Monday, 31 August 2009

The Great Risk - Part 5

DAILY BYTE

If you’ve been hearing the challenge of the gospel this week to risk yourself a little more for life’s sake and love’s sake, then I’d urge you to act. Now is the time for you to do something about that nagging sense of conviction you’ve been feeling inside – to invite someone to church, or get involved in a new area of service, or offer greater hospitality, or change your job, or open your wallet in greater generosity, or open our mouth more boldly in speaking out against injustice, or daring to love more lavishly. Whatever God is calling you to, I urge you to go for it. And you will discover God’s abundance flowing to you and through you in the most remarkable & joyous way.

As we bring this week’s devotions to a close, I’d like to share a personal story.

Earlier this year I was invited by the music teacher at my daughter’s school to be a part of a string ensemble that was to play at a special Easter concert. I was to play second violin. I knew the deal – music that was beyond my limited technical ability; just one practice immediately before the concert; and other musicians of superior ability. It just so happened that on this particular occasion the first violinist right next to me was none other than the associate concert master of the KZN Philharmonic. The double bass two seats to my right is also a member of the KZN Philharmonic. The chap on the cello next to me used to play for the KZN Youth Orchestra. And then there was me, just to round off the ensemble.

(Can you see where this is going?)

Well, it was an Easter concert, and thankfully this is an Easter story of good news. Because believe it or not, I didn’t screw up. I played. I participated. Of course, I missed many of the notes, and many that I played were wrong. But that’s not the point. The point is that I played, and the music sounded really really good. Which had nothing to do with the merits of my playing, but everything to do with the fact that a diverse group of people were risking themselves in making music together. And as I did so it was for me an experience of great joy.

Now I’m fully aware that if another member of the KZN Philharmonic had been playing second violin the music would have been even better. But dare I say it, what we had that day was certainly more…interesting.

Maybe that’s why the master entrusts his bounty to all, including the little ones, and asks us to risk putting it all into play.

And what if you risk and lose? Well, imagine another ending to the parable, as suggested by Paul Duke.

He writes, “Suppose the third servant did not hide his gift. Let’s say he took that million bucks and built a shelter for the homeless. He fed the poor, gave job training, gave literacy training, told them of God’s love. Some flourished, but others were not grateful, did not get better. And one night a gang of them stole everything and burned the place to the ground.

And the master came back. And the third servant having heard the fine reports of his friends, had to step forward and say, “I have nothing. I lost everything you gave me. And the master said, ‘Well done, I’ll give you more, come into my joy.”

Of course in the parable Jesus told, the ones who took the risk didn’t lose at all. That’s the amazing thing about God’s fortune in our hands – to give it, is never in the end to lose it.

Have you known anybody in your life who risked something for love’s sake or for Christ’s sake, and were sorry that they did?

The time for playing it safe is past. Take the great risk that God entrusts to you. It is truly a gift of great love.

PRAY AS YOU GO

Thank you, gracious God, for entrusting me with a part to play in your great ensemble. Thank you that under your hand, the contribution of my life can add to the music of love that can fill this world with healing and transforming grace. Help me to let go of my insecurities, uncertainties, inadequacies and fears and trust that your power really is made perfect in weakness. Amen.

The Great Risk - Part 4

DAILY BYTE

Yesterday we wandered through the first part of the parable of the talents. Today, we pick up the story when the master finally returned, and summoned his slaves to give account. The first one reported an impressive return. Seems like the markets bounced back after all. Similarly the second had good news. The developer had made good on his promises, and the new airport had been a great help in pushing up property values in the area.

Hearing what they had done, the master said to each of these, “Well done, good and faithful slave. I trusted you and you have been trustworthy. I will continue to entrust my things to you. Come and share my joy.”

Now it’s the little guy’s turn. First thing he does is start attacking the master, “You’re a harsh man. You reap where you did not sow, and gather where you did not scatter seed.” What? Nothing in the story thus far supports this outrageous accusation. And nothing could be further from the truth. All the master does in the story is give and trust in the most prodigal way, and sow and scatter with reckless generosity, and invite others to share his joy.

And suddenly we understand why the third slave has been so afraid – because he’s got the master all wrong. He thinks the master is out to get him. And so he cannot trust the master’s trust in him.

He was invited to participate in the richly abundant life of the master, to risk himself in a whole new way, but he refused. And in his refusal he brings judgement on himself, and is thrown into outer darkness.

If that sounds harsh to you, and it does to me, maybe it’s because Jesus didn’t want to sugarcoat the difficult truth that ordinary people, like us, need to hear.

