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Risky Business

We don’t often equate the work of the church with taking risks, but perhaps we reallyshould . . . on many different levels. This week my question for folks has been, “What kind of a risk-taker are you?” I soon found out that this can be a complicated question.

Sometimes our appetite for risk-taking depends on the circumstances. Sometimes it depends on how old we are and what’s going on in our lives. It might be interesting to consider the different stages of your life and how you managed the risks you have taken over time.

This week’s gospel reading is The Parable of the Talents. It’s a story of a man going on a journey who entrusted different sums of money to three of his slaves according to their abilities. Two of the slaves went off and doubled the landowner’s money, but the third, in fear, buried his until the landowner returned.

If we apply this teaching story to our work in the church, it becomes a great stewardship lesson. To care for the variety of gifts of the church we are to risk putting our abilities and our convictions to work, not hide behind our fears of what we might loose. There is no guarantee that our steps forward will be in a straight line. It rarely works that way. But to hide our light under a bushel pretty much guarantees no return at all.

The work of the church is risky business! In this week between Stewardship Sunday and Gratitude Sunday, let’s think about
what our greatest treasure is as a church community, and how we might risk putting our gifts to work for the greater good.

Peace and joy,
Nancy