The Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee



Proper 28, Year A, November 13, 2011, St. Andrew’s Church New Johnsonville

“So then, let us not fall asleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober” (1 Thess. 5:6).

The early Christians expected Jesus to return quickly, to wrap things up and to begin his reign on earth. This gave a sense of urgency to the life of faith: no time for nodding off, in other words, which is pretty much St. Paul’s point in our reading today. Don’t fall asleep, because you might miss something; stay focused, because you want to get the point. In a couple of weeks it will be the Advent season, which most of us think about as a time of preparation for Christmas. Well that’s certainly true, but originally the season was more in the order of a preparation for the second coming of Christ, the Church’s annual reminder that the Lord was coming. Will we be ready?, the Church asks us; will we stay awake? Centuries may have passed but the urgency remains. Our readings keep us focused on this theme, and invite us like the early Christians to keep focused and to stay awake, to be sober and watchful.

So here’s our charge today, centering on three words: attention, intention, and the action that follows. The first word has the most to do with Paul’s point in his letter to the Thessalonians: staying wide awake, being focused, and paying attention to what’s going on around us. Most of us don’t spend enough time looking and listening, tuning in to reality and staying tuned in. We have other stuff to do, our own agendas, and not enough time to accomplish it all. This is true in our everyday lives as well as in our lives as Christians. But let me remind you that the early Christians thought the time was short, and still found the time to keep vigil and prayer, to pay attention to what God was doing. Prayer is the way we pay attention to God, to understand what he’s doing in the world. Prayer involves listening first to God before we begin to speak ourselves.

“Intention” is the second word. Paying attention is just the first step, because we’re gathering information for a purpose: we just don’t know what the purpose is yet. Notice how there’s an order of priority here: if you’ve formed your agenda before you pay attention then you’ve got it dead wrong. God’s at work in the world, so we need to pay attention before we do anything else, but what does he want us to do about it? What’s God will, after all? We need an intention, a plan, and a direction to head in. What are we to do? This is where moral purpose comes in, action that arises from reflection on reality and which has a greater purpose. Once you know what’s up, it’s time to start planning, and charting a course for wherever God wants you to go.

“Action” is the last word, the final act in the trilogy. Here we edge into our Gospel reading, which reflects the same sense of urgency that inspired the early Christians. Three servants are given talents, large sums of money that are meant to give a return for their investment. Two of the servants pay attention, form intention, and take action; but one of the servants does nothing with the treasure that has been given to him. Action is what is missing. Perhaps he was paying attention, but just drew the wrong conclusion; maybe he formed an intention, but it was an intention to do nothing or what amounted to nothing. The point of the parable is the need for action; it has the same background that was so convincing to the early Church. The times are urgent and demand decisive action. That’s the point that the third servant doesn’t get, and the result is weeping and gnashing of teeth.

So that’s the charge we’re given today: attention, intention, and the action that follows. Or put another way, a call to listen carefully, say our prayers, and respond to God’s call to us with decisive action. What’s true for us in our own lives is true as well for Christian communities. Are we paying attention? Are we forming intention? Are we taking action? What is it that God wants from us and how can we respond? We don’t want to be found asleep when Jesus comes in glory, nor do we want to be groggy and lacking sobriety! We want to be focused and wide awake.

- The Rt. Rev’d John Bauerschmidt, Bishop of Tennessee

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