Yes, this parable speaks a challenging and uncomfortable truth. Whether we like it or not, God hands us an invitation that is both exciting and scary at the same time. It’s an invitation to take hold of this great gift of life, and to risk playing it, investing it, living it, in the audacious belief that it can become even more.

We did not choose this, but we can choose our response. We can refuse the invitation. We can refuse to participate. We can bury our hearts. Our dreams. Our passion to see this world renewed. We can bury our sense of being called.

Or, we can say OK. Let me risk it.

That’s what Abram said in response to God’s risky call for him to leave the comfort and security of the life he had always known. And that’s how the story of the people of God began. With a great risk. And in every age there have been others, ordinary people of faith, who in similar ways have risked themselves in the hands of God, and have found life in the process.

In the living of your life today, will you dare to join their ranks, as you abandon yourself into the hands of God and risk living your ordinary life in quite extraordinary ways?

PRAY AS YOU GO

Lord God, remind me who you are. Remind me what you are like. Remind me that you are a God of generosity, mercy, compassion and grace. Remind me that you long to bless me that I might be a blessing to others. Remind me of these things, because when I remember rightly who you really are, it is then that I can more freely embrace and trust the person that you declare me to be – a beloved child of yours. Amen

SCRIPTURE READING

Genesis 12:1-4

Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." So Abram went, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed.

The Great Risk - Part 3

DAILY BYTE

Over these next few days we’ll be looking at the difficult truth contained in the parable of the talents, particularly for the ‘little ones’ in this life who prefer to play it safe. Today, let’s walk through the first part of this challenging parable.

A man was heading out of town, and so summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them. He knew they had different abilities, and so apportioned his property accordingly. To one he gave five talents, to another he gave two, and to the third slave, the little one amongst them, he gave one. Notice he didn’t give all eight talents to the one with the most ability. All the slaves, from the greatest to the least, were entrusted with the master’s property. And then he leaves, for a long time.

To get this parable, it’s essential to grasp that a talent was a unit of money that was big big bucks. We’re talking lotto jackpot here. In Jesus’ day, one talent was the equivalent of 15 years’ wages. So for us to hear this story as the original hearers did, we could say that a talent was roughly a million rand, and we’d be more or less in the right ballpark.

So there we find these three slaves. One is holding in his shaking hand a cheque, with his name on it, for a million rand. Eish! The other is blinking his eyes as he stares at his cheque for two million. The third has one for five million rand. He’s the first to make a move. “I think I’ll take this off-shore, “ he says, “and play the stock market.” The little guy looks at him with disbelief, “Are you out of your mind?” he says. “Haven’t you seen what’s happened this year to the Dow, the FTSE & the Dax?” But the first slave isn’t listening because he’s already got a broker on the line.

The second slave then says, “Hmmm. Two million…. I know. Property development. KZN North Coast.” And again the little guy grabs his hair and says, “Don’t be crazy. The Reserve Bank Governor recently declared a recession. And what if the master returns and his money is all tied up? Or the developer goes bust? Or…” But the second slave has already gone.

So there the little guy stands, cheque for a million rand in his hand, terrified.
The master had given no instructions as to what he should do with the money.
The decision is all his.

Don’t you feel at least a little bit sorry for him? I reckon he felt pretty sorry for himself. I reckon he felt sorry that he had such a master, who would take such a great risk as to entrust him, no… burden him with so much.

And so he wraps it up. And goes outside. And digs a hole. And buries it.

Which is not just to say that he did nothing with the money, but that it had to be hidden away. Maybe because he could not bear to look at the audacious invitation for him to risk himself in a wild and prodigal way.

I think that this little guy in the story represents all of us, at some time or another in all of our lives. For who of us can say that there haven’t been times when we’ve turned away from life’s audacious invitation to risk ourselves in wild and prodigal ways?

Maybe right now you’re aware of something that you’ve buried, for fear. Maybe it’s your heart. Maybe you loved someone, and it didn’t work out, and it hurt so bad that you made a promise to yourself that you’ll never allow yourself to get hurt like that again. And so, rather than risking yourself in vulnerability and love, you’ve buried your heart.

Maybe you’ve buried a lifelong dream. Maybe you’ve convinced yourself that it could never happen for you anyway and that you’re crazy for even thinking it might. And so, rather than risking yourself in a great, soul-stirring venture, you’ve settled for mediocrity, as you’ve buried even the possibility of trying.

Can you feel the deep sense of disappointment, and waste, and regret that this kind of response ultimately generates. Is that what you want for your life?

SCRIPTURE READING

Matthew 25:18

But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money.

The Great Risk - Part 2

DAILY BYTE

Yesterday I shared the fictional story of the great risk that a golf pro by the name of Roy McAvoy once took in the US Open, as depicted in the movie Tin Cup. But there are real-life stories of risky heroism that could be shared as well.

