Treasure

This person asked, “Should we take our processional cross to the funeral home, because there is no cross, no sign of the faith in one of those institutions?”

No one has ever asked that question before. Perhaps we should, because the church is first of all the people who gather in Christ's name, no matter where that takes place.

Only secondarily is church a building.

That conversation got me to thinking about my recent trip.

On one particular evening, from my bed in the hotel I could look out the window and see the towers of the great cathedral of Toledo lit up that night.

In great anticipation, Katy and I arrived there right when they opened the cathedral the next morning.

In the quiet of that vast space we began our exploration:

--the reredos with its paintings and gilding,

--the choir area set in the Spanish tradition right in the middle of the cathedral with two magnificent organs overhead,

--chapels filling the side aisles and the ambulatory,

--the sacristy and treasuries overflowing with El Greco paintings, needlework, and gold vessels of every kind.

And then the tourist buses from Madrid descended, and hundreds upon hundreds of people were jostling each other to see everything with us.

The authorities permitted no photos in the cathedral, because I'm sure that it would be a constant and blinding blur of flashbulbs if they did.

That is what it is like in one of the largest church buildings in the world.

But is it truly church anymore?

It is certainly a monument to the faith and life of Christians 800 and more years ago.

But what about today?

I found one small chapel with about 20 chairs that is dedicated to the use of the Mozarabic rite with one daily service in that ancient form of worship that was written down about the year 600 AD in Spain.

And then I found another chapel with about 50 seats where the Roman rite is celebrated at 9:00 every morning before the tourists come in.

There is the church.

I feel very sad about the rest of that fantastic building;

For most persons, it is merely a spectacle, no longer inspiring devotion and awe, but merely idle curiosity and wonderment.

It is a museum to a faith that is not being shared very much.

The cathedral as a building is huge; but the actual church is very small.

There has always been an argument in the history of the church about buildings and other objects.

As long as the building is a training center for people of the promise,

a place of refreshment and preparation for the rest of life,

a place of confession of failures and reception of God's forgiveness and redirection,

a place where the true treasure is known and shared, a place inspiring awe and devotion, then things are proceeding well.

But where the building has been turned into a museum of curiosities instead of being a center for mission,

the treasure has been buried, and the efforts are useless.

And we need to be clear about what is the treasure.

In our usual way of reading the text of our Gospel lesson today, we think that it is about us.

We all know how that sermon goes, and I've preached it also.

It goes like this: God provides for us money, the creation around us, and all sorts of good things which we are to use well.

With great gifts comes great responsibilities.

Carpe diem =seize the day, and all that....

We know that sermon very well.

But that sermon is about us.

And the parable is not about us, but about the gifts and mind of God.

The treasure, the talent, is our Lord Jesus himself.

A talent in the ancient world was a very great amount. Five talents? That is an impossibly big amount.

What can it mean that the servant made five more talents, if we understand the treasure to be Jesus?

We need to puzzle over that question awhile.

If Jesus is the five-talent, three-talent, and one-talent treasure, how does one double that?

The most curious thing about this treasure is that the only way to keep it is to give it away!

Then it can come back, doubled, ...in the form of other persons who will love Jesus with us. What an amazing thing!

This story fits together with the commissioning story at the end of Matthew's Gospel, where Jesus says: “Go...and make disciples,

baptizing... and teaching...and I will be with you to the end of the age.”

In order to have Jesus with us, we are directed to give Jesus away, at the convenient times and the not so convenient.

The one thing we cannot do is carefully bury Jesus in a book or a box and only bring him out as a spectacle or object of curiosity at a special hour on Sunday.

The judgment is ominous: the treasure would then be taken from us, because we have not treated it like the unique treasure Jesus is.

He is to be given away, and comes back doubled.

So, what have you been doing with the treasure lately?

Our Lincoln Ave. members gave away the treasure, and it comes back today doubled in the form of the Elliott family.

...and so on.

That is the way the treasure is best shared; gentle conversation with friends and neighbors.

I'm experimenting with a different way of treasure-sharing: thru clips on You-Tube.

We have 18 posted now, little 1-2 minute bits about faith and life and St. Mark's.

The next batch will be exploring some important parts of the Gospel of Mark, to try to entice people to pick up the Bible and read it for themselves.

And we have no idea what might happen when people listen in and then begin to be drawn to Jesus.

The other day I had a phone call from a man in California who had found our website (www.stmarkswilliamsport.org),

and thought it was the most reasonable and interesting site he had found.

He had lots more questions for me.

Where will that go? I don't know; that is up to the Spirit. My job, our job, is to give Jesus away in any form that we can, and be ready to receive him back, doubled, in the people the Spirit puts in front of us.

We come together today and God's Word enters our ears and begins to re-arrange our lives

We come to the Communion rail today and receive Jesus in a way that truly becomes part of us.

So then, each of us is to become inventive in the way that we give away Jesus this week in our words and actions.

How will someone see Jesus in us?

As we work on that question all through this week and this life,

it will be the best of times when we hear

“Well done...enter into the joy of your master.”

Use us to fulfill your purpose

In the gift of Christ your Son:

Father, as in highest heaven,

So on earth your will be done. Amen.

[LBW#405.1]

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.