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In touch

Up-to-the-minute jumping-off points for sermons, linking the reading to the latest news and global issues

Who dares wins

The gospel of risk and reward (Matthew 25:29)

Context

• ‘Well done, good and faithful servant!’ Sir Bobby Charlton’s public commemoration service took place and the streets were filled with the great and the good from the football world as well as ordinary people paying their respects.
• Sir Bobby Charlton was a great.  His brother Jack was a good footballer. Their relationship became strained, but Jack once said publicly that Bobby was ‘the greatest player I’ve ever seen’. Jack was aware of his own deficiencies as a player but also of his ‘special skills’: ‘The one thing I couldn’t do is play. But I was very good at stopping other people playing.’
• Outside Old Trafford there is a statue of the ‘United Trinity’ – Best, Law and Charlton – the Irishman, the Scotsman and the Englishman. George Best and Bobby Charlton were very different characters. One famous Best quotation is: “I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars - the rest I just squandered.”
• Anna Scher, who made studying acting accessible to young people from London’s East End, died this week.
• Politics often throws up surprises, but David Cameron’s appointment as Foreign Secretary caught most commentators on the hop and is seen as a potential risk for the Prime Minister.

Reflection

• Jack Charlton made the most of the talent that he had and, while stopping other people playing may not sound like a particularly positive trait, it stood him in good stead after he finished playing and became a manager. This was one area at which Jack excelled, while his brother did not. George Best finished playing football at a high level when he was 27, alcoholism having restricted his career. However, during his time at Manchester United, Best won two league titles, the European Cup and the Ballon d’Or, awarded to the European Footballer of the Year. Did George Best – to use his word – ‘squander’ the talent given to him, or should we instead remember the quotation from Lao Tzu: ‘The flame that burns twice as bright burns half as long.’
• It would be wrong to focus too much on the English word ‘talent’ in the parable Jesus told about a master handing over his wealth to his servants for safekeeping while he was away. A ‘talent’ in the ancient world was a measure of weight and it is likely that it was this story that led to the same word being used for giftings. On its first level, the story that Jesus told has more to do with risk and reward than it has to do with how we use the gifts we have been given. It seems that the kingdom of God requires its subjects to take risks. This interpretation fits with other kingdom lessons such as the parables of the Hidden Treasure and the Pearl (Matthew 13:44-46) and also Jesus’ conversation with the man who asked how to obtain eternal life (Mark 10:17-22 and parallels).
• Anna Scher took a risk in teaching acting skills to children who perhaps were not such promising students as went to more expensive drama schools. Yet many of her students have become well-known actors. There are different forms of risk taking – for example financial and reputational – and different forms of investment – for example time and talents. Anna Scher invested in the talents of her students.

Questions

• What risks have you taken in your life? Did you see any reward and so was it worth it?
• ‘Well done, good and faithful servant’ sounds like something that might be said at a funeral or engraved on a headstone. What would you like to be said of you and/or what do you think will be said of you?
• Have you invested time and energy into a relationship – perhaps as a mentor, whether formal or informal? Were you rewarded?

 

Simon Carver is the Free Church Ecumenical Chaplain at St Albans Cathedral and a recently retired Baptist Minister living in Watford. He takes a particular interest in film, sport and politics.

 

Check-in

Connecting faith with everyday, real-life issues for young people

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, and it has for a while now! The shops have been filled with decorations for weeks, Netflix is filling its home screen with the usual Hallmark-inspired Christmas films, and the major stores have released their Christmas adverts.

It is easy to get caught up in the glitz, glamour and giddiness of the season. I’d like to challenge us to pause before it all gets too much(!), and reflect. Today’s Bible passage challenges us to look at all that we’ve been given and consider how we can use these things well.

I think there’s no better time to do that than now, as we approach Advent and a season of giving. With only a couple of weeks to go there’s still time to plan. Could you use Advent as a time to take part in a reverse Advent calendar? Volunteer your time for a charity or your church? Donate money for aid relief?

Let us consider how we can take what God has put in front of us and how to use these gifts. As Kevin the Carrot says, ‘Christmas is a time that’s sweeter when you share.’

Lindsay Wright is a Freelance Writer and Designer from Lancashire.

 

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