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Home About Us Clergy Vestry Newcomers Directions Contact Us Cathedral Office Worship Lent 2008 Services Lay Ministries Sermons Music Community Concert Series Youth Pastoral Care News & Events Parish Events Newsletter: Parish Visitor Christian Life Youth Christian Formation Adult Christian Formation Evangelism Stewardship St. Matthews Society
Current Sermons Archived Sermons "Do You Hear What I Hear?" January 15, 2006 An Incomplete Feast December 25, 2005 The Third Gift December 24, 2005 Nothing will be impossible with God December 18, 2005 Redeeming Holiday Cheer December 11, 2005 Comfort, comfort my people … December 4, 2005 Advent begins in the dark… November 27, 2005 Thanksgiving Day November 24, 2005 It's All About Respect November 20, 2005 The world is a better place because ... November 13, 2005 Holy Baptism and Festal Eucharist November 6, 2005 Promise and Presence October 30, 2005 This is Only A Test October 23, 2005 Made in the Image of God October 16, 2005 Finding Our Way October 9, 2005 Our Lives Are Based On A True Story October 2, 2005 It Is God Working In You September 23, 2005 Whatever Happened to our Security? September 11, 2005 Put on the Armor of Light September 4, 2005 Giftedness and Identity August 21, 2005 What about Respect? August 14, 2005 Dean Lane's Final Sermon July 31, 2005		Sermon The world is a better place because… The Venerable Richard I. Cluett Matthew 25:14-30 Pentecost 26/Proper 28 November 13, 2005 I want to focus our attention this morning on the dynamics and issues that concern the third servant whose course of action was different from his two fellow servants. Burying the money in the ground might seem ludicrous to us today. In Jesus' day, however, this was a perfectly acceptable method of safeguarding valuables. Furthermore, it was a long-standing rabbinic teaching that anyone who buries money that has been put into his care is no longer liable for it. It is automatically assumed he has taken the safest path available to him to ensure the money's well being. So, the slave who buried his one talent could feel secure in the knowledge that he had taken a safe, prudent course of action on his master's behalf. But, the moment he opens his mouth he betrays the selfish motives that prompted his actions. He did not bury the one talent to keep the money safe, but rather to keep himself safe. What might have been understood as responsible is now revealed by his own words as fearful and self-serving. His own fears undermined the accountability that his master expected of him. The slave's description of the master as "hard" and as one expecting to reap where he had not sown shows how fear had distorted the slave's vision of his opportunity. Certainly, the master had intended to benefit from his slaves -- but only because he gave them a free, no-strings-attached chance to be creative. They were given a free hand to sow, a free rein to scatter as widely as possible their investments. But this fearful slave could only think of this freedom as a snare waiting to catch him in failure. Fueled by fear, he opted for the security of inactivity, doing nothing, burying it. Or perhaps it just seems to much effort, and we rather not be bothered with the responsibility. How often do we stay where we are, not want to move, not want to change, not want to grow, not want to go do something for fear that we are too young, too old, too busy, not smart enough, don’t have the right skills, are too inexperienced, the time’s not right… [you fill in the blank]? Unwilling to risk because we can’t quite believe that we can do it. That it is possible. Even when it comes to the things of God. How often we don’t trust enough to risk going forward with what we know in our head and hearts we are called to do. Not quite able to trust that we and God, together, can pull it off. Just not ready to trust enough that God will be there. Experiencing Christ, knowing Christ, going with Christ demands that we relinquish the control we pretend to have over our lives. When I was working with newly ordained clergy, one of our seminarians had just received his assignment from the bishop. He was grousing because the appointment didn't fit what he felt he deserved. He didn’t want to do it. He later reported that another student, loving but unsympathetic, patted him on the back and said, "You know the world is a better place because Jesus didn't say, "I don't do crosses." Remembering that incident, I walked through some bible stories in my memory and found that the The world is a better place, because: Noah didn't say, "I don't do arks." Moses didn't say, "I don't do rivers." Jeremiah didn't say, "I don't do prophecy." Amos didn't say, "I don't do speeches." Rahab didn't say, "I don't do windows." Ruth didn't say, "I don't do mothers-in-law." David didn't say, "I don't do giants." Mary didn't say, "I don't do babies." Mary Magdalene didn't say, "I don't do feet." Paul didn't say, "I don't do Gentiles." John didn't say, "I don't do deserts." Paul didn't say, "I don't do letters." Today the world is a better place because: The cathedral didn’t say, “We don’t do hospitality.” Joel Atkinson didn’t say, “I don’t do downtown.” Anne Kitch didn’t say, “I don’t do kids.” The world is a better place because YOU don't say, " I don't do…” (Fill in the blank) Or, the world would be a better place if you didn’t say, “I don’t do...” Nadine Stair, an 85-year-old patient of Dr. Bernie Siegel wrote: If I had my life to live over... I would take more chances, I would take more Trips, I would scale more mountains, I would swim more rivers, and I would Watch more sunsets. I would eat more Ice cream and fewer beans. I would have more actual troubles and fewer imaginary ones. You see ... I was one of those people who lived prophylactically and sensibly and sanely, Hour after hour and day after day... I've been One of those people who never went anywhere without a thermometer, a hot water bottle, a gargle, a raincoat and a parachute .... If I had it to do all over again, I'd travel lighter, much lighter, than I have. I would start barefoot earlier In the spring, and I'd stay that way Later in the fall. And I would ride more merry-go-rounds, and Catch more gold rings, and greet More people, and pick more flowers, And dance more often. If I had it to do all over again. But you see, I don't. In 1983, Desmond Tutu told a story “After the Ascension, Jesus arrives in heaven with more joy than can be imagined. After a time of celebration, he is called over by a worried looking angel who asks Jesus, now that his earthly work is done, what his plans are for the furtherance of the kingdom. Jesus and the angel look down and see his few disciples standing there on the mountain, huddled together in all their frail and humble humanity. And Jesus says," My disciples will carry the kingdom forward." And the angel looking very worried responds, "But what if they fail?" Jesus said, “I have no other plan." One of the saints of our diocese was a priest by the name of Father Capozzi, who was rector of St. Mary’s, Wind Gap & St. Joseph, West Bangor. When he retired, he wrote to the saints in his parishes: You and I and the rest of us are Christ to the world. For Christ has no hands but our hands to touch and bless and heal. Christ has no feet but our feet to lead into the paths of truth, justice, mercy, purity, and humility. Christ has no arms but our arms to gather the scattered sheep into one fold, and to rebind together this torn humanity. Christ has no tongue but our tongues to speak to our bewildered, despairing planet soothing words of faith and hope and cheer. Christ has no heart, but our hearts to believe, to hope, to love, to feel, to yearn, to dream, to pity, to save. The kingdom cannot afford to have even one talent buried for safe-keeping, for some future emergency, whether that talent is a money talent or a personal talent. There is so much important work to be done. Your talent is needed - again, whether it be a money talent or a personal talent. Is there a home or an office in which a person sits and stares into space hour after hour, day after day? Is there a car parked on the roadside with one or two or four teenagers sitting in it drinking? Is there an apartment or a room with an elderly person staring at the TV with lifeless eyes? Is there a family mourning because a child or parent has taken their own life? Is there a home nearby where there is not enough to eat, not enough heat? Is there life anywhere, is there any person anywhere, who has no hope; who has no person who cares for them; who belongs to no community, no fellowship; who does not know Jesus? If the answer is "yes" to any one of these questions you have identified your call, defined your ministry, and been sent by God to get up, go and take care of it!