Last Wednesday, in this very sanctuary, a minor miracle occurred. It was our monthly free Wednesday Mid-Week Recital. A beautiful Japanese woman sat down at our beautiful Steinway grand piano and for half an hour played Debussy and Schubert and Chopin with a grace and elegance and fluidity that would make you weep. Or pray. Or erupt in appreciative applause.

Last week's pianist plays regularly at the Hollywood Presbyterian Church. Her published "bio" in the recital program made it clear that, in addition to many professional accolades and accomplishments, she shares her considerable talent in the church, as she did for us. And how very grateful were all who heard her play.

Now, I called this merely a "minor miracle" because it's one that happens in this place fairly often. We are blessed with so many talented musicians among us and they regularly share their talent with us. They grace our worship services, our concerts and recitals. They sing from our choir loft and in our pews. They play instruments of all shapes and sizes. And every note, every gorgeous melody or harmony testifies to the presence of God-the God who gifted them not only with the talent to make music but also with a generous heart so as to share it with others.

Now, I also know that there are those of you who joke that the choir should beg you NOT to sing with them. I am referring to all those of you who may sound OK in the shower but when you open you mouth in public tend to scare away small children and any unfortunate enough to sit near you. You know who you are!

Music may not be your talent, but surely God has given you another one or two. Today's familiar "Parable of the Talents" from Matthew's gospel is commonly used to underscore this theme of using our God-given talents to the glory of God. It frequently becomes the text for stewardship drives, in which we look at how to use our time and our money and our talents in the service of the church.

That's a good theme. It underlies the work of our own Lay Leadership Committee in helping us all find our own spiritual gifts and aptitudes. You can find members of the committee wearing their special "Ask Me" name tags over the next couple of months and talk with them about how best to match up your gifts with a whole gamut of opportunities to work within the life of this congregation. It has been said that "a talent is a gift from God. How you use it is your gift to God."

I do sincerely hope that as part of our Stewardship Campaign this year, while we focus primarily on money and our financial support of the life of this congregation, you will also be considering how you will give of your talent, your spiritual gifts.

There is so much to be done! The strength and health of this congregation, its witness in our com-munity, its impact on lives, depends on each of us contributing from the gifts God has already given us. First United Methodist Church of Santa Monica needs you to be more than a Sunday pew sitter, but active in your involvement in the life of the church. Think and pray about what that might be in this new year, then talk with any member of the committee or staff. If you can give a big gift of time and talent, great. We need you. If you're pulled in too many directions right now but could do a time-limited project or something you could do from home, we've got those, too. Just ask. Or if there's something brand new that you don't see happening here, but long for, talk with us about your dreams as well. We need the fervency and the passion of your most cherished dreams to carry us on into God's future.

So far, so good. But now, whether you're hearing this message for the first time this morning, or whether you're a veteran church-goer and have heard it a million times before, I want to take it deeper today. And that's because I think Matthew intended this parable to not only cause us to reflect, but to knock our socks off. Let's go back to his story. As we near the end of Matthew's gospel in this year's lectionary readings, we hear this morning a follow-up to last week's admonition to always live with our lamps full. Today's "Parable of the Talents" is similarly rather harsh in tone and message. It tells the story of a wealthy businessman who needed to leave town on an extended trip. He entrusts his property to three of his servants. One is given five talents, one two, and one is given one. As we know, the first two took some risks, invested and doubled what they'd been given. The third played it safe. He was more prudent, careful. Not wanting to lose the money, he stashed it and waited for his master's return. And then he gave it back, penny for penny. The master praises the first two but castigates the third, calling him not "prudent," but "lazy and wicked." What are we to make of all this?

Perhaps the real impact of this parable has less to do with the actions of the three than with the generosity and expectations of the master. Here's what I mean. When we hear this story in English, we hear that word "talent" and think of our word "talent." We think, as I said earlier, of our ability to sing or paint or write or cook or whatever. We think of our "talents." But we're missing something important here. The biblical word translated as talent actually means much more. A talent was a very large sum of money. Very, very large. One scholar says that one talent was the equivalent of fifteen years of wages for hard work. Another says it was even much more, the equivalent of 12,000 days wages or thirty-eight years of work. A huge sum.

So, when we hear this story, we might miss the astonishing magnanimity of the master's trust. We feel sort of sorry for the guy who only got one talent when, in fact, even he must have surely felt totally overwhelmed. This is incredible. So, you see, his caution, his prudence makes sense to us now. Here's a guy given a huge responsibility and his response is to make sure he doesn't mess up. Don't worry, master, he seems to think. Nothing will happen. In fact, in this light, we might want to question the sanity of the other two. They took huge risks with their master's property. And they reaped even greater abundance.

What's the message here? I submit to you that this is not a text about financial investments, per se. In fact I probably need a disclaimer here that says something like: "Before you do this, consult your own financial planner." No, this story is about a different kind of economy. This is a story about how very much God loves us and trusts us, and why God expects our lives to exhibit the same level of love and trust and joy and extravagance.

This story paints the contrast between fear and faith. The third servant acted out of fear. And just as he intended, nothing happened. Nothing happened. The same thing happens in our lives when we live fearful lives. The same thing happens to our congregation when we live out fear rather than faith. Nothing happens. Whether in our own spirits or in the life of the church, living in fear creates atrophy. Fear of loss, fear of failure, fear of change. It's all the same. We shrink, we decline, we shrivel and die. And this is not what God intends.

Everything about the Christian faith-caring, trusting, loving, giving, sharing, witnessing, hoping, pressing forward-everything requires risk. Everything requires faith that Paul says is "the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."

God's love for us is far bigger than any number of talents we can count. It is grace upon grace. It is our cup overflowing. It is green pastures in the shadow of the valley of death. It is pure, clear water flowing in the desert. It is flowers blooming in the wilderness wasteland. It is love we do not merit. It is forgiveness we can never measure. It is joy to the world.

The master's rejection of the third servant is Matthew's way of telling us that God rejects the way of fear. God wants something to happen. God wants great things to happen. God needs his people to make the kingdom real here and now. God says, "My future and the future of my kingdom are in your hands. Make it happen now! " And that demands holy boldness. That requires us to ask if we've been sitting on our assets, if we've lost our capacity to dream big and get past our limited vision of how God might work in and through us.

Faith is not about doing nothing nor about doing as little as possible. Faith is about giving your all, going for broke. It's about knowing that a talent is the sum of your life, an inestimable treasure from God. So, what if you risk being ten times bolder in the use of your gifts? What would you do? What dream might become a reality?

Go for it, sisters and brothers. There's not a minute to waste. God is inviting us into the joy of the kingdom. The joy of the kingdom.

© Patricia E. Farris, 2002. Permission is given for brief quotation with attribution. All other rights reserved.