"ANY DREAM WILL DO"
Text: Matthew 25:14-30
Faith United
November 16, 2009


I had to do some research for a Theatre class I'm taking
for an oral presentation
The subject of the presentation is
the influence of the Church on medieval theatre
And what I've found is just more than a little bit disturbing
I love theatre
I love live theatre
especially when it's done well
I can enjoy a musical at UNK
just as much as a Broadway production in Omaha
But back in the Dark Ages
The church was very influential in getting rid of live theatre
completely
The Church had a lot more power back then, of course
and used that power to literally BAN certain things in society
So the Church got rid of theatre in the Dark Ages
because they could
Some of it, mind you, had gone a little too far
which is often the case,
we take a good thing and ruin by taking it to extremes
Humankind historically has had a little trouble with BALANCE
We tend to think in terms of All or Nothing
So theatre, with the exception of traveling minstrels and jugglers,
etc., was banned by order of the Church
How it came back in the Middle Ages
was ironically, through the Church
The Church was seeking to teach the Bible to people who couldn't read
and the best way, they found,
was through drama
They already had the seeds of drama in the liturgies of the church
which tells the stories of Creation, the Fall, Sin, etc.,
and finally the beginning of Redemption through Jesus
So they used drama to act it all out,
act out the Bible,
to help people not only hear the stories for themselves
but to remember them by seeing them played out
sometimes they inserted some comedy to keep it interesting,
but if you've ever read the Old Testament,
there's plenty of comedy in there
plenty of absurd behaviors
And out of that, the theatre began to be born again--
no pun intended
and the dramas eventually went out into the streets
to entertain the masses

Eventually, of course, theatre again took on a life of its own
and sometimes told stories that the Church didn't want told
and eventually, the Church disowned the theatre
sometimes even insisting on censorship
I say all of this,
because once again, I am disappointed to see
that throughout history, the Church has had a reputation
for spoiling parties
It seems that the Church doesn't like …. FUN, JOY, GOOD FEELINGS
If you start feeling good, stop!!
get a hold of yourself, slap yourself and never do it again

I had a friend in college
well, she wasn't really my friend, but she thought she was
she wouldn't leave me alone
she was one of the ones who felt that it was her personal calling from God
to convert me away from the Satanic influences of United Methodism
Our sophomore year, she became a Resident Assistant
She really enjoyed that job!
She would go all throughout the dorm floors,
looking for evildoers

You may remember me mentioning that dancing was against the rules
at this Christian college
and of course having a member of the opposite sex
in your room was a no-no
There were designated days called Open Dorm
when we could guys come and visit us
but then we had to leave the door to our room open
and the only other stipulation was that both of you had to
have both feet on the floor
Didn't matter what you did with each other
as long as you had both feet on the floor…
That was kind of a school joke for most of us

But Jennifer, my R.A. was always walking around
with a notebook, like a police officer, ready to write you up
for the slightest indiscretion
One day I had to do an oral presentation in my history of Psychology class
and I was doing the presentation in character
as a 19th century psychologist who smoked a cigar
so I bought a cigar and burned off the end of it
Jennifer wrote me up for having tobacco in my apartment

Another time I had a small gathering for a club I was a part of
and I made Crème De Menthe brownies
and Jennifer wrote me up for having liquer
I never got the sense that Jennifer got any joy at all out of her
relationship with God… call me crazy
She was really big on hell… and she shared it

I've heard or read a lot of sermons on this passage
that I just don't agree with
Some preachers use the passage to say hey!
God has given you talents to use
and you need to use them, share them
and God wants you to sign up for a committee
to spread your talent!
Other sermons use this as a stewardship campaign
it's all about money and investing
God has blessed you with money
and so God says, give it up!
put it in the offering plate
and God will be pleased….
But neither of those really make much sense to me
or they do, but they just don't stir me to action
The preacher wants you to sign up for a committee
or give much needed money for the budget
and so he gets God to make you do it!!
I don’t think that's it…

Jesus told this story not long before he was going to die
He knew he was going to die
He knew he'd made a lot of people mad
He knew that some powerful people believed
he was in fact, not the Son of God,
but more an enemy of God
But we don't do that anymore, do we?
If we disagree with someone in leadership
we don't start spreading vicious rumors
about them that could get 'em killed
by fanatics
Y'know, like they're an Arab, or a Muslim
or worse, they're a Satanist...

Anyway, Jesus is about to get killed, and he knows his time is short
He knows, too, that whatever happens to his ministry
the message that he came to deliver, to teach,
he knows that message is now going to be
in the hands of his disciples
If I were him, I'd be pretty worried…
But he has to make sure that they get it
that they get HIM… .who he is, why he came
what he came to teach
so they can spread that Good News
and little by little work with God
in transforming the world….
And as usual, he tells stories
This one, about a man who goes away for awhile
and entrusts his slaves with his property
He's a very rich man
he must have an awful lot of trust
in his slaves
either that, or he's just plain crazy for leaving
Before he went away, he divided the property up
not equally, mind you,
but he gave 5 talents to one,
2 talents to the other
and just one talent to the third

Talents were forms of money
that were worth 15 years of wages for the average worker
One talent, 15 years of minimum wage
That's a lot of money to put in the hands of someone
who isn't used to having that kind of money available
The man had to be more than just a little bit crazy
But as it turns out, his slaves were honest
better than that, they increased his wealth
The first two slaves doubled his money
We don't know how they did it
but either they were very shrewd
or just very lucky
The third guy kind of freaked out
The master gave him one talent
15 years worth of wages
put it in his hands
It freaked him out
we don't know why, exactly
maybe he didn't trust himself
maybe he knew that he could be tempted by that wealth
and run off with it
maybe he knew he could easily just spend it all, squander it
and leave the master with nothing
he could just imagine the consequences of that!
He'd be whipped, brutally tortured, and die a painful death, he was sure
He knew his master to be a harsh man…
Why did he do this to him?
Why did he let him have that money?
It was almost cruel to tempt him that way
So the slave did the best thing, apparently, that he knew to do
He dug a deep, deep hole and buried the money
But that wasn't enough
He watched over that hole, day and night, night and day
checking again and again
to see if someone had disturbed the soil
to see if there was any evidence that someone had dug it up

