The Good News Proclaimed
Preached by the Reverend Durrell Watkins at
the Sunshine Cathedral on
Sunday, November 16, 2008.
I hate to be indelicate. But it’s just us, so I don’t mind sharing with you
something that, well, was always a great embarrassment to my family. You see,
there was a brief period of time when my great-aunt Gladys lived her life as a
naturist; in vulgar parlance, a nudist.
I know, I know, I’m mortified to share this information; but I feel as if I
can trust you with this. It only lasted a couple of years, but for those two
years, anytime we’d go visit Aunt Gladys, there she’d be… in the all-together.
I spent so much time looking up I got permanent whiplash.
Aunt Gladys just thought it was natural, wholesome to live as she entered
the world, and she wanted to share that wholesomeness with everyone. I
respected her view, but it did make gift giving occasions difficult. I mean
[Here I sing, “What can you give a nudist for her birthday...”]
Well, Aunt Gladys shared her authentic self, even when others didn’t
understand or appreciate her gift.
It reminds me of that fabulous musical, Gypsy. There is that
wonderful 11 o’clock number when Mama Rose sings, “Some people got it and make
it pay; some people can’t even give it away. This people’s got it and this
people’s spreading it around…”
That’s an important lesson. If you’ve got it, spread it around. Strangely
enough, that is exactly the point of this morning’s gospel lesson.
Now, the parable of the talents needs a little explanation. We usually
think of talent as a skill. Dancing, playing an instrument, painting,
gardening, cooking… use your talents because the more you use them the more
they bless others and the more the talents will seem to multiply. It’s a good
lesson, but it isn’t exactly what this passage is talking about.
A talent was in fact a unit of currency. A talent was worth about six
thousand denari, which was about 6,000 times more than a laborer’s daily wage.
The sum of money Matthew is tossing around is obscenely extravagant, and
clearly meant to be symbolic. Matthew certainly didn’t know anyone who had or
who had ever seen six thousand denari.
Now, the talent is money, but the money in this story is symbolic, which is
why it is so extravagant. Matthew’s point is that in the world of business,
money wisely invested often yields an abundant return. You can bury you money
in a mattress, or you can do something with it that will earn interest. In the
world of commerce, earning interest is obviously better than doing nothing.
So, Matthew is using the business metaphor to describe the power of the
Spirit. The spirit, or life of God within us, is meant to be shared. The more
we spread it around, the more we share the light, the more good is
accomplished. We can say that all that celebration and joy and outreach is too
extravagant, too glamorous, too opulent, too ostentatious, but isn’t that
exactly what grace is?
Grace is wasteful, extravagant, abundant, unmerited, and unending! Do we
use the spirit within us to bring hope and joy to others and to attract more
people to the party, or do we bury it, stifle it, try to keep it from
flowering and flourishing? Nature is glorious, and the spirit within us is the
very power of Nature. It deserves to be expressed in glorious ways; it intends
to be expressed in glorious ways.
I once worshiped at a church that cost, in those days, $3 million dollars
to build. It was a lot of money, to be sure. And some people complained that
all that money could have fed or housed or educated people. What they failed
to realize is that 3 million dollar building did educate about 2,000 people
every week. That 3 million dollar building offered professional counseling to
people day and night throughout the week. That 3-million-dollar building
provided a spiritual home for a congregation that donated clothes every year
to children in a nearby school. And most amazingly, that 3-million-dollar
building got so much publicity that it was able to raise $10 million for AIDS.
Yes, 3 million dollars could have fed a few people for a short time. But,
instead, it was used to build a congregation and a worship space that gave
many times that amount to many more people and causes. People were fed,
educated, counseled, visited, encouraged, befriended, and empowered because of
how that 3 million dollars was spent. It was spread around to do the most good
for the most people for the longest period of time. That building wasn’t a
waste; it was an investment in the lives of human beings for generations to
come.
Some people said that the orchestra, organ, choir, vested clergy, stained
glass windows, marble altar… it was just too much. It was all a big show. And
it was… it was a show of how grateful and how joyous people were to find
community and to find a home that reminded them of their sacred value. The joy
they experienced had to be expressed in a big way, a way big enough to attract
more people so that others could enjoy what they had found. The joy had to be
spread around.
When I think and talk about some of the great churches of our time… the
Crystal Cathedral-Garden Grove, Marble Collegiate-New York, St.
Bartholomew’s-New York, All Saints-Pasadena, Riverside-New York, All Souls-New
York… I do so with admiration. Do you know why? Because those churches decided
to spread hope and goodwill and encouragement and celebration around. Whether
we are talking about the neo-gothic architecture of Riverside, or the global
television broadcast of the Crystal Cathedral, or the amazing arts programs at
St. Bart’s in New York, the common thread is a willingness to take risks in
order to create something wonderful and beautiful and inviting that will
attract more people and empower more people and equip more people to be
ministers of kindness and hope and healing in the world.
Today’s parable isn’t about our use of money, though there are plenty of
scriptures that call us to trust God with our finances and to worship God with
our consistent generosity. And, today’s parable isn’t about using our skills
to benefit our community with the promise that our using our skills will
sharpen them, even though we know that to be a true statement. This parable is
about Sharing the Light of God that is within us.
How do we share the light? With an amazing organ concert last week! With a
Holiday Concert and live Nativity on December 7th. With Light
University classes. With a Knabe piano, a Rogers organ with Ruffatti pipes,
with a band and choir, with internet broadcasting, with a website, with a
campus that provides a home to 25 organizations, with collecting food for two
pantries in our county, with providing a place where counseling services and
senior services are offered, with ministry to assisted living facilities and
prisons, with our prayer list, and dynamic worship services, and weekly,
monthly, and quarterly publications. Is it over the top? Is it too much? My
God I hope so… because in a world where there is so much loneliness and pain
and discrimination and fear… our calling is to be nothing less than TOO MUCH!
Because you know what? There’s no such thing as too much good news! What
can we do to invite more people into a life of hope and joy? What can we do to
help people celebrate their wholeness? What can we do to be a shining light
far beyond the reach of our immediate sphere of influence? Whatever it is,
let’s do it! God’s goodness is without limitation. We dare not bury our divine
light in the ground, or stuff it in a mattress, or hide it under a bushel
basket. Divine Love is opulent, extravagant, abundant… how else could it leave
no one out? We can’t bury our talent, that is, we can’t hide our divine
currency, the currency of hope and joy and celebration… we are meant to spread
it around. That’s the message Matthew so dramatically shares with us today. In
God’s economy, there is grace and love and hope enough for every single
person. It isn’t our job to hide, defend, protect, or minimize God… it is our
job to spread God’s Light around, with as much enthusiasm and far-reaching
capabilities as possible. We’ve been given this divine trust… This is the good
news. Amen.