, like a line, and that future calls us to action in the present, but this is through an intermediary, Jesus the Christ, which forms a triangle. But what if the expected future is not exactly what we’d hoped for? Plus, relying on hope ensures there will always be an element of fear. How do we get past fear, which has a caustic way of blocking healthy intention?
Those first readers of Matthew, for example, were looking forward to the return of Christ, and they were expecting it any moment. But then there was a delay, so Matthew is sharing Jesus' parable about how to live in the meantime while we wait for the Master to return. Then we get the story about a man “entrusting his property” to his slaves because he is going on a journey. One gets 5 talents, one gets 2, and one gets 1. A talent is a measurement (again, a mental concept based on comparisons, very dualistic mindset), in this case it is a measurement of money, only it's a huge measurement. “A talent is...equal to the wages of a day laborer for fifteen years.” Whether it's one, two, or five, these are large sums, which tells us that the Master is entrusting a great deal, and the Master has a huge amount to draw from. The slaves get to work right away: one with 5 trades and makes 5 more, the one with 2 also makes 2 more, and the one with 1 buries it. We think, “Oh, oh. That doesn’t sound good.” But that can be misleading.
Culturally, this translates to putting it in a saving account with no interest; better yet, he put it in a safe deposit box, with no interest but very secure. This beat leaving it laying around for someone to steal. Burying treasure was an acceptable way to guard wealth, if your location was remembered and secure. All three were entrusted, all three had some level of ability, and all three acted responsibly according to those first readers of Matthew. But as the story goes on, the shock value comes out.
We do not take this story literally; but rather it's a parable Jesus uses to symbolize something about the Kingdom of heaven. In that symbolic sense, as story points to some larger truths, then the vast sum, the “talents” entrusted to the slaves represent more than money. What matters is how one uses the talent, what one’s intention involves, and what the servant does in response to receiving the talent.
We come alongside the servants and wonder if our intention, our life energy is fearful, or protective, and overly cautious. Or is the servant, and us, open to risk? This may lead to a larger benefit, one more tuned to our life energy, and would involve a high level of faith and trust, not only to maintain the original but to expand beyond the gift.
This story has encouragement on how to live, on how to use our God-given abilities for the work of the Kingdom of heaven. If we live into faith and love and hope, these things lead to more, to God's goodness, mercy, and grace. For those who receive the gift and allow it to make a difference, the Master doesn't collect when returning. What starts out as an entrustment becomes a gift that multiplies, a gift we can share through courageous living, acting assuredly that not only is all eternity secure for us, but we can help others even now. But even this is three-dimensional and limited by perspectives on time.
How many of you remember something from your past? We all remember something. Even if our short-term memories begin to fade, often there are longer term memories that remain. And if we have memory of an event or feeling, we can certainly trust God to remember the same thing, likely with more accuracy than we have. God is the eternity, not only of future, but of past, and if God’s eternal memory holds each moment of our living, then we come alongside the confidence of Paul as he knows, deep down in his soul, that living or dying our life is in Christ, Jesus.
Not only that, but the future that calls out to us in the present also influences the past. The past, and certainly God, are not static, not beyond love’s influence, not beholden to limited concepts like time as duration, measurable, quantifiable, and finite, here now, gone forever. This type of leaning into the future, freed from the past, trusting presence in the present, without fear, this is fourth-dimensional living. Time freedom.
Thankfully we see glimpses of a new reality emerging, even in stories like impoverished women helping each other through collaboration and self-giving, which is love enacted. May we continue to set our intention on healthy living that reflects not the destructive, caustic side of fear, not even a glimmer of hope, but a deeper trust that lives into the reality of grace that God’s will is done, on Earth as it is in heaven, and where God lives is truly blessed. May we learn to see God everywhere, in all things.
Thanks be to God for helping us learn how to be trustworthy with a few things, for moving us out of timid lives that take no risk into lives that trust God’s gifts and help humanity evolve and wake up to higher consciousness, deeper dimensions, and awareness through the power of intention. May we be wise stewards of all that God gives, and may God be glorified, now, and forever in its fullest sense, Amen.