Talents @ MindSay

"Live the parable of the talents!" Throckmorton exhorted, as assistants handed out hundreds of red envelops stuffed with crisp $50 bills and stunned church members did quick mental calculations, wondering where all the money had come from. There are about 1,700 in the congregation, though not everyone attends each week.

The cash, Throckmorton explained, was loaned by several anonymous donors.

In her regular pew at the back of the church, where she has listened to sermons for 40 years, 73-year-old Barbara Gates gasped. What kind of kooky nonsense is this, she thought.

"Sheer madness," sniffed retired accountant Wayne Albers, 85, to his wife, Marnie, who hushed him as he whispered loudly. "Why can't the church just collect money the old-fashioned way?"

In a center pew, Ann Nagy's eyes moistened as she considered her ailing, beloved father, his suffering, and the song she had written to comfort him near death. She nudged her husband Scott. "Give me your $50," she whispered. Nagy knew exactly what she would do.

Throckmorton wrapped up his two morning services by saying that children would get $10. And he assured the congregation that anyone who didn't feel comfortable could simply return the money. No consignment to outer darkness for those who didn't participate.

Throckmorton is warm and engaging and approachable, as comfortable talking about the Cleveland Indians baseball team as he is discussing scripture. At the Federated Church, he is known simply as Hamilton.

But as church members spilled into the late summer sunshine that morning to ponder their skills and their souls, there were many who thought: Hamilton is really pushing us this time.

"There was definitely this tension, this pressure to live up to something," said Hal Maskiell, a 62-year-old retired Navy pilot who spent days trying to figure out how to meet the challenge.

Maskiell's passion is flying a four-seater Cessna 172 Skyhawk over the Cuyahoga County hills. He decided to use his $50 to rent air time from Portage County airport and charge $30 for half-hour rides. Church members eagerly signed up. Maskiell was thrilled to get hours of flying time, and he raised $700.

His girlfriend, Kathy Marous, 55, was far less confident. What talents do I have, she thought dejectedly. She was tempted to give the money back.

And then Marous found an old family recipe for tomato soup, one she hadn't made in 19 years. She remembered how much she had enjoyed the chopping and the cooking and the canning and the smells. With Hal's encouragement Marous dug out her pots. She bought three pecks of tomatoes. Suddenly she was chopping and cooking and canning again. At $5 a jar, she made $180.

"I just never imagined people would pay money for the things I made," Marous exclaimed.

Others felt the same way. Barbara Gates raised $450 crafting pendants from beads and sea glass - pieces she had casually made for her grandchildren over the years. Kathie Biggin created fanciful little red-nosed Rudolph pins and sold them for $2.50. Twelve-year-old Amanda Horner pooled her money with friends, stocked up at JoAnn's fabric store, and made dozens of colorful fleece baby blankets, which were purchased by church members and then donated to a local hospital.

And 87-year-old Bob Burrows rediscovered old carpentry skills and began selling wooden bird-feeders.

But it wasn't the money; everyone said so. It was something else, something far less tangible but yet so very real. For seven weeks an almost magical sense of excitement and energy and camaraderie infused the elegant red-brick church on Bell Street, spilling over into homes and hearts as the parable of the talents came alive.

In her sun-filled studio on Strawberry Lane, Shirley Culbertson felt it - a joyful sense of purpose that she had rarely experienced since her husband passed two years ago. Culbertson, 81, is a gifted painter and watercolors fill her house. But she discovered another talent during this time - knitting whimsical eight-inch stuffed dolls with button noses and floppy hats. She raised $90.

Zooming down country roads clinging to the back of a leather-clad biker, Florence Cross felt it too. For the challenge, Barry Biggin had parked his 2006 Harley Davidson Road King outside the church, offering 12-mile rides for $30. Cross was the first to sign up. Never mind that she is in her mid-80s, had never been on a bike, or that her husband of 60 years had to hoist her up.

"Oh, it was such a thrill!" said Cross, her face glowing at the memory. Her friends now call her "Harley Girl."