Recently, I read the story of Ellen MacArthur, a young British sailor who a few years back broke the world record for the fastest non-stop solo circumnavigation of the world. It was the most unbelievable story of courage and endurance as she risked herself in this heroic quest. Over and over again, in seemingly impossible situations on the high seas, she chose to go for it, and in the end the record was hers.

The only trouble with fictional stories like Roy McAvoy’s, or real-life ones like that of Ellen MacArthur, is that these courageous risk-takers seem so far-removed from ordinary people like us. Let’s face it; our lives are lived on a much smaller stage. And many people are content with that. They’re aware of their limitations and shortcomings, and accept that in the great scheme of things, they are one of the little ones, whose lives will pass by largely unnoticed. And who think that great risks are not really for them.

If you’re one of those people who prefers being anonymous as you get on with your life in a largely unnoticed way, then I’d remind you that no-one, in fact, is anonymous to God, and no-one goes unnoticed by Him. In fact, there is no-one who does not have a very particular part to play in God’s great plan to mend the entire universe. Which means that everyone faces the great risk of colliding with a call from God upon their lives, sooner or later.

Jesus noticed the little ones. He took great interest in their lives and wellbeing. The fullness of life that he came to bring was not just for superstars, but for ordinary people, for whom he had a particular love and concern. So much so that he was unafraid to speak hard truth into the lives of ordinary people.

Over the rest of this week we’ll take a closer look at a story that contained such difficult truth. It’s known as the parable of the talents. In preparation to hear its challenge, maybe you’d like to read it now and begin to reflect upon what it might be saying to your life. It’s found in Matthew 25:14-30.

PRAY AS YOU GO

Forgive me Lord for the times when I hide behind my own sense of inadequacy, assuming that my limitations are limitations for you. Remind me that you are the Sovereign Lord of all the earth, and that when you call ordinary people like me into your service that you know what you are doing. Help me to trust that even my little life can be lived out on the great canvass of your purposes for the world, not because of any merit of my own, but because of the immensity of your grace. Amen.

SCRIPTURE READING

Psalm 8:3-9

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars that you have established;
what are human beings that you are mindful of them,
mortals that you care for them?
Yet you have made them a little lower than God,
and crowned them with glory and honor.
You have given them dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under their feet,
all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
O LORD, our Sovereign,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

The Great Risk

DAILY BYTE

Some of you may have seen the movie Tin Cup. It’s about a washed up golf pro by the name of Roy ‘Tin Cup’ McAvoy, played in the movie by Kevin Costner. He lives in a caravan on a dusty armadillo-infested driving range in some backwater town in Texas.

When a beautiful, sophisticated woman by the name of Dr Molly Griswold, played by Rene Russo, signs up for some golf lessons, she thinks that McAvoy is just a dead beat frat boy whose future plans extend only as far as his next beer. And so, to show her that he is, in fact, made of sterner stuff he sets out to qualify for the US Open, which he does.

In true schmaltzy Hollywood style, the movie comes to its climax with McAvoy needing a birdie on the final hole to win the US Open. He’s faced with a tough decision. Should he play it safe by laying up in front of the water hazard on this long par 5? Or should he play a far more risky shot, hitting over the water and going straight for the green? In earlier rounds he had tried the riskier option, and on each occasion had failed. The conventional wisdom was that he should play it safe.

But McAvoy would have none of that. He’s convinced he can pull off this audacious shot, and so he goes for it. And sure enough, hits the ball in the water. Undeterred, he takes out another ball, and tries the shot again, and again hits it in the water. So he takes out another ball, and another, and another, and another. Each time, hitting it into the water. Until he has only one ball left in his bag, and in even schmaltzier Hollywood style, he hits that last ball into the hole.

This movie was hardly a cinemagraphical tour de force, but it made a compelling point. There are times when life presents to us a risky choice, and we must decide: do we go for it, or do we play it safe? How we choose in those defining moments, shapes the kind of people we will be.

As we will be discovering in our devotions this week, God’s intention for us is to take the great risk of giving ourselves completely to this magnificent, miraculous gift that is our Life.

PRAY AS YOU GO

Lord Jesus Christ, you held nothing back in risking yourself completely in your great adventure of love by coming to share life with us. May we be inspired by your example to give ourselves completely to that higher purpose to which you call each one of us. Help us, today, to live in such a way that demonstrates our desire to trust you completely. Amen.

A FURTHER THOUGHT FOR THE DAY“A ship in harbour is safe – but that is not what ships are for.” John A. Shedd