“Failure, A Place To Start”


Sermon Delivered By Rev. Dick Stetler – November 15, 2020

Centenary United Methodist Church

Proverbs 3:1-10; Matthew 25:14-40

 

    Most likely every one of you has heard numerous sermons based on Jesus' parable about the three servants that were each given a sum of money to manage. The wealthy man told them that he would be absent for a considerable period of time.  

    This parable happened to be a favorite of my proof reader while I was the pastor of Capitol Hill United Methodist Church in Washington, D.C.   She told me that she had collected hundreds of sermons on this particular parable of Jesus.  She said, "What is fascinating to me is that the themes chosen by pastors on which they based their remarks are all very different."

    Think about that.  This should teach us that individual pastors can find different themes to focus on in preparing their Sunday morning sermons.  This also tells us that quite often the spoken words will be given a different interpretation. It is a miracle that communication between people is as good as it is.

    One of the themes that can draw our attention is the servant who buried his sum of money for fear that he might lose it.  When the wealthy land owner returned, he found that two of his servants had invested his money wisely and had doubled what he had given them.  The third man confessed to being overwhelmed with fear and he told the wealthy man how he had protected the sum of money that he had received by burying it underground.

    This information infuriated the wealthy man who cursed the servant for his lack of creativity.  He said:

You knew that I reap harvests where I did not plant, and gather crops where I did not scatter seed.  You should have deposited my money in the bank where it would, at least, have gained interest.  (Matthew 25:26f)

    He took this unworthy servant's sum of money and gave it to the one who gained the most with what he had been given. Then in his merciless tone of voice, he told the other two servants to throw the worthless servant into the darkness where he will cry and plunge into depression due to his failure.

    Last week, we discussed how consequences are built into creation.  Yet, who among us would readily go out and put this man's money at risk by investing it, particularly when we knew this man was ruthless?  Fear might have caused us to do exactly what this third servant did.

    There are 16 basic personalities in the human race.  Some of us are wired to become accountants and managers of wealth.  Some are wired to become teachers who may be clueless about investing money wisely.  Still others are wired with remarkable leadership skills as was Sitting Bull, the Chief of the Native American Sioux Nation, that was mentioned in last week's sermon.

    Some of us may have compassion and empathy for this third servant who was severely punished for not having the skills of the other two.  We have all failed at something during our lives.

    Many sports enthusiasts would never guess that the famous professional basketball play, Michael Jordan, was cut from his high school team.  He was not good enough.  He was awkward in his movements. He was tall but uncoordinated. He was useless at that age and became despondent.  However, he was determined and he worked through his dilemma by realizing that his hurt feelings would never produce better results.

    Sometimes failure and defeat can come from our trying something new.  If we define it as a permanent reality, we will sabotage our future. For some people, failure writes the storyline for the rest of their lives.  For other people, it is a time when they say to themselves, "Well, let me try this again!"

    Thomas Edison's manufacturing plant burned to the ground in 1914 destroying all kinds of one-of-a-kind prototypes.  The fire caused 23 million dollars in damages.  Everything he was working on was destroyed.  Edison knelt on the ground, picked up a handful of dust and said to one of his engineers, "Thank goodness!  All our mistakes lie here in ashes.  We will start again.  We will rebuild."  Edison became even more energized and never once felt failure.  He did rebuild.

    Just think of the people who were thrown out into the darkness where they cried and initially had to fight the temptation of remaining depressed.  Here is a modest list of them: J. K. Rowling, of Harry Potter fame, Ludwig van Beethoven, Steven King, Fred Astaire, Charles Darwin, and Steven Spielberg.  The list is quite extensive of those who made something remarkable from their initial failure.

    One afternoon I was present in a hall filled with 7,000 others listening to a riveting talk given by Maya Angelou.  After recounting portions of her past, she told us that following a personal tragedy in her life, she had not spoken a word for the next six years.  She failed at everything and was sent away to her grandmother who nursed her back to health in the backwoods of Arkansas.

    Maya said in a deep spirit of humility:

That day came when I spoke my first words in six years and since then I have not been able to shut my mouth. I have 55 doctorates; I can teach Spanish and French. I sit on the Board of Harvard University.  I am on the faculty of Yale University. My poetry has been read by millions of people in countless nations. My best-selling books are: I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings and Wouldn't Take Nothing For My Journey Now.

