Saint James UCC of Hamburg, NY

Matthew 25:14-30, Colossians 1:9-14

Preached by Rev. Robert Matlack
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There's a world of difference between the grateful and the ungrateful. It's the difference between the faithful and the unfaithful, the difference between those whose lives are centered on God, and those who have chosen to follow false gods - false gods like wealth or power which they have centered their lives around. We cross that line when we begin to think of the things we own as really belonging to us, as things that we deserve for our efforts, instead of as gifts which have been entrusted to our care by God.

One way of expressing that difference between the grateful and the ungrateful is found in the parable of the talents. There the Master leaves on a long journey after entrusting his servants with his property. He gives to each servant according to his ability, but even the one entrusted with the smallest amount was entrusted with a fortune. Two of the servants make the best use they can of the coins that have been entrusted to their care, using them to produce an even greater abundance for their Master, but the third servant is not a good steward. In fear he hid his coins in the ground, hiding them rather than using them, and producing nothing because of his fear. The wealth lay idle, and while safe, produced no return for the owner.

When the master returns, he settles accounts with his servants, rewarding those who have served well, entrusting them with even more wealth, but taking away the coins from the servant who buried them in the ground, for he did not even try to be a faithful steward. As the master points out, he could have at least put the money in the bank and let it earn interest.

Which kind of steward are we? We have received much from God - we have received gifts of talents and abilities, we have received gifts of property and wealth - for even though we don't seem wealthy, everyone here is easily among the wealthiest quarter of the world's population. Let me say that again, because it's something that we so often forget: everyone here is easily among the wealthiest quarter of the world's population. Yes, some of us have received more and some less, but we have all been entrusted by God with a great deal, with an abundance. What use are we making of those gifts? Are we using them, are they producing as God expects?

Now in this parable the Master basically checks the bottom line. Five talents become ten, two talents become four, one talent produces nothing. God looks at the bottom line as well, but it is not a bottom line that is measured in dollars and cents. For example, God has loved each of us greatly, and that is one of the gifts that we have received in abundance. Is that gift of love producing more in our lives? God has given us particular talents and abilities - how are we using them? Are we using them to take advantage of others? Are we failing to use our gifts at all? Or, are we using those gifts in loving, caring ways, which make this world a little better place for all of us? That's the kind of bottom line that I believe God looks for.

And yes, that bottom line includes the use of our physical and financial resources. We live in a nation with greater abundance than any other generation of the world's people has ever seen. Yet it's also true that we live in a world where millions of people go to bed hungry, but we don't. We have been entrusted by God with enough of the world's goods that we have all that we need and more. We have plenty left for extras which make our lives more comfortable and pleasant. We have so much that we take it for granted. We don't even realize how much we have, and if asked we would say that we just get by. We have enough, but nothing extra. Yet what is barely enough for one of our families would provide an abundance for six or eight or ten families in many parts of the world. Somehow we need to remember that this abundance in which we live does not really belong to us. Rather, it belongs to God. It is a gift which has been entrusted to our care.

In his letter to the Colossians, Paul reminds the members of the church there of the need we have to be joyfully thankful. God has blessed us in so many ways, giving us talents and abilities, and the chance to live as God wants, producing as Paul says, "all kinds of good deeds."

In response to God's blessings, we are called to an attitude of gratitude, in which joyously and gratefully we live giving thanks to the One who is the source of every blessing. In spite of the difficulties and the infirmities of life, we are called to give thanks, finding the blessing in all that we experience, and in the opportunities which surround us.

Samuel Press who lived from 1875 to 1967, was a professor at Eden Theological Seminary in St. Louis for 43 years, and a greatly respected leader of the church. For many years after his retirement, Samuel Press taught a Bible study class at his church, until his declining hearing and sight made doing this impossible. Many of us upon facing something like that would bemoan our fate, and the reality that he had lost many things that were important to him. Yet in the midst of that loss, instead of focusing on what he had lost. Samuel wrote the following prayer:

"For 83 years, O Lord, you have borne me in all my weakness, forgiving my sins and blessing me in your service. Your surely will not leave me now that my vision is dimming so that I can no longer work with my books and continue teaching my Bible class. I know that you will find something for me to do to serve you and your brothers in the world. I Pray: keep me from becoming self-centered, filled with self-pity or bitter and despondent. Let me become a witness for you in all my weakness and limitations by learning to bear them patiently and by continuing to serve you joyously in other ways, by means within my present poor capacity. Let me learn as Paul did to rejoice in my weaknesses ‘that the power of Christ might rest upon me.'"

Sometimes we are tempted to focus on the things that we don't have, that we used to have, or that we would like to have. We focus on the reasons why we can't do something or why someone else is better able to serve God in that way than we are. We focus on those things so intently, that they are all that we see. We are consumed by our sense of loss, and that becomes the focus of our life. Samuel Press was one who found reason to be grateful even amidst the losses that are part of life. He did not cling to that which he no longer had, or spend his energy and spirit bemoaning the loss, rather he focused on the blessings he had received, the opportunities that still faced him, and the ministry that God had set before him. Samuel Press was one of the grateful rather than the ungrateful, for he was always grateful for what he had, without worrying about what he didn't have. Even at 83 years old, with poor hearing and sight, he trusted in God and was looking for new ways to serve.

There's a world of difference between the grateful and the ungrateful. Some live joyously in an attitude of gratitude, while others always complain that there is never enough. Which are you?

Amen.