Sermon 3

WHO ARE YOU?

matthew 25.14-30

One TV show that I used to really love was CSI, Las Vegas. For those of you who don’t watch it, it begins with an opening segment that kind of sets up the main plot line for the whole show. Since the show is based on Crime Scene Investigators, the opening segment usually shows a story that ends in some sort of murder or crime. After the crime scene investigators arrive onto the scene the opening credits role to a song.

Let’s try something a little different now. Let’s imagine today’s parable as the opening segment for CSI. Remember, this takes place in Las Vegas. A talent represents a lot of money so the scene might take place in some office of a fancy casino or something like that. So, the master from the parable is now the owner of this big casino. He’s going to go on this big trip somewhere for who knows how long and he wants to make sure his casino is going to be kept up. So, he gives three of his “top guys” some major stock in their casino. Everything gets split up and now these guys are in charge ‘til he gets back. Some time passes and when the owner comes back, he meets with his “top guys” to see how things went. The first two guys worked with the stock and the aspects of the casino they were in charge with and the casino’s popularity is doing great in those aspects! But, when it comes to the third guy, as we know, instead of taking care of what he was in charge of, he feared messing up and that aspect of the casino ended up backsliding, maybe even going into a little debt or something…anyway, it just wasn’t doing well. So the owner fires him and kicks him out into the outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth!

The opening credits role and the music starts… “Whoooo are you oo you oo… Whoooo are…you oo oo oo?”

That song that plays during the credits actually makes sense in how it ties with the TV show, right? The lyrics say, “who are you” and the investigators are trying to find out who did the crime.

So… Who are you? Who are you? What makes you, you?

In today’s parable, I’d say the third slave was a man who looked at life through a lens of fear. He saw his master as someone HARSH and SCARY. He saw his master’s talent as something to hoard and hide away. Somehow this slave thought that if he hid the talent and kept it from everyone, it would be safe. This slave’s identity was shaped by what he hid away, what he kept separate from everything and everyone else.

This reminds me of the kind of world we find ourselves in right now. Be an INDIVIDUAL! You are your own boss! Always stick up for number 1…me… Your life is private and yours to do with as you like, it doesn’t affect me.

Our culture’s perception of God is, “The big guy in the sky.” Far away, uninvolved, angry and taking it out on us through natural disasters and by letting good people die young… Even our culture’s perception of God is detached, kind of hidden, and separate from everyone.

But who is Christ really? Christ is wholeness. Christ is fully human and fully divine. In Christ’s humanity, we see the image of God. In Christ’s divinity we see God’s true face.

Our perception of God shapes our perception of ourselves and each other. If we see God as the slave saw his master, we continue to buy into our culture’s understanding of self and God. We allow our lives to be buried in fear. We hide our lives instead of fully living them out as God created us to.

There are many ways we allow our lives to be buried. There are many ways we don't live a full life. We wear many masks, don't we? The clothes we wear, our use of time, our everyday language... Those are all ways that we can either authentically represent life and ourselves, or hide it from others.

Consider this with me though, even those things that we align ourselves with or the labels we give ourselves (Vegetarian, Goth, Republican, Democrat, and even Christian) thinking it will separate us from those people, or thinking it sets us apart from everyone else, in fact become ways that we connect, usually in much more intimate ways than otherwise, with others who share those same labels.

Realizing this, we discover that what make up our identity are not the things that set us apart from others. It is not our differences that define us; but rather our commonalities, our common humanity. And in our common humanity, we remember that we are made in the image of God. In all of our diversity, in all of our creativity...in all of our commonalities we see God. In all of those ways God draws us out into life, to truly live and share life together! Perhaps it is not in only our individual selves that we most see the image of God, but in the ways that we share and live life. This is who we are. As in the trinity, we are called into working relationships together. We are different, but the same.

God has given us life that we might LIVE IT in relationship with one another. Being in worship today is the perfect opportunity to really ponder what it means to live out our gift of life.

Today we focus on life-giving relationships with one another. You were handed out this card in the hopes that you would see it not as another thing to bury your life under, but rather something to help direct you out from under the rubble of this world and really live.
Check out the key chain. Go ahead and unhook it from the card. The key chain is yours. The compass on the key chain is there as a reminder for you to get out from under those things burying your life and draw closer to those near you.

Notice the hook on the key chain and remember that there is strength in numbers. If the things burying your life now seem pretty heavy while you’re on your own, remember the hook and get hooked up with others. You relationships will be a strength in your life, helping you to get out from under the burdens and fears of this world and really live together.
The challenge is to fill out the card, pass it to an usher or put it in the offering plate, and see what happens. Relationships are kind of scary and hard, but remember who is God. God isn’t some harsh big guy in the sky. Remember who are you? Who are we? We are made in the image of God who calls us to wholeness with each other, ourselves, and God’s self. Fill out the card, get hooked up, see how God works in our relationships with one another to create REAL life and grow REAL faith.

This is who we are. Strengthened by Christ we take RISKS in life and in each other. Pray about it and see for yourselves who God is calling us to be together. Do you feel the nudge to try leading a small group? Go to the fireside room right after the service. Do you feel the nudge to draw into closer relationships and really live out this life that God has given us, sign the card and pass it in. And as we learn together how to live our lives rather than bury them, we will also learn what it means to hear God say, “Well done good and trustworthy ones.”