On the Way to Wonder

The child dog asks its mother why humans are wearing muzzles (masks), and the mother responds, “Because they never learned to “sit” and “stay.” Today is Maundy Thursday, a Latin title, also the source of “mandate” or order. We know about orders!!! “Stay home.” This afternoon I will post a script that can be read for a service this evening. As we started this week waving the “palms” of our hands in praise because we did not have palm branches, we will continue this evening with a bowl of water, a candle, a piece of bread, a glass of fluid and a spoon. I find it very providential (of the Lord) that Proverbs 9, my reading for today, starts “Wisdom has built her house, she has hew out its seven pillars. She has prepared her meat and mixed her wine; she has also set her table. She has sent out her maids and she calls from the highest point of the city, ‘Let all who are simple come in here!’” Wisdom invites the simple to enter and eat with her. But, of course, the simple are the “other guys” cause I’m…errrr, add your adjective. Tonight we are invited to dine with Jesus. What can I get from some theoretical meal? Do I need my feet washed? Or do I say like Peter, “not me Lord.” Do I need the reassurance of Jesus’ presence or do I beg off, “I have married a wife, bought a field, have a TV program to watch.” I cannot consecrate the bread and fluid but we can sit at the table of wisdom and reflect. Jesus is as near to me, nourishing me as the bread in my stomach. Jesus gives me life even as the fluid, “the blood of the covenant that is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins (Matthew 26: 26-29), flows through my veins giving me life. And of course we end with the new mandate, love one another. In this day when “sheltering” is the mandate and fear of others tugs at our hearts with every broadcast, Jesus calls us to love one another even as He loved us. Now that is food for thought. Even as I need to “sit” and “stay”, I need to love and remember.

Calendar wisdom for April 8. “Our Lord has written the promise of the resurrection not in books alone, but in every leaf in the springtime. by Martin Luther In every plant, in every flower, I see the wonder of Your creation. Thank You, for the promise of Spring…the hope of new life. Amen. Unknown author” Yesterday as I sat sheltered at the end of the garage, I enjoyed the hints of coming Spring. Tomorrow we celebrate Maundy Thursday and then the crucifixion of Good Friday. We are walking into the winter of our faith.

Coming back to the USA from a country on the Equator that went from dry season to brief rains, and grass went from brown to browner, I have loved seeing the advent of Spring and marvel that trees that look like dried out sticks, start to bud and bring forth new life. How marvelous in our winter of Covid-19, we find the hope given us by the leaf, by nature, that God is present and at work, even when we can’t see Him.

A friend gave me the book, Liturgy of the Ordinary, by Tish Harrison Warren. It’s a delightful little book that jumps from everyday experiences to reflective truth. Last night we read chapter 8, Sitting in Traffic. The author finds herself sitting with three little kids in the middle of a traffic jam, so wanting to get home, so wanting space to unwind, so wanting… Waiting is so hard and she feels the tension in the car climbing. It reminded me of some of the challenges of feeling caught in a traffic jam of Covid-19, closed in our homes away from … Of course we have cell phones, zoom, internet but it just isn’t the same. We are waiting… for the ban to lift, for Easter, for news from loved ones. Waiting.

Warren reflects on time. Our January-December calendar tracks our daily life. Tells us when we can start socializing. But in the background of our lives, the liturgical calendar ticks. It starts near the beginning of December with Advent season that builds to Christmas, climaxes in Easter Sunday and then continues on to the Easter season and Pentecost. The liturgical calendar tracks God’s story, not human history – New Year’s, Valentines, Independence, Harvest, Christmas. It removes me from center stage. We Christians have an alternative chronology impacting our lives, focusing us on God.

In the church calendar, there is always space for waiting e.g. Advent precedes Christmas, Lent precedes Easter. We wait and prepare. She comments that time is a “gift,” not “a commodity that I control, manage, or consume (p.108)” It prepares us for a future we will live into and gives us tools like repentance for dealing with a past that may have been disappointing. The future we hope for gives direction to the present that is so “broken.” We learn patience. Let me quote her as she ends the chapter, “The liturgical calendar reminds us that we are people who live by a different story. And not just by a story, but in a story, God is redeeming all things, and our lives. (p.113” We are going somewhere.

So I ask myself, how is my patience today as I wait during this Holy Week that must be celebrated electronically and away from my faith community? Lord, help me as I wait, to see time as a gift, preparing me to celebrate with You and your family.