    Listening to this marvelous woman was one of the most unique and unforgettable experiences of my life.  Everyone left the arena feeling that nothing can interfere in their path of success unless they are standing in their own shadows.  Maya's life had been inspired by a grandmother who had the patience to love a young granddaughter who had misplaced her life's treasure. The Gospel is about redemption not retribution and condemnation.

    Back in 1536, Michelangelo was walking through a marble quarry with his assistant.  As the great master spied a unique piece of marble he said, "Make arrangements for this." The assistant replied, "Sir, this slab has already been rejected by countless sculptures because of its numerous flaws."  Michelangelo responded, "Just the same, take it back to the studio.  I see an angel in there."  Today that angel became the magnificent Pieta – Mary cradling her crucified son that is located in St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican.

    Before we begin to accept whatever reward might result from being a disciple of Jesus Christ, we must keep a vigilant eye on what it is we are doing to liberate the angels around us who may still be imprisoned in their marble prisons. 

    Sometimes they have lost everything in the aftermath of a hurricane.  Sometimes they are broken because of a failed marriage.  Sometimes death has silenced the voice of a familiar personality in their midst.  Sometimes they remain the caged bird that refuses to sing because unknowingly they have been bowing down to the gods of fear, guilt, and shame.  Some people are stuck in darkness and they need a light.  Jesus gave that task to his disciples.

    Consequences can both reward us and they can teach us that we need to change how we think. We should not be overly concerned with what has happened in our past.  What matters is how we use what happened in order to grow into the future.  Successful discipleship is not determined by whether or not we have problems.  What matters is whether or not we have the same problems that we had last year because of our unwillingness to change. 

    We must grow, which means we must always be changing.  Charles Darwin once said, "It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent; it is the one that is the most adaptable to change." 

    If we find ourselves feeling unhappy, distraught, lacking in confidence, always playing it safe, unwilling to raise the bar on our generosity, and remain unattractive to others – we need to open our eyes, take charge of our lives, and let our songbird come out of its cage.  When we do, we will learn that we are not alone and that consequences can become some of our dearest friends.

    The role of these new friends can go unrecognized for years. We have to understand what they were pointing to.  They are trying to teach us that we need to change how we think and feel.  We need to experiment with different responses that are not so focused on ourselves.  

    When anyone feels entitled to certain creature comforts, they have misplaced their inner treasure. (Matthew 6:19f) Jesus taught us a better way to live in this world.  As we sow, so shall we reap.  This is true with crops.  This is also true with our emotions, our spirits, and our thinking.  Attitude is everything.

     

    CONGREGATIONAL PRAYER

    Loving, ever present God, too often we find ourselves struggling with the tension between our faith and our fear.  We come to you with wishes and often your voice is silent.  We want our adventures and experiences to bring us joy and many times they do not. How wonderful it is when hindsight brings understanding and wisdom to why life unfolds as it does. Thank you for helping us to discover that the bitter pills of life often become the best medicine.  Thank you for guiding us to understand that our needs will be met when we invest ourselves in helping to make our world a more wholesome place for men and women to live.  Amen.     

      

     PASTORAL PRAYER

    Eternal God, we are so grateful for these moments together.  There are moments when our worship experience reminds us of our identity as your sons and daughters.  The worship experience often reminds us of our need to reframe our challenging experiences so that others are served by what we have become. 

    We thank you for how our faith changes the way we interpret our lives.  Faith calls us to come home when we have strayed. Faith lifts us when our insecurities influence our attitudes.  Even though many of us fall short of doing our best, we are nevertheless confident that all of us can make a difference toward the healing of our community and our world.  Help us to remember that you have the ability to work miracles through our smallest deeds.

    We do not know how to assign a value when we express kindness to someone.  We do not know the value of a smile effortlessly given to a stranger.  We do not know why it is that a sermon, a hymn, or a prayer on a Sunday morning appears like a direct message from you to us, but it happens.  Teach us to be attentive to the needs of your Kingdom here on earth so that one day your Loving Will finds expression everywhere.  We pray these thoughts through the spirit of Jesus, the Christ, who taught us to say when we pray . . .