Pentecost 23

The exploitation of talent is a delicate matter. Many of the world’s greatest artists labored in obscurity during their lifetimes. Overnight sensations typically  report that they worked as unknowns for decades before they were ‘discovered’. The tabloids are cluttered with reports of young sports, pop, and movie stars who handled fame badly. The loss of privacy and the inability to handle sudden wealth weigh heavily on most. It is not good for the male ego to have thousands of woman throwing themselves at you. Hollywood is littered with the graves of child actors who died young due to drugs, alcohol, or  riotous living. The examples of televangelists who became hypnotized by their own personas is legion.

Most of us do not possess the good looks of runway models or are unlikely to be discovered by talent scouts so what does it mean for us to use our God-given talents. How can we best use them to further God’s work on Earth. I am reminded of the Anglican priest who is asked how his son is doing in  college. His response, “Great, he’s an atheist at the moment.” This vignette makes the point that the opposite of faith is not disbelief but apathy and indifference. Faith that is not striving and struggling to find itself is stagnant and dead. Those who know what they believe, who have all the answers have lost faith.

So what does all this mean for the average person? Just because you don’t have the voice of an opera star doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t sing. If we adopt the self-defeatist attitude of the slave with one talent we become the agents of our own failure. No one can succeed without trying. Finally we look to our fellow travellers on this journey for support, this is why we come to church.