When the master returned, he called for an accounting of his wealth
he wanted to know what they did with it
The first two were thrilled to report that they'd made him
an even wealthier man
He was thrilled!
He told them, now that they'd proven themselves as trustworthy
over a few things
now they would be in charge of many things!
Well done, good and trustworthy servants, he said
and I bet they felt so good
He was beaming with joy
The third man approached him
dragging a muddy sack
his eyes were a bit bloodshot
his face looked a little strained
from lack of sleep

"M..master," he said, "I know you to be a harsh man,
and so I was afraid, and so I went and hid your money in the ground.
Here, you have what is yours…."
He laid the money at his master's feet and bowed,
backing away, still wringing his hands

WHAT???? the master was furious
He let the guy have it, called him worthless, lazy, even wicked
and he said, throw him into the outer darkness
where there is only weeping and gnashing of teeth..
And at the end of the story,
Jesus said, "For to all those who have,
more will be given, and they will have an abundance
but to those who have nothing, even what they have
will be taken away…."
Well, what does that mean?
That's the way things are now, I thought Jesus loved the poor!
In fact, in the next story he tells,
he says that we will see his face
in the face of the poor
the weak, those who need mercy and grace from us
and if we turn away the poor, we essentially turn away from Jesus…
So what' s this about?

Well, I've always identified well with that pitiful third slave
What was his problem, anyway??
He was afraid, he said so himself, he was terrified
The master put this magnificent gift in his hands
and by doing so, essentially said, 'you are awesome,
I trust you with my very life and livelihood
and the guy was just a slave

Have you ever received a gift that was just too heavy??
One that was so remarkable
that you uttered those ridiculous words,
"Oh, I can't accept this…."
It doesn't have to be a piece of jewelry
it can be a friendship, a relationship
I think when we truly fall in love,
we have that sense, that, wow, this is too good
I'm not worthy of this
and we are humbled
and some people do push away the gift
The third slave was horribly afraid of the gift
No, no, he said, I can't do this
I'm not good enough, I'm not worthy
I will blow it… and then I will be punished
and so he buried it in the ground
to make sure he didn't screw it up
to make sure he kept control over it

His greatest fears were revealed in that moment
that he was handed that gift
He was afraid of failing
He was afraid of being punished
He was afraid he wasn't trustworthy
So he punished himself before anyone else could
He buried it, buried the magnificent gift
deep in the ground
and then worried, paced, stewed
that even that was enough
He essentially buried his life in that hole
He put everything into that hole
And it makes me think that we are all often like that third slave
We don't know what to do with gift
We don't trust God with adventure or uncertainty
We build rigid boundaries around the Gift
we try to keep it under control
Some people are afraid of losing God
and so we try to keep God within strict boundaries
little boxes that we can understand,
black and white, good or evil, either/or
Heaven or hell, and nothing in between
But trying to protect God is way out of our league
And trying to protect God is not TRUSTING God
The third slave's tragedy
was anyone's tragedy
Whenever we bury the richest treasure we have
we do that by not becoming the person we might have been
by not taking a leap of faith
but not allowing ourselves joy in our love life with God
And so we, too, can cast ourselves into that outer darkness
where there is only weeping and gnashing of teeth
for that is the natural consequence of burying your most
beautiful and sacred treasure
Your body may keep on living,
but your soul is buried, your life is buried
and you are utterly alone
To all those who have, more will be given,
and to those who have nothing, even what they have
will be taken away ….
When we bury our treasures that come from God
we don't grow;
in fact, we shrink more and more
and our light grows ever dimmer
What is Jesus trying to say?
Don't let your light go out in this world
don't use my words for death instead of life
don't hole up in your self-dug graves
and bury the treasure that I am giving you now

The Church historically has a well-earned reputation
of stomping out anything that brings joy, freedom of expression
and absolute fun….
Oh it still goes on…
we still hear of Christians trying to ban this or that
in an effort to keep out all evil
We still hear of Christians bringing judgment and damnation
to an otherwise exhilarating event
In this election it was not about who you voted for and why
but I heard too many people making it about heaven or hell
Christians making other Christians feel evil
for voting for the other guy

Why are we here?
Why do we come here?
Is it just another burden that we bear?
Something we do out of guilt, something
to win points with God?
Do we come because that's what good people do?
They go to church?
Do we come to put in our time?
Check it off for the rest of the week?
Or do we come to be transformed?
Do we come because we find joy here?
Do we come because this is family?
That we have a sense that God has given us a remarkable gift
leaving the future of the Kingdom of God
in our shaky, all-too-human hands?
Do we come, because we remember who we are, truly,
when we are here?
Do we come out of a sense of obligation
or have we opened up our lives
to the extravagant transformation of the Gospel
and to a life of adventure in Jesus Christ?
Do we bury our greatest treasures in the ground
only to spend our time and energy running in mad circles
over things that will not finally last??
I hope you haven't lost that sense of gift
I hope you don't bury that gift in the ground
or up on the highest shelf in your storage room
and wonder why you've lost all sense of joy in living….
The gift is ours, the gift given from a dying friend
who promises that he will live again
and that when he does see us again
that life can be so extraordinary, adventurous,
radically joyous beyond our human comprehension
Choose life--