Upcoming Worship Se

Upcoming worship services

Jan 14, 10:00, Morning Prayer
Jan 21, 10:00, Morning Prayer
Jan 28, 10:00, Morning Prayer

Feb 4, 10:00, Holy Communion, Father Hillin
Feb 11, 10:00, Morning Prayer
Feb 18, 10:00, Morning Prayer
Feb 25, 10:00, Morning Prayer


THIS is a link to the church calendar of the Episcopal Church. It has links to further information about the people who are commemorated on any particular day.



Sunday, November 16, 2008

Father Nissen's message, Nov 16

The text for today is Matthew 25: 14 - 30.

The text tells us of a parable of Jesus. The parable finishes with a hard saying:

"For everyone who has will be given more, till he has enough and to spare; and everyone who has nothing will forfeit even what he has. As for the useless servant, throw him out into the dark, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth!" as it is put in the Revised English Bible. The more contemporary translation or paraphrase called "The Message" puts the end of that same passage this way: "And get rid of this 'play-it-safe' who won't go out on a limb. Throw him out into utter darkness."

This is a hard saying, but perhaps it becomes easier to understand if we look at it more closely. The older translations say that a master gave his three servants 5 or 2 or 1 "talents" of silver or gold. A talent was a measure, and one talent of silver would be about the amount of money a person would be expected to earn in 15 years! It's a lot.

Now the master in the parable--who, it seems, we should understand to be God--was angry with the guy who took his one talent and buried all that money. Why did he do that? Why?

Well, especially when we look at the other parables Jesus has just been telling in Matthew 24 and 25, it looks like this servant thinks maybe the master will die or maybe, since the master entrusted much more money to other servants, he will just forget about the single talent he gave to this servant. If the servant put the money in the bank, then there would be some sort of record of the talent. But if he buries it in the ground, why then maybe the master will just forget about the whole thing. So the servant hoped he could cheat the master. The servant hoped he could dig the money up, live off some, invest the rest, and live "happily" ever after.

So the parable does not seem to be saying that the rich will get richer and the poor poorer. Rather, it is telling us that we cannot cheat the Master. God has given each of us talents (in the way we use the word) and he maybe has given us money or some sort of position. God calls on us to use these for the benefit of God's kingdom, and we cannot expect that God will die or lose interest in us. We can expect that we will keep the blessings we have only if we try to invest them in the growth of God's kingdom.

St. Andrew's Church has a talent for loving. May that love be channeled wisely, channeled so as to help bring others to Jesus.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Father Nissen's sermon, November 2, which is All Souls Day

The text for today's sermon is an Old Testament reading, Joshua 3 : 7 - 17:

The LORD told Joshua, "Beginning today I will show the people that you are their leader, and they will know that I am helping you as I helped Moses. Now, tell the priests who are carrying the chest to go a little way into the river and stand there."

Joshua spoke to the people: Come here and listen to what the LORD our God said he will do! The Canaanites, the Hittites, the Hivites, the Perizzites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, and the Jebusites control the land on the other side of the river. But the living God will be with you and will force them out of the land when you attack. And now, God is going to prove that he's powerful enough to force them out. Just watch the sacred chest that belongs to the LORD, the ruler of the whole earth. As soon as the priests carrying the chest step into the Jordan, the water will stop flowing and pile up as if someone had built a dam across the river. The LORD has also said that each of the twelve tribes should choose one man to represent it.

The Israelites packed up and left camp. The priests carrying the chest walked in front, until they came to the Jordan River. The water in the river had risen over its banks, as it often does in springtime. But as soon as the feet of the priests touched the water, the river stopped flowing, and the water started piling up at the town of Adam near Zarethan. No water flowed toward the Dead Sea, and the priests stood in the middle of the dry riverbed near Jericho while everyone else crossed over.

Joshua was commissioned to lead Israel into the promised land. God promises Joshua to go with him. Joshua believed God's promises, so he had to be courageous and act.

Let us, too, be courageous and act so that God's promises may be fulfilled in family, church, and lives in our community.

It took a lot of courage to build St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, a most beautiful place. It will take courage in this age to extend Jesus' love to people who do not live just in Silverdale.