Sermon preached by the Reverend John E

Sermon preached by the Reverend John E. Kitagawa at the celebration of the Holy Eucharist on 16 November 2008 (Pentecost XXVII and Covenant Sunday), at St. Philip’s In The Hills Parish, Tucson, Arizona

ALL THINGS COME OF YOU, O LORD

Judges 4: 1-7; I Thessalonians 1: 1-11; Matthew 25: 14-30

In December 1994, I was fortunate to be part of a small World Council of Churches team visiting Aotearoa/New Zealand and the Cook Islands. The focus of the visit was to assess how the churches were doing in implementing the goals of the Ecumenical Decade of the Churches in Solidarity with Women. The first event on the first night of our visit was with a group of church leaders from the Maori community, the first peoples of Aotearoa. Several leaders spoke, welcoming us to the land, and then they sang a song in Maori. I had been designated to speak for our international and ecumenical group. I thanked our hosts for their welcome, and spoke briefly about the purpose of our visit, and our shared faith in Jesus Christ. I sat down. An awkward silence was broken by a Maori leader informing us that according to their customs, we should sing a song. As many of you know, I cannot carry a tune in a bucket, so panic set in. My colleagues were caught flatfooted too. What to sing? What song might people from six different countries and as many church traditions all know? To abbreviate the story, this is what we sang:

Jesus love me! This I know,

For the Bible tells me so.

Little ones to Him belong;

They are weak, but He is strong.

Yes, Jesus loves me!

For the Bible tells me so.

I share this story as a kind of “back to basics” reminder. I think you will agree that life is complex and complicated. Many different demands compete for our attention, our energy, our thoughts, our strength, our courage, our dollars, our talents, and our time. Dealing with all this is stressful, and we often seek better ways of coping, or better yet, a more peaceful way of living. In my story, we had to work through cultural, theological and racial differences just to find a song. As it turned out, our Maori hosts knew the song too and spontaneously joined in singing the refrain with us. What began as an awkward and uncomfortable moment became an unexpected moment of grace and a profound sense of unity and shared faith. Not only did we know the words of the song, we knew the impact of the love of Christ in our lives.

A couple of weeks ago, Rabbi Samuel Cohon was talking about Jewish worship and prayer. I was intrigued by his comments on blessings. He noted a tradition of reciting 100 blessings every day. For example, on a joyous occasion, one might pray this blessing:

We praise You, Eternal God, Sovereign of the universe, for giving us life, for sustaining us, and for enabling us to reach this season.

Or, when we hear thunder, we might say this blessing:

We praise You, Eternal God, Sovereign of the universe, whose power might pervade the world.

Or, when we see lightning, this blessing could be said:

We praise You, Eternal God, Sovereign of the universe, source of creation and its wonders.

Or, upon sighting a rainbow, this blessing might be offered:

We praise You, Eternal God, Sovereign of the universe, true to Your word, You remember Your covenant with creation.

Many people like to go to ocean because it is so magnificent and inspiring. That would be a good time for this blessing:

We praise You, Eternal God, Sovereign of the universe, for the life giving waters of the sea.

When one recovers from sickness, this would be an appropriate blessing:

I praise You, Eternal God, Sovereign of the universe, You bestow great goodness upon me.

Upon hearing good news, one might lift up this blessing:

We praise You, Eternal God, Sovereign of the universe, You are the source of all good.

The repetitive phrase, “Eternal God, Sovereign of the universe,” reminds us that God is the creator, redeemer and sustainer of all. To say 100 blessings every day is a discipline that requires us to be vigilant and alert for the many ways God is active in our lives. I commend this discipline to you for the coming week. At first, you may find it difficult to observe all the things that impact your life, then to see God in the experience or phenomena, then to remember to bless God with words of praise. So, as you get out of bed, try something like this:

I praise You, Eternal God, Sovereign of the universe, You are the source of all life, thank you for the gift of a new day to serve you.

