With Good Courage

 11-15-20 

Grace to you and peace from God our creator and from our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

There is probably only one thing as challenging as having a tough text to preach on as your first sermon – having a tough text to preach on for the last one.

Way back at the beginning of Matthew, Jesus gives his inaugural address, which we also call “The sermon on the mount.” I don’t know if you all remember, when I started here at Family of God, we had just entered into the year of Matthew, with all those “fun” – meaning hard – texts from this Sermon on the Mount, about being salt and light, about murder and divorce, and turning the other cheek – getting into the deep end of our faith which is hard enough when you are jumping into a brand new pool.

Fast forward to the end of Jesus’ ministry – this parable comes days before the Last Supper and the crucifixion - and Jesus’s tone has changed a bit.  He might sound a little on edge here because Jesus knows where he’s headed – in just a few more chapters, Jesus will be leaving them. Jesus felt a strong sense of urgency, knowing he was running out of time.

This story we just heard comes directly on the heels of last week’s tale of the kingdom of heaven being like 10 bridesmaids waiting in the dark for the groom to arrive for the wedding reception with oil lamps. This too is another story that both makes us uncomfortable, but perhaps also confuses us by referencing things we don’t encounter in our everyday lives –  things like slaves and slave owners, and gigantic coins called Talents that were worth about 15-20 years’ salary at minimum wage – so… a good chunk of money.  

But there are plenty of things about this parable that ARE familiar – absentee landlords or managers, the rich getting richer, the poor getting poorer, unfair division of resources, the fear of being at the whims of those in power, and the misery of being alone in the outer darkness.

In a year where many of us feel like we have nothing left to give, and even what little security we do have feels on the brink of being taken away, I believe that God is less like the absentee master than thousands of years of theologians may want us to think. THIS year… THIS parable makes me wonder… perhaps God is actually present with slave in the outer darkness. After all, not long after Jesus told this parable, he was cast out, rejected by those who held power, had everything taken away from him, nailed to a cross, and mourned by the faithful women who never left his side. The third slave made an impossible and controversial choice, a choice that we still don’t fully understand. This year espe3cially it feels as though there is no right choices, and at any moment we may face the “outer darkness,” if we are not already there.

We do know one thing - Jesus had the courage to make the hard choices, trusting that God is in control of the outcome. Therefore, as we navigate the challenging future we have before us, we know that we are doing the best we can, and God is with us no matter what.

A favorite prayer I have prayed often, which is found in our hymnal, is known as “The Servant’s Prayer." It goes: “O God, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go, but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us; through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Hopefully we do travel the journey of this life “with good courage” knowing that the hand of God is leading the way, and the love of God keeps us going, like an ever present companion. The path twists and turns, it goes through scary and beautiful places. But no matter where it may take us, we are going to be ok.

I have been taking down the wall art I’d hung up to get ready for moving to the next venture that God has called me to. One is a picture that hung in my office, a gift from another goodbye, of baby Moses in his basket of reeds, rescued by the princess of Egypt. Another is a cross made out of broken ceramics put together with wise women, as we embraced our brokenness together and made something new and beautiful out of the broken pieces.

Another is a quote from C. S. Lewis, painted on wood reclaimed from the scrap pile, which says, “Courage, dear heart.” It’s a quote from one of the Narnia books, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. The crew of the ship “The Dawn Treader” are lost in a magical cloud of darkness, and all despair of ever finding the way out. Then a white albatross flies overhead, whispers a message of hope – “Courage dear heart, and then flies away, leads the way out.

Take courage, dear heart, on all the paths the God takes you. Courage, dear heart, when you are tempted to bury your wonderful gifts of generosity and kindness. Courage, dear heart, as we all go forth into these ventures with unknown endings, knowing that God holds us. Thanks be to God. Amen.