“Time and Talent”
Mark 5:21-43
Rev. Tom Harris
November 1, 2009
Today we continue with the second of four answers to the question “What does a Christian give?” Today’s answer is “A Christian gives time and talent to the church.” However, this will not be your ordinary time and talent sermon. Ordinarily, a time and talent sermon is just about the importance of volunteering at church. As members of this faith community we need to give of our time and our skills so that the church can function. If Govans could pay staff to do all the functions of the church we would not want to. Even if we could pay professional ushers to do all our ushing and professional liturgists to do all our liturgizing and pay choir and band members and extra office workers; even if we could pay for all of this we would not want to because it’s part of our calling as Christians to do as much of the work of the church as we possibly can. We are called to be servants and part of servanthood is washing the dishes and putting away chairs after meals. Part of servanthood is cooking casseroles for church dinners. Part of servanthood is serving on committees and ministry areas to plan programs for the community. Part of servanthood is serving on Session to govern the church. Part of being a Christian is serving the church by giving our time and talents to the church.
That is what an ordinary time and talent sermon during stewardship season would say. And that is all completely true. In fact, we at Govans do need more people to help out and volunteer. We still need office volunteers to help answer the phones and answer the door during the week. Dickens Warfield and Judy Western help out every week but we still have lots of time not covered. Our full time Office Manager, Pam Wallace does a great job juggling all her duties as a Manager and being a receptionist but she could be much more focused on managing if she wasn’t spending so much time politely hanging up on telemarketers. We need volunteers to politely hang up on telemarketers. We need more people on several ministry areas including Congregational Care, Administration and Personnel, Facilities, Children and Youth, Adults and Worship and Spirituality. We need people who can make a regular commitment to care for the grounds of the church and the cemetery the way Doug and Anthony clean the side walk along York Road every Saturday morning. We need people help our Communion Preparers, Jeananne and Sylvia. We need more people to sing in the band and to sing in the choir. We need people to coordinate projectionists for the first service and help out David Draper and Will Field with video production for the both services. We need people to back up Steve on the sound board during the first service. We need people who can figure out how to create podcasts or webcasts of both services. We need people to help Ken Greene with the production and mailing of the Bellringer. We need people to serve as Sunday School Superintendents. We need more Sunday School teachers and people to support them. We need youth group leaders for Middle and High School age. Regardless of who we hire to do what, we always need volunteers to give of their time and talent.
That is what an ordinary time and talent sermon would say. But, I said this would not be an ordinary time and talent sermon and here is why. The reality is that many people are already doing too much in their lives. Many people are already giving of our time and talent to this church or to other organizations. Many people are already over committed. We are busy people. And one of the most spiritually harmful ways of life is a busy life. Most of us, in fact need to slow down and do less. Because a vital relationship with God, which is our primary for being a church requires us to have time in our schedules to stop and pay attention to what God is doing around and within us. A vital relationship with God requires us to have time to follow the Spirit’s prompting and maybe to talk to our a neighbor or friend for half an hour when they need us instead of rushing off to a meeting. A vital relationship with God requires time outside breathing fresh air for its own sake. A vital relationship with God requires us to get enough sleep at night instead of staying up late to do all the things we didn’t have time for during the day. A vital relationship with God in other words, requires Sabbath. In six days God made the heavens and the earth and on the seventh day God rested and made that day holy. We need Sabbath rest built into our schedules.
In our passage today, Jesus was on his way to attend to a boy who was dying and he still had time to stop and minister to a woman who was suffering. We need time to stop and pay attention to the Spirit’s movement around and within us.
In her book “An Altar in the World” Barbara Brown Taylor talks about the spiritual discipline of saying “no.” She talks about the fact that a healthy relationship with God requires down time, unscheduled, unprogrammed time. When the needs of the world come knocking we need to be able to say, “Sorry, I can’t open this door right now.” Not because we are lazy an don’t care but because we are disciplined Sabbath keepers and we trust God.
But, the question is then how do we reconcile our calling as Christians to give generously of our time and talent with our calling make space for the Holy Spirit in our busy lives? How do we say no and to what? I offer four suggestions. First, pray for God’s help to find balance. We need to ask God to help us have a balanced, restful, active, spirit filled life. It is probably the first suggestion of all prescription for a better life, ask God for help.
Second, build Sabbath and rest into our schedule so that resting and down time are not holes to be filled with commitments they are commitments. Rest, self care and family time are just as important to schecdule as volunteer time.
Third, with Sabbath time built into our lives make service to the church community a priority. Christians are called to prioritize service to the church in their lives. Of all the demands for volunteering our precious hours, volunteering at church is a priority for a Christian. We serve the world best through service to our faith community. It’s the same principle as giving money to the poor and needy by giving money to our faith community. We serve our world by serving our church first.
And fourth, we need to open our hearts to service at church as time that nourishes us, that nourishes our relationship to God and nourishes our families. Church should not be just another volunteering activity that leaves us drained. It should be a time to live out our faith and be filled up. And if its not then let’s make it that way. It should be a time to enjoy friends and allow our children to enjoy the community. It should be time to be inter-generational. It should be a time to serve God and nurture a relationship to God through service to others. It should be time to be with family and friends in the presence of God.
And just a note before I close, the family time at church idea can be very challenging if, like many people in this church the family is not all in the same place regarding participation in church. The husband participates but the wife does not or the parents participate but the teen age kids do not. Of course, that needs to be figured into the equation and it brings us back to the second suggestions of building our lives around Sabbath time, down time and family time.
But, acknowledge that challenge the question for today is still what does a Christian give? A Christian gives time and talent to the church. To do that in the world we live in we have to first ask God for help. Second, build Sabbath time into our lives; to practice the spiritual discipline of saying “no.” Third, within that more spiritually spacious lifestyle, prioritize church service. And fourth, allow service to the church to be time for God, time for self care and if possible in your situation, time for family. It can be all those things.
As much as we want to fill every volunteer slot that is open at Govnas, and as much as we want a congregation filled with the Spirit of God, what we need at Govans is both at the same time.