Today is Covenant Sunday. We set this day apart to celebrate the covenant that binds us to God and to one another. Through my first story, I want to lift up the love of God in Christ Jesus that binds us to God and to one another at a profound and primal level. Drawing your attention to the tradition of saying 100 blessings a day, I want to get you to reflect on the many gifts God gives us so that we might have life abundantly.

Economists and politicians tell us that we are in for hard economic times, and that prosperity will not be apparent for some time. Think again. The truth is that God has been and continues to be very generous. For starters, God has given us the gift of life, and God is the creator of the world we are born into. God has given us a variety of abilities and skills. God gives us spiritual gifts, and the gift of faith too. And, we must not overlook the fact that God entrusts us with the gift of the Gospels to inform and shape our lives, and to proclaim as Good News to anyone who has ears to hear. On Covenant Sunday, one of the basic questions each of us has to answer is, “What kind of steward of God’s gifts and blessings am I going to be?” Part of our answer will come as a result of attempting the discipline of praying 100 blessings every day.

The parable in today’s Gospel is all about stewardship and keeping the covenant. The first two slaves prove themselves to be trustworthy, and return more to the master than he had entrusted to them. “These slaves had taken a risk and skillfully managed what they had been given”[1]. The master was well pleased, and rewarded them. The third slave proved trustworthy, but he returned only what the master had given him. This slave probably observed the actions of the other two, and thought them foolish for risking everything. Jesus would have us see “the prudence and caution of the third slave was self-protective and ultimately self-serving”[2]. The master was unhappy, and would not trust him any further. “The point here is that one must act responsibly and also be willing to take a risk”[3].

Several years ago, at one of the Diocesan Border Conferences, a participant told a story about picking up two migrants obviously in need of help. After assisting with food and water, this individual learned the husband and wife were trying to get to their family a short ride but a long walk away. Contact was made by telephone, and they agreed to meet at a church familiar to the driver. Once there, the migrants stated their desire to go into the church, and to put the few dollars they had into the poor box. The driver tried to convince them that they would need those dollars in the days ahead. The couple insisted that they had to go into the church to pray in thanksgiving and to make an offering because others were not as fortunate as them.

From a stewardship and covenant perspective, these migrants behaved consistently with the first two slaves in the parable. The question now is, what are we going to do with all that God has given us? Are we just going to sit on them, or bury them in a hole? If this is our chosen strategy, I would suggest our blessings will ring rather hollow. If this is our strategy, in the words of one writer,

…we’re making a colossal blunder—as big as the mistake of the one-talent man in the parable—if we imagine that the Lord is not expecting us to do something with the faith and spiritual gifts he has entrusted to us[4].

So, in these chaotic and anxiety-filled times, what does a good-sense risk of what God has blessed us with look like? And, what would be considered hoarding? What would be wise investments of these gifts and blessings, and what would be the equivalent of burying our talents? A way to make decisions is to think about the fruits of our stewardship and keeping of the covenant. Here are a few thought starters. I believe some of the fruit of good-sense risks and worthy investments are:

the deepening of the communion between God and God’s people, and among God’s people
healing and reconciliation for individuals and communities
an individual’s discovery and the formation of his or her vocation in ministry as a lay minister, or as a clergyperson
reaching out more effectively to the perpetually poor and newly poor
sharing the faith with those who seek faith, or have none
passing the faith from one generation to another
responding to God’s generous giving with generous giving

Harkening back to the 100 blessing exercise, let me share an unexpected result. The more I became aware of God giving so many good things day after day, it has finally penetrated my thick skull in an experiential way that God will continue doing good things in my life and our lives. In other words, my faith has been deepened, and so can yours. My faith has been deepened in ways that I am more prepared to make wise investments and take good-sense risks for the cause of God’s work in the world. I pray the same for you.

Jesus loves me still today,

Walking with me on my way,

Wanting as a friend to give

Light and love to all who live.

Yes, Jesus loves me!

For the Bible tells me so.

AMEN.