This morning I woke and asked myself, “Are your palms still up and waving?” Bits and pieces of yesterday’s Palm Sunday floated through my mind. I reflected on “praise” and pondered if my praise was contingent on my feelings about my life or was I praising God for who He is despite my understanding of His actions. I got out of bed and in the bathroom was my calendar. The reading, “If your troubles are deep-seated or long standing, try kneeling. Then from James 5:13 Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise.” Such a good reminder. Again prayer and praise are linked. The nugget from Proverbs 6 I have underlined is v. 16-19, the six things “the Lord hates,” always a good reflection tool. Solomon first names “haughty eyes.” How are my eyes focused this week – prayer and praise for how blessed I am in the midst of Covid-19? As Holy Week starts, we walk with Jesus into Jerusalem. One of the first thing he does, perhaps on Monday, in the Gospel of Matthew is enter the Temple, see the money changers, become irate and declare, “It is written, My house will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of robbers.” I am drawn back to prayer. As we plead in prayer for those sick, those ministering, those grieving, those using the palms of their hands to help others, may we also praise God that we can turn to Him who listens, hears, and cares.

Sunday, April 5, 2020
Sunday of the Passion / Palm Sunday

Introduction

We start Holy Week with the triumphal entrance to Jerusalem and we walk with Jesus through this week. The scripture reading spans that whole week so that those who cannot attend church, hear about the whole event.

We are encountering the paradox that defines our faith: Jesus Christ is glorified king and humiliated servant. We too are full of paradox: like Peter, we fervently desire to follow Christ, but find ourselves afraid, denying God. Rather than unfold the story in one sitting, I am going to focus on each phase. Today, the triumphal entry. Maundy Thursday, the Last Supper. Good Friday, the crucifixion. In this time of sheltering in place, I invite you to enter the story, reflect on it, and travel with our virtual community through dynamics that are so similar to our reality today in the 21^st century.

Confession and Forgiveness

Blessed be the holy Trinity, ☩ one God, who is present, who gives life, who calls into existence the things that do not exist. Amen.

If you were to keep watch over sins, O Lord, who could stand?  Yet with you is forgiveness, and so we confess.

Confession:

Gracious God, have mercy on us. We confess that we have turned away from you, knowingly and unknowingly. We have wandered from your resurrection life. We have strayed from your love for all people.  Turn us back to you, O God. Give us new hearts and right spirits, that we may find what is pleasing to you and dwell in your house forever. Amen.

Forgiveness:

Receive good news: God turns to you in love. “I will put my spirit in you, and you shall live,” says our God. All your sin is forgiven in the name of ☩ Jesus Christ, who is the free and abounding gift of God’s grace for you. Amen.

Prayer of the Day

Sovereign God, you have established your rule in the human heart through the servanthood of Jesus Christ by your Spirit. During these days of uncertainty, keep us in the joyful procession of those who with their tongues confess Jesus as Lord and with their lives praise him as Savior, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Hymn:  #virtualchoir#inchristalone#acappella (Tap on this link and it will take you to YouTube)

Gospel Acclamation

Christ humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross. Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name. (Phil. 2:8-9)

Procession with Palms  Traditionally we enter worship today from outside or from the narthex, symbolizing that we too are walking with Jesus into that eventful week. We do not have palms to wave but we do have the PALMS of our hands that we can now raise and wiggle in praise. Imagine seeing Jesus riding on a donkey into Jerusalem and you standing there waving your hands. Raise your palms and wiggle them. Name a thank you for each finger. What has Christ meant to you: healing, guidance, comfort, wisdom, insight, life, ….

Readings and Psalm

Isaiah 50:4-9a The servant of the Lord submits to suffering

Psalm 31:9-16 Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit. (Ps. 31:5)

Philippians 2:5-11 Humbled to the point of death on a cross

Processional Gospel: Matthew 21:1-11

¹When they had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, ²saying to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. ³If anyone says anything to you, just say this, ‘The Lord needs them.’ And he will send them immediately.” ⁴This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet, saying,
⁵“Tell the daughter of Zion,
Look, your king is coming to you,
humble, and mounted on a donkey,
and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”
⁶The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; ⁷they brought the donkey and the colt, and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them. ⁸A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. ⁹The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting,
“Hosanna to the Son of David!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
¹⁰When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, “Who is this?” ¹¹The crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.”

Hymn: All Glory Laud and Honor: (copy this internet address in the address bar, skip ads and listen to this song, or sing along with the words.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3a8fTTrAdE  At the end of the hymn, tap the red button in the upper left corner to end the internet connection and you will be returned to this sermon.)

SERMON
Place your hands, palm up on the table next to this sermon. 

