It’s not too often that biblical words and phrases take on a whole new life in the English language. But some images and phrases do stick. Think of the images of a Good Samaritan or a Prodigal Son (or Daughter) that have entered common parlance. There is a word from this week’s parable that has enjoyed similar treatment, namely the concept of a talent. English has picked up this word from the Greek talanton, which was a measure of weight used for gold, silver or coins.

In the parable a wealthy Master gives varying numbers of talents (representing large amounts of money) to three of his servants, to each according to their ability. In English it is this latter association that has stuck, so that a talent is seen as a skill or ability that a person possesses to be used to enrich the lives of those around them. So the common interpretation of this parable is that we have all received talents from God that we are to grow and use to benefit others. The warning is to not be like the third servant who buries his talent in the ground (i.e. doesn’t use or develop it). Of course, the talents may not be individual traits but rather a measure of God’s abundant love and grace freely given to all and to be shared widely.

There are some problems with this interpretation. These relate to Jesus’ teaching elsewhere about money and wealth (key aspects of the parable) as well as the character of the Master (seen as greedy, vindictive). An alternative interpretation (also not without its share of difficulty) is that the Master represents the Emperor (or King Herod) who encourages people (or Israel) to make money at the expense of the poor and thus to play along with an oppressive system. The most faithful response is that of the third servant who refuses to play the game but who pays for his lack of engagement when the Master returns.

So we are invited to reflect on this parable and see what its message may be for each of us. Perhaps a call to use what we have at hand to build up God’s kingdom in our midst. Perhaps a reminder of the great value of God’s love that is not to be hoarded but rather shared. Or perhaps a warning not to participate in systems that are geared towards wealth creation over caring for people. May God give us ears to listen.

This Sunday we will not be meeting by Zoom for worship. Instead we encourage people to watch and participate in the collaborative service prepared by Heathmont, Ringwood, Ringwood North and our two Croydon congregations. You will see and hear from several familiar faces from Croydon and Croydon North, including Rev Peter. To log in to the service go to the following website https://nruc.online.church/ before 10 am.

If you are unable to join us to participate online, click here for worship@home resources.

I’m not always very patient when it comes to waiting. I can get irritated by having to wait too long at red traffic lights and sometimes get impatient with what can feel like glacial change in the church. But Jesus’ warning to us in this week’s parable is not to get complacent or impatient but to be prepared to wait for what may come.

The parable tells of a wedding and the seemingly endless wait for the bridegroom to arrive. He is not a polite few minutes late but hours overdue. When the bridegroom is finally sighted in the distance, all the waiting bridesmaids light their lamps. But some forgot to bring extra oil. No bother – surely there’s enough to go round? The sensible bridesmaids hold onto their oil and send away the stupid bridesmaids on a fool’s errand to try and buy more oil in the middle of the night. While they are gone, the wedding feast begins and the doors are locked. The silly bridesmaids are left outside as the bridegroom refuses them entry, claiming not to know them.

Are these bridesmaids foolish because they forgot to bring extra oil (and what might this represent in our lives)? Or are they foolish to go off on a wild goose chase searching for oil (and what might this represent in our lives)? Or is their most foolish choice not to be personally known to the bridegroom who could let them into the feast? If we read the whole of Matthew’s Gospel, it is not enough to hear the words Jesus speaks. The sensible person will take Jesus’ message to heart and live by it, day in and day out. Then there will be no anxiety about gaining entry into the wedding feast (a metaphor for the coming kingdom of God) however long it is delayed in coming.

We will be holding a Zoom worship meeting this Sunday morning from 9.45 am. I will host the meeting from my home but it will be an opportunity to hold a larger (virtual) gathering and to see each others’ faces. We will be basing our worship on the attached worship@home resource for this week, so it would be handy to have a copy present. We can send you a link to the meeting or a phone number and meeting details if you sign up by emailing the Croydon UC church office on office@croydon.unitingchurch.org.au or using the form in the sidebar.

Click here for worship@home resources.

Whether we’ve happily complied with or loathed the Covid19 restrictions of the last several months, most people in Melbourne have been co-operative in following the law. Most of us see the benefit to the wider community of getting the disease under control and the best way to do this is to follow the health laws about wearing masks and so forth.

The Jewish Law contained in the Bible covers a multitude of topics that impinge on community life including disease control, food handling, settling of legal disputes and of course matters of worship. One day Jesus is asked what is the single most important or greatest commandment in this vast array of laws. His answer is succinct and memorable – love God with all your heart, soul and strength and also love your neighbour as yourself.

As Christians we are so familiar with this teaching that it’s difficult to imagine it being anything other than central to our faith. Yet the question asked of Jesus is set as a test or a trap. Perhaps this is because Jesus has had numerous earlier skirmishes with the Pharisees over interpretation of the Jewish Law, especially regarding Sabbath regulations and purity laws. For the Pharisees, Jesus plays fast and loose with the Law. For Jesus, the Pharisees focus on minor matters of the Law and ignore the weightier matters of mercy and justice. So a simple sounding question masks underlying tensions.

While Jesus’ response is memorable, it’s also hard to live out in practice. How do we get the balance right between our call to love God and our call to love our neighbour? And besides, who is my neighbour that I’m called to love? Is it just those of my tribe or those who live nearby? And what might it mean to love them? It’s all very open ended … which is why Jesus’ response is so brilliant. He didn’t provide black and white answers that we could haggle over, but rather asks us to consider in each and every situation how might I best love my neighbour, both during the Covid 19 pandemic and when life has settled back to a more predictable routine?

We will be holding a Zoom worship meeting this Sunday morning from 9.45 am. I will host the meeting from my home but it will be an opportunity to hold a larger (virtual) gathering and to see each others’ faces. We will be basing our worship on the attached worship@home resource for this week, so it would be handy to have a copy present. We can send you a link to the meeting or a phone number and meeting details if you sign up by emailing the Croydon UC church office on office@croydon.unitingchurch.org.au or using the form in the sidebar.

Click here for worship@home resources

Last week the Federal Government handed down its Budget and there was the usual commentary on ‘winners’ and ‘losers’. While people with higher taxable incomes and business seemed to do well, other groups including university students and staff, overseas workers, the unemployed, refugees and people working in hospitality, the arts, retail or tourism seemed to be largely forgotten.

In this week’s Gospel reading, Jesus is asked whether it’s necessary and okay to pay taxes. Jesus dodges the question as either a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer will probably land him in trouble. He requests instead that the coin for paying the Roman tax be brought, which carried the inscription Tiberius Caesar, divine son of Augustus, thus making rival claims to Jesus about his identity. Jesus’ wise and challenging response to the question of paying taxes is to give the Emperor his dues – and so pay the taxes he imposes – but also to give due honour to God’s demands, which are rather more all-encompassing as God is the Creator and Sustainer of every aspect of life.

Coming back to our government’s Budget, the cuts to personal and business taxes are no doubt welcome, but I wonder about neglecting those people struggling the most. As I look at the lists compiled of winners and losers from the Budget, it’s hard not to think that our government’s priorities do not line up with Jesus’ priorities for the outcast, the poor and the least. Hence the great challenge of Jesus’ response to give to God what rightly belongs to God – including our worship, our love for neighbour and our commitment to care for the last and the least.

This Sunday we will not be meeting by Zoom for worship. Instead we encourage people to watch and participate in the collaborative service prepared by Heathmont, Ringwood, Ringwood North and our two Croydon congregations. You will see and hear from several familiar faces from Croydon and Croydon North, including Rev Peter. To log in to the service go to the following website https://nruc.online.church/ before 10 am.

If you are unable to join us to participate online, click here for worship@home resources.