Rupert’s Blog

On Sunday, we looked at the final parable of the Kingdom (after a week break at the beginning of September) - the Parable of the Talents found in Mt 25:14ff.

We also gave away £20 to everyone that wanted … well we actually had a limit of one hundred £20 notes! This was to enable us to practically live out the parable over the next few months. If you were there, I would love to hear what you thought … If you weren’t, you can add “gutted” to the comment section!

But first the parable. For me one of the keys to understanding the parable is to know how much a talent is worth. Nobody knew on Sunday, and to be fair, I didn’t either until I looked it up! A talent was originally a measure of weight, but in NT times it was also a currency, and was worth 3000 shekels or 6000 denarii. Enlightened? Well, a denarii was a days wages, say for someone working in a vineyard (unskilled worker). In the UK an unskilled worker might earn £60 for a day’s work, which would make a talent worth £350,000!

So the story goes: A wealthy man went away for a long time, and he entrusted his wealth to his servants. To one servant he gave nearly £2million, and he put the money to work, and doubled it! To another, he gave about £700,000 and he also doubled the money. To a third, he gave £350,000 and he hid it under his mattress! What? He had that much money and hid it under his mattress (well actually he buried it … but hiding it under his mattress adds a bit of poetic licence to the story!).

No wonder the master was angry. But his response is astounding when you think about it?

you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest (vs 27)

The sense of what Jesus is saying here is: “You could have done anything with the money … apart from doing nothing!”

He could have paid for his ill mother to visit a doctor, he could have given the money to the poor, he could have thrown a party … just not hide it away and do nothing.

Jesus is talking about how we should live in light of the Kingdom that has come, but is yet to come fully. It isn’t really about money, but the wonderful gift of the live we have: our gifts, abilities, education, opportunities, time, money, our physical bodies … everything. When we are constrained by fear (vs 24), we aren’t present, don’t show up, and aren’t the contribution that we are meant to be to the world we live in.

So we gave £20 to every person who wanted it. It was a ridiculously small amount, compared to outrageously large amount each servant was given. But it represents everything that we have. We are to put it to work in some way … maybe to multiply the money, or maybe to do something that we have wanted to do, but just seems a bit risky. It could be baking cakes to sell; buying material for a painting; printing up business cards; or joining a community group or learning opportunity etc. etc. We aren’t looking for tangible results (although getting some of the money back would be nice!), but the stories of what God does in us as we engage with him and our fears …

In February, we want to hear stories of what we have done, and what changes and opportunities have emerged because of this small £20. We want to see a community than learns more to take risks, to trust God, to be present, to show up …

OK, preach over.

If you were there, what did you think? What are you planning on doing with the £20? If you weren’t (and you have managed to get to the end of this massive post!) what do you think about interpretation of the parable? And what would you do if you had been given £20 (about $40) to take some risk?

Tags: Community Church Edinburgh, Parables of the Kingdom, Preaching, Parable of the Talents, Talents, money

Yesterday, I was preaching in church again, and in light of discussions in a previous post and comments, here is a summary, to allow comments, thoughts or experiences from anyone, whether you were there or not. It is part of our money series we have been doing this year. An MP3 should be available here by Wednesday if you fancy having a listen.

In our protestant tradition, poverty is not something that we have really thought about much, except to say it is bad and should be avoided at all costs (and occasionally to say that it is obviously a sign of not following God, having faith, or being blessed in some way!). But in other traditions, a vow of poverty or making poverty a virtue, has been a strong emphasis (eg. in the ascetic movement, Monastic movement, and in the Catholic Church. Mother Theresa is a classic example of someone who took a vow of poverty, to give herself to serving the poor).

There is much in the Bible that would advocate this course of action: “sell your possessions and give to the poor” say Jesus (Lk 12:33. See also: Lk 14:33; Mt 6:19; Mt 19:21). It is easy to “reinterpret” those verses, to make them something that doesn’t apply to us today, but before we do, lets consider some of the warning the Bible gives us about the dangers of lusting after or having riches and wealth:

• We can fall into temptation, ruin and destruction (1 Tim 6:9)
• We can wander from faith (1 Tim 6:10)
• We can become arrogant and not trust God (1 Tim 6:17)
• It is hard to enter in to the Kingdom (the fullness of live now, rather than heaven) (Mt 19:23)
• We can become unfruitful (Mt 13:22)

These are serious warnings, and as I was writing the sermon and speaking I was feeling challenged and uncomfortable about my riches and comfortable lifestyle. This was no finger wagging time, but was sobering about what the Bible seems to be saying about poverty.

But there is also stuff in the Bible about wealth and prosperity. It is harder to find in the NT, but there are some seriously rich people in the Bible (Abraham, David, Solomon, Zacchaeus) for example. There is also verses about prosperity as a blessing for those who walk with God and are obedient (eg. Dt 30).

