Judges 4:1-7
Psalm 123 from BCP
1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
Matthew 25:14-30
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Use it or lose it
This Sunday’s gospel is Jesus’ parable of the talents. We will read of a wealthy man entrusting his worker with varying amounts of cash as he leaves on a trip and how they invest it-- or not.
Though “talents” here refers to money, Christians of every era have understood the connection to skills and abilities. There are many important lessons that we can learn from this parable. First of all, talents are not given so much as gifts but as loans. Repayment is assumed; interest is expected. Secondly, not all are given the same amount. We need not waste time worrying about or lamenting our portion; our time is best spent using and increasing what we have been given. Sharing is preferable to comparing. Lastly, those who make good use of their talents receive even more abilities and more opportunities altogether. Jesus has described for us the proverbial admonition, “use it or lose it.”
The people at Grace Anglican Church have many talents. We have been provided a wonderful arena in the church for our talents to be shared, invested and returned with dividends. We depend on each other, encourage each other, honor each other and pray for each other in our various ministries. As Anglicans we come together with our varied talents to mysteriously portray what God has loaned to each of us in worship to proclaim and praise the source and inspiration for all our gifts.
Rise Up Ye Saints of God, one of our hymns this Sunday and suggested to go with the parable of the talents. We are admonished in the hymn to:
“have done with lesser things
Give heart and soul and mind and strength
to serve the King of kings.”
The hymn by William P. Merril, was originally written as an urgent need of a brotherhood hymn. At a time when the brotherhood movement was strong in the Presbyterian Church, this hymn was a trumpet call to men to stand up and be counted for God with the opening words of, “Rise up, O men of God!” Some of us may recall singing those words. For reasons of inclusive language, certain changes have been made. In addition to the substitution of “ye saints” for “O men,” the concluding stanza included the phrase “As brothers of the Son of Man.” It now reads, “and quickened by the Spirit’s power.” Today this hymn is found in most mail-line American hymnals, giving it a strong ecumenical thrust.
Our service at GAC always opens with the Collect of the Day read by the priest after we sing the “Gloria”. You will always find it at the top of the insert page that has all the scriptures for that Sunday. Our clergy usually read it in contemporary language. Here is what it says this week in traditional language:
“Blessed Lord, who hast caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them; that, by patience and comfort of thy holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which thou has given us in our Savior Jesus Christ; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.”
To go with this collect we will sing, O Christ the Word Incarnate, one of the best-known of all hymns for Holy Scripture. This hymn has been in the Hymnal since 1871. Again, there have been some alterations to clarify the misunderstanding of the use of “Word” as it appeared in the original first line of the text, “O Word of God Incarnate” meaning Christ, the Word Incarnate.
Eternal Ruler of the Ceaseless Round will be the hymn we sing before and after the Gospel is read, but here corresponds to the New Testament reading in Thessalonians, encouraging us to “build up each other.” John W. Chadwick, an American poet, wrote the hymn for his graduation from Harvard Divinity School on June 19, 1864. Composed at a time when there was much anxiety concerning the outcome of America’s Civil War, the hymn is a call for unity, clearly articulated in st. 2, which begins: “We would be one in hatred of all wrong.”
The composer of the hymn tune, Song 1, was Orlando Gibbons. He was baptized Christmas Day, 1583, at St. Martin’s Church, Oxford. His father was one of the town musicians. Orlando was in King’s College Choir, Cambridge, at age 13, and in 1605 became organist of the Chapel Royal. He held that position for the rest of his life (20 years). He received the B. Mus. From Cambridge in 1606, and in 1622 the honorary D.Mus. was conferred upon him by the University of Oxford. Becoming organist at Westminster Abbey on 1623, he conducted the music for the funeral of King James I. Unfortunately, he fell ill and died at Canterbury Cathedral, June 5, 1625, at the early age of 41, and was buried there. His compositions include anthems, several services of worship, and a wealth of polyphonic choral music. Somehow, his hymn tunes were not appreciated until Ralph Vaughan Williams introduced them in the English Hymnal, 1906; this brought about their revival, which has lasted until the present time.
Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence is an ancient chant of Eucharistic devotion based on the verses taken from Habakkuk 2:20. The original was composed in Greek as a Cherubic Hymn in the fourth Century AD. In modern times, the Ralph Vaughn Williams arrangement of a translation from the Greek by Gerard Moultrie to the tune of Picardy, a French medieval folk melody, popularized the hymn among Christian congregations that worship liturgically.
Below you will find a link to this beautiful piece as sung by the choir and orchestra of the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, Christchurch, New Zealand in June of 1999. The recent earthquake did tremendous damage to this magnificent cathedral. You will see pictures of the beautiful interior if you click on this link as you listen to the music:
http://youtu.be/ufb9_He0EPg
Here is an organ and English Horn playing it as well. Filmed in what looks to me like an ancient church in St Andrews, Kimbolton…just beautiful!
http://youtu.be/p-4nuLjkIPk
What a marvelous piece of work is each and every person God has created! As we see in just looking over the music we are privileged to use in our services at GAC, men and women throughout the ages have used their God given talents to provide His church with beauty in music. But we all have something important to contribute to the whole.
Do we want more talent? Then let us wisely and generously use what we have. We may discover that we already have more than we ever imagined.
What is your unique role? Are you using it?
Sources:
Wikipedia.com
Hymnal ’82 Companion
Companion to the SDA Hymnal
Deacon Ron Jutzy
Then Sings My Soul
A Treasury of Hymns
Tune My Heart to Sing
YouTube.com
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