Are We Willing To Take a Risk?

I have been thinking about the parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14-30. We know the householder had distributed a certain amount of money to each of three servants. To one he gave ten talents (minas), to another five and to a third one. It is recorded that upon his return he was very pleased that the two with the greater amount of talents when they doubled the amount they had been given. It is recorded that he was greatly displeased with the one who carefully protected the one talent and simply returned it to the householder.

As I read this parable, I am seeing it as two were risk takers and the one avoided risk. “Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground.” (Mt 25:24-25 NRSV) He was afraid of taking a risk.

I wonder what the reaction of the householder would have been if the one with ten talents had lost the ten talents in a venture capital investment? “Master, for many years I have watched and studied your investment practices. Using your methodology, I saw this opportunity as a possible way of not only doubling the talents you entrusted to me; having investigated this opportunity as thoroughly as possible, it seemed you could have realized a tenfold return. The day after I made the investment the stock shot up like a stone hurled from a sling. After a month it plateaued. Then the value dropped like a rock.  I am sorry to report the project failed and I lost your ten talents.”

Would the householder have had the servant flogged and thrown out into the street? Would he have demanded restitution? (A talent was worth about thirteen years wages for a servant.) Would he have praised the servant for the willingness to run the risk, even knowing how harsh the householder was? We know no risk, hiding the talent in the ground, produced no reward. But what if there is a big risk which produces no return?

What is the balance in our ministry between no risk and no reward and high risk with the possibility of either a great reward or losing everything? As I look around, I see the church and those who serve it as becoming more and more risk adverse. We feel we are in a desperate situation seeing our survival slipping away. All the data tells us we are decreasing in numbers and in financial resources. We cringe at the thought of the church councils making any decision which might upset those in the pews.

Our willingness to take a risk depends on how we answer the question of how the householder would have responded to the servant who lost the ten talents. Are we willing to take the risk, or are we like the servant who was afraid and hid the talent in the ground? Avoiding risk did not work very well for that servant.

Have we become idolatrous in fearing for our survival? Have we elevated survival above faithfulness? In the Foundational section of the Book of Order (PCUSA) we read, The Church is to be a community of faith, entrusting itself to God alone, even at the risk of losing its life.
(F-1.0301) Do we believe the words of penned by Daniel Towner in 1886, “Trust and obey, For there’s no other way To be happy in Jesus, But to trust and obey?”
(http://www.hymnal.net/hymn.php/h/582#ixzz2lOTR8mQr) 

Maslow tells us survival is the base in the hierarchy of needs. Fear for our survival makes us very risk adverse. The first question and answer to the Heidelberg Catechism carries the same encouragement as does Roman 14:7-8, We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live in the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.

 
So, in answer to the question, “What would have been the householder’s reaction to the loss of the ten talents by the servant willing to take a huge risk on behalf of the householder?,” I believe the willingness to take a risk would have been rewarded. What do you think?

What Is the Next Move?



As the screen shot above reveals, I was idly playing solitaire and it dawned on me that in life and in ministry each move dictates options for future moves. This is true in chess, checkers, baseball, football, or any other human endeavor including ministry.

In the game above there are multiple choices for the next move. Do you move the ten of hearts to the jack? The four of hearts to the five? The seven of hearts to the eight? As is clear, there are many options. Some options cut off the possibility of a future move. Others open multiple options. Hidden from our sight are the cards which are face down. Those cards are very much like the unknown responses or reactions of others involved in the congregation.

One of the things I discovered, in other games, is staring at the screen often blinds us to moves which are right there. Looking away and coming back to the screen suddenly the move is clearly there. “Why didn’t I see that before?”

As I reflect upon ministry, there are many times when the present move sets up a whole series of subsequent moves. Many times the moves may be made without thought or regard for what would be opened or closed as a result of that move. In retrospect, I wish I had taken just a bit more time to consider how the present move would dictate the next move or bring an end to the “game.”

I cannot help but ask, “How would my ministry be different if I would have taken the time to consider what the consequences a potential move might influence possible future moves?