Today we walk into Holy Week. The Jews at that point in history were oppressed people under the rule of the Romans. Most of us live today in a form of lockdown, ordered by our government because of the unseen enemy, Covid-19. We cannot go to church. We are limited in socializing with friends face to face. Partners are not allowed to enter the hospitals to support the birth process and see the newborn. Look at your hands, look at those palms. We may not be able to raise palm branches as with the folks of old did but we can raise the palms of our hands while experiencing with them the grief of our reality.

The first point I see in the story is that Jesus sent two disciples into Jerusalem ahead of him to find a donkey and her colt and to bring them to him. Prophecy must be fulfilled. “Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. Zechariah 9:9” Fulfilled prophecy preceded the palm waving. They were to say to the owner of the donkey, “The Lord has need of them.”

Look at your palms, “The Lord has need of them.” Today we raise palms and praise in the face of our Roman domination, Corona virus fear, to fulfill prophecy and promise that God is working out His plan even today. God works through our humble hands to work out a future only He knows.

It is with our hands, our palms, today that medical people are comforting the sick. Parents hands today are turning into teaching hands as we work with children home from school. Neighbor hands are sharing food for the old and isolated. In so many ways, in the face of fear and disaster, we hear the voice of Jesus sending us with the message, “The Lord has need of them.” The Lord has need of your palms, your feet to go, your heart to be willing. Our palms can pick up the phone and encourage a friend. Our fingers can type a message to someone afar.

Place your hands, palm up on the table next to this sermon.

Secondly, I want to focus on “Hosanna!” Jesus entered Jerusalem, humbly, mounted on a donkey and the people waved their palms and shouted “hosanna.” Take the palms of your hands now and raise them towards the ceiling and say “hosanna.” Hosanna comes from a Hebrew word meaning “save now” or “save us, we pray.” It can be said as an acclamation of adoration and praise for anticipated delivery. Indeed, the Jews thought Jesus was entering Jerusalem to bring about a military victory, restore the Jewish nation, and bring people deliverance from the hardships of life. Even we are looking for protection from illness, financial distress, and isolation. We wave our hands in anticipation. They didn’t understand and probably we don’t either. We see through a glass dimly.

Hosanna, we look to Jesus and deliverance is in His hands to be done God’s way. People wanted a political solution and Jesus fulfilled the law that “he who sins must die.” People wanted release from the fear and hatred that defined their lives. Jesus gave a new command on Maundy Thursday, “A new command I give you, love one another.” Forgive your enemy. Turn the other check. Do good to those who persecute you. God’s deliverance does not always come in ways we expect. God’s deliverance does not come from the government, from health organizations, nor from social reforms. All those are important but only because they support the deliverance Jesus brings in the reformation of our hearts.

Hosannas rang out as Jesus, sat humbly on the back of a donkey. Humility. Somehow humility is involved in our hosannas. We look to God for him to save us but equally we must submit to his plan. Later this week we will see the crowds turn on Jesus and demand crucifixion. God answers prayer but I fear often I am slow to humble myself and accept.

Place your hands, palm up on the table next to this sermon.

Thirdly, I note that as the crowd entered Jerusalem, there was turmoil and people were asking, “Who is that man?” Reminds me of the Lone Ranger? Who is that masked man? It is in the midst of the turmoil, as people raise hands needed by the Savior, shouting hosannas of deliverance that people ask and we testify. “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.”

Have you noted how many people have felt compelled to speak to the hope that is within them. Services are being broadcast in various formats. A church member phoned a friend who did not have internet access and read the service over the phone with her. Musical groups are finding ways to perform from car trunks, parked six feet apart, in parks. I saw a posting this morning of someone who sent a gift to a neighbor on the back of a hand propelled little car! Who is this Jesus? Not all the posting proclaim the identity of Christ but share the talents of palms. How do you use your voice, your feet and your palms to share with others the praises in your heart today?

Palm Sunday we enter Jerusalem with Jesus. Disciples have been sent to find donkeys that carry Jesus in the palms waving in the air. We join Jerusalem in raising our palms in praise. Our Savior comes riding on a donkey, the colt of an ass. We sing hosanna, save us we pray, now. We are challenged to find new ways to share what Jesus has meant in our lives, in our hopes and in our prayers for those on our heart. Lift your palms with me and sing:

Hymn: Oh For a Thousand Tongues to Sing : (Click, listen, close) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1YPmQibTRw

Prayers of Intercession

Turning our hearts to God who is gracious and merciful, we pray for the church, the world, and all who are in need.

God of mercy, awaken your church to new proclamations of your faithfulness. By your Spirit, give us bold and joyful words to speak, that we sustain the weary with the message of your redemption. Hear us, O God.  Your mercy is great.