So how do we reconcile these two streams of teaching and understanding? Well, perhaps neither poverty nor riches is right or wrong, but it is more about our attitude to money that is most important. God might call some to poverty, some to riches (which is perhaps the harder journey!), or there may be different seasons in our lives where we experience both. So what would Jesus say is the most important attribute to have concerning money?

I suggested that there was a ladder to climb. At the bottom of the ladder, when we are first grappling with our attitude to money in a society that is continually lusting for more, is contentment. This word is mentioned 7 times in the NT, and 6 of them are about money / possessions (eg. Phil 4:11-12, where Paul says he has learned the secret of being content in any situation, whether has loads, or nothing!).

The second rung of the ladder is generosity. I suggested that generosity is not the same as giving. Giving is good, but it becomes generosity when it costs. For example the Macedonian churches in 2 Corinthians gave generously out of there extreme poverty (2 Cor 8:2).

But the thing that Jesus seems to value more than anything else is being faithful or trustworthy (eg. Mt 25:21 & Lk 16:10-12), which we learn through contentment and generosity. This is when He trust us with Kingdom resources, knowing that we will use them wisely. This is when God can trust us with more money (tricky issue as we can’t give to get, otherwise we haven’t really learned the lesson of contentment!), and trust us with “true riches” … riches of the Kingdom: influence, power, fruitfulness etc.

Mother Theresa followed the path of poverty to come to this place of being truthworthy, and she was then trusted with Kingdom riches of influence and power. God could trust her, knowing that she wouldn’t abuse those riches, but use them for the Kingdom, as she had proved trustworthy with money.

What do you think? What are you experiences of poverty or wealth, and what did you learn? Does it surprise you to learn that Jesus talks more about faithful or trustworthy with money than anything else? Or perhaps you don’t agree?

Tags: Money, Poverty, Wealth, Mother Theresa

Lent is almost upon us, starting on Wednesday 21st February. For many years I haven’t been that engaged with the historical Christian festivals, but recently I have began to appreciate the rhythm of the year, times of feasting and fasting and prayer … or that is the intention anyway!

So in approaching this Lent I have been pondering what I might do. The problem (for me at any rate) is that I am not very good at following through on my resolutions. Every advent I intend to take time to reflect each day on the meaning of Christmas, but fail miserably. By New Year, I have realised that those resolutions only lead to a greater sense of guilt when yet again they don’t last that long. So the thought of being more focused in prayer for 40 days seems a massive mountain to climb.

There are a couple of good posts worth recommending: Maggi Dawn has a short useful reminder of what Lent is all about. Bruce Stanley has some interesting thoughts on “Friends, God and Enemies” at embody. But that all seems a bit like setting myself up for a fall. I need something that will remind me of the Lent, but something that I can commit to, and catch up with, if a day or two (or three or four) turn out busier than expected.

So then I came across this from Christian Aid, called “Counting your Blessings”. The idea is that you give money each day, to remind ourselves that we have so much in the West, and many in this world of ours have so little [Molly has taken this idea rather further than I am suggesting on her 30 days of nothing]. So for example, on Wednesday I am told: “Every year 1.6 million of the world’s poorest people die from respiratory infections, aggravated by smoke from open fires in their homes. Give 5p for every radiator in your home, and 10p for every fireplace.“

On Monday 12th March: “Nearly one-third of the world’s population is ‘off-grid’ – living without an electricity supply. Give 5p for every plug socket in your home.”

And on Thursday 22nd March: “In some countries, the media is strictly monitored and shows very limited and biased news. Give 20p if you bought a newspaper today and 10p for every time you caught the radio or TV news.“

You total up each day, and then at the end of Lent you have an amount to give (to Christian Aid of course). Given how many power sockets we have and what a news junkie I am, this could be an expensive Lent. I think I might have to give up chocolate after all to pay for it all …

Let me know what you are intending on doing?

This Sunday we are starting a series about money in church. So often when we preach about money in church (at least when we church leaders do it) we talk about giving. Clearly there if we are going to speak about money, giving is part of the story, but Jesus seems to have much more to say.

So we are looking at wealth, poverty, debt, saving, consumerism, environmental use of money, giving, faith & finances. But this week, I am kicking off the series, starting by talking about our attitude to money: Who is in charge? Does money work for us or do we work for money? It seems to me to be a fundamental question that Jesus poses:

No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
[Matt 6:24 - NLT]

Who is it going to be? God or money? And Jesus gets to the point once again. He is pretty much saying: if you want to know how much you love Jesus, then look at our bank statements. How much of our spending is influenced by Jesus and His Kingdom, and how much by other influences? It is a tangible record of our commitment to Him.

So if you were going to be speaking on this subject, what would you want to say?