God of mercy, quiet the earth where it trembles and shakes. Protect vulnerable ecosystems, threatened habitats, and endangered species. Prosper the work of scientists, engineers, and researchers who find ways to restore creation to health and wholeness. Hear us, O God.  Your mercy is great.

God of mercy, drive away fear and anger that cause us to turn against one another. Give courage to leaders who seek liberation for the oppressed. Bring peace and hope to those who are in prison and those who face execution. Hear us, O God.  Your mercy is great.

God of mercy, send your saving help to all who suffer abuse, insult, discrimination, or contempt. Heal the wounded. Comfort the dying. Bring peace to those suffering chronic or terminal illness. Tend to all who cry out for relief. Hear us, O God.  Your mercy is great.

God of mercy, we pray for all who will prepare and lead worship in this Holy Week. In all things, show us the ways that you call us to die to self, to live for you, and to give of ourselves for the sake of others. Hear us, O God.  Your mercy is great.

 God of mercy, when we breathe our last, you raise us to eternal life. With all your witnesses in heaven and on earth, let us boldly confess the name of Jesus Christ, our resurrection and our hope. Hear us, O God.  Your mercy is great.

According to your steadfast love, O God, hear these and all our prayers as we commend them to you; through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Offering Prayer

Holy and generous host, you set a table where we feast as friends. Prepare us to witness to your goodness with every gift you have given us to share, that all people may know your peace through Jesus Christ, now and forever. Amen.

Lord’s Prayer

Prayer after Communion

We thank you, living God, for the body and blood of your Son, which sustains us in the wilderness and the garden alike.  As Christ has loved us in this feast, so send us to love Christ in our neighbors.  In Jesus’ name we pray.  Amen.

Blessing

Now is the acceptable time. Now is the day of salvation. Holy God,  speaking, spoken, and inspiring, ☩ bless you, unbind you, and send you in love and in peace. Amen.

Dismissal

Go in peace. Share the good news.  Thanks be to God.

Tomorrow is Palm Sunday. Palms are on a bench outside the church should you care to collect one for your home service, to place somewhere outside your home to share that you are a Christian on a journey to Jerusalem. For those who shelter I will suggest in the service tomorrow that we place our hands, palms up, next to our computer or email or script of the service. Covid-19 cannot prevent us from waving our “palms,” branches or hands. Name a gratitude for each finger!

So where does the word “palm” come from, I am pondering. The internet tells me it is old English or old Latin for the fleshy part of the hand between the wrist and the fingers. Not very insightful. The calendar quote for today shares from Albert Schweitzer, “Wherever a man or a woman turns he can find someone who needs him. Even if it is a little thing – do something for which there is no pay – but the privilege of just doing it. Remember, you don’t live in the world all on your own.” Can we think of some little thing today to do with our palms to bless another, just for the privilege of doing it. Prov. 4:23 is underlined in my Bible, “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” Allow me the liberty to rephrase that for today – above else, guard your palms, for they are major avenues to express love and praise.

I close with a quote from an email I received this morning from my son’s friend in Uganda, listening to a news report briefing of the country about Covid-19. At the end of the interview with the Minister of Health, “a reporter asked this question:  ‘Does the campaign to halt Covid virus include hope in God, or only in science?”  The Minister of Health, responded in what were her final remarks for the day, “it is important to pray…. When we pray to God, he listens, he responds… For us in the ministry of health we are combining both—we pray and we also have scientists to guide us on the response…. In any case, the wisdom that the scientists are using, is given to them by God.  So you cannot de-link God from Covid-19, neither can you de-link God from the response.  He is the ultimate authority in this response.  So I appeal to Uganda to continue praying.’” Tomorrow we join together to raise palms in praise and in prayer.

“Courage for the great sorrows of life, and patience for the small ones, and when you have laboriously accomplished your daily task, go to sleep in peace. God is awake.” By Victor Hugo. Can that be applied as: courage for Covid-19 and the still rising numbers and patience for sheltering and dealing with everyday irritants. Prov. 3:5,6 adds texture to this quote, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.” Family wisdom just says straightly, “Mom, don’t personalize it!” Perhaps combining all this, I can say, It is easier to be brave and courageous when I am not looking at myself and spinning my wheels blaming myself unnecessarily but trusting that God is holding me and my friends in his hands as we travel through this period of challenge. He never sleeps and I certainly need to.

39 years ago today, I gave birth to my eldest daughter. Three days later we fought for her life as she developed hemorrhagic disease of the newborn. We were in a mission hospital, outside Nairobi, and I stood watching her bleed from every orifice of her little body. They had never transfused a newborn and her veins had collapsed for an infusion. It took four hours of phone attempts to get through to Nairobi to find that she had to be matched to me, a different blood type as she carried my antibodies. The doctor’s wife stood by with O- blood for the transfusion. So many hopes and dreams and love as I stood helpless. Today she is a beautiful young woman, talented, loved, and admired. This memory has a happy ending but not all my stories have.

The quote on my calendar for today is, “Though you may ask God to do something for you, He generally wants to do something in you. (Unknown author) Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Ps. 139:23, 24” Again I am reminded that God is working to mold a future I do not control and that draws trust and love in the face of uncertainty and seeming impossible scenarios. I do not know how Covid-19 will claim lives, who will be moved to donate their resources to help, what the outside the box wisdom will come in. I stand at the window watching and praying. I do know, though, that God walks with us creating a future plan for our good, “leading me in the way everlasting.”

I asked the Internet about the origins of April Fools Day and up came a long historical explanation. From the mid 1500s it was written about in northern Europe and believed to have dated back to pre-Christian time and questions about the start of the year. Where do we start our calendar?

In 1564 France reformed their calendar so that the year began January 1. Those who did not agree had tricks played on them, like fish “poisson” stuck to their backs. Poisson d’Avril or April Fish Day became April Fools Day. England has a well-known trick of taking gullible victims to the Tower of London to see lions washed. Hmmm. Stories come from all over Europe and seem to do with dating the start of the year to somewhere between March 25, the Annunciation of Jesus, and Easter, or going with January 1. People who did not follow had tricks played on them.

As I reflect today on how I start my calendar, my historical account of meaningful life, I ponder. Do I go to my physical birth in the “last century” as my daughter is ought to remind me? Do I track to my baptism as an infant that I cannot remember? How about the spiritual awakening I experienced in college as I fell by my bedside distraught with confusion from my philosophy class? But really there was a whole new sense of reality when I married and started to learn what love meant as expressed by the interactions with others, husband, children, friends. Proverbs 1: 7 shares, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.” May the fear of the Lord guard me from my own foolish tendencies, wherever I am in my calendar year!

Lent 5 Bible Study April 1, 2020

Mt 25:14-30

¹⁴ “For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; ¹⁵ to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. ¹⁶ The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. ¹⁷ In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. ¹⁸ But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. ¹⁹ After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. ²⁰ Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.’ ²¹ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ ²² And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.’ ²³ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ ²⁴ Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; ²⁵ so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ ²⁶ But his master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? ²⁷ Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. ²⁸ So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents. ²⁹ For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. ³⁰ As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Yet again, we meet virtually via the internet. The format is not favorable to discussion and we are not technologically talented enough to zoom or Face Time or Skype to get the chat flowing. I have therefore decided to write reflection questions to help us think about the text and to ponder the implications for our lives today.

I see three main categories: the three types of slaves who are given “talents”, the master who does not feel like the cozy good shepherd looking for lost sheep, and the role of time.

SLAVES

1. “Slave” is a pretty loaded word in the US due to the history of slavery and abuse to people “different.” Yet, as Jesus tells this parable, it is clear that we are the “slave” and not the “master.” Ouch.
2. How does that resonate within your soul?
3. What are the advantages of being a slave of Christ? Can you name three?
4. Are there disadvantages? Can you name three?

PROPERTY/TALENTS

2. The slaves are entrusted with property, “talents,” as the master leaves on a journey. What “talent, property” has God entrusted you with? Now ask a spouse or friend what talents they think God has entrusted you with. Sometimes we need the “mirror” of community to see ourselves honestly. Can you list at least three talents?

MASTER

3. The man, the identified later as the Master, we would understand to be God. What do you think the expectations for “care” might have been in giving the talents to the slave?                                                       B. What might faithfulness look like in caring for someone else’s property?

TIME

4. The master seems to disappear for a “long period of time.” Unlike other parables, he is not sending emesaries to collect rent nor does he send his son trying to reason with the tenants. The parable is about a time of accounting. I note that it is individual. I note there are rewards and punishments that go beyond the fact of relationship. It is a somber story for those of us who would like to think being a “good person” in our own eyes will be good enough for God. Soooo, thirdly I would note that the five talents doubled is praised the same as the two talents doubled. IE it is not the work that is rewarded but the faithfulness and seriousness of the slave about serving the master. It is the lazy slave who assumes characteristics about the master that are not true and does nothing about it. He takes the master for granted.
5. My last thought is to ask myself if I know anyone who might be hiding talent for fear? How could I encourage them about the character of God and the joy (despite the work) of investing his/her talents.