Martine Scheuermann lived the parable in her Elm Street kitchen, transforming it into an "applesauce factory" for several weeks. The 49-year-old human resources director would rise at 6 a.m. on Sundays in order to have warm batches ready for sampling at church services.

In his origami-filled bedroom on Bradley Street, Paul Cantlay lived the parable too. Surrounded by sheets of colored construction paper, the 9-year-old crafted paper dragons and stars and sailboats. He set up an origami stand at the end of his street, charged 50 cents to $5 depending on the piece, and raised $68.

Talents began multiplying at such a rate that the church held a bazaar after services on two consecutive Sundays for people to display - and sell - their wares.

The pretty little village on the Chagrin River falls had never seen anything quite like it. Everyone seemed to be talking about the talent challenge: over the clatter of coffee cups at Dink's restaurant, at the Fireside bookshop on the green, sipping drinks at the Gamekeeper's Taverne. Even members of other churches weighed in: Have you heard what's happening at Federated?

"Anyone can open their wallet and give cash," Kris Tesar said. "This was just an extraordinary process of exploration and discovery and of challenging ourselves. It became bigger than any one of us or than any individual talent."

Tesar, a 58-year-old retired nurse, discovered her talent in buckets of flip-flops for sale at Old Navy. She stocked up on yarn and beads and made dozens of funky, fluffy decorative footwear that were a huge hit with teens. Tesar raised $550 for the church, is still taking orders and is thinking of starting a business. Now even her children call her the "flip-flop lady."

People also got to know the "hen lady" - Gabrielle Quintin, who took to raising chickens on a whim 23 years ago when she moved into a 180-year-old house with a barn. Her "ladies," as Quintin calls her backyard flock, provide a welcome distraction from her nursing job in a cancer center. Quintin decided to put her brood to work for the church. For $10 church members could "hire-a-hen" and get three dozen fresh eggs complete with a photograph of the "lady" who laid them.

"It wasn't exactly spiritual, but I had a lot of fun," said Quintin, whose husband, Mike, made glass birdfeeders. "And it was just this great way of bringing everyone together and connecting with the church."

Kathy Wellman quilted. Mary Hobbs knit shawls and penciled portraits. Cathy Hatfield auctioned a ride in her hot-air balloon. Norma and Trent Bobbitt pooled their money with another church member to hire a harpist from the Cleveland orchestra and host an elegant evening dinner party. Folks paid $50 each to attend and the Bobbitts made over $1,200.

And physician Peter Yang took over shifts from other doctors in his partnership (he used his $50 for gas to get to the hospital) and raised $3,000.

The deadline to return the money was Sunday, Oct. 28. Nervously, some church council members suggested posting plain clothes security guards at services that day. But Throckmorton would have none of it. He insisted that the spirit of the challenge, which had already inspired so much goodwill, would carry them safely through. And it did.

Organ music filled the church as people silently filed down the aisle, dropped their proceeds into baskets, and offered testimonials about what living the parable had meant to them. Throckmorton thanked everyone for their generosity. Then he started counting.

A week later he delivered the joyful news: They had more than doubled the amount distributed.

The initial take was $38,195 over the loan, but the amount is still growing. Some people didn't make the deadline, or extended it in order to finish their projects.

The final sum will be divided equally between three charities: One-third will go to a school library in South Africa where the church is involved in an AIDS mission; one-third will go to micro-loan organizations that provide seed money for small businesses in developing countries; one-third will help the Interfaith Hospitality Network in Cleveland, specifically programs for homeless women.

Throckmorton is asked all the time if the talent challenge will become an annual event, but he is doubtful. It was a special time and a special idea, he says, and he is not sure it could be re-created or relived.

Yet in a very real sense, it lives on. Church members who never knew each other have become friends. And orders for applesauce, flip-flops and Rudolph pins are still rolling in for Christmas.

There are other, more poignant reminders. Like Ann Nagy's haunting tribute to her father, who died of brain cancer on Oct. 11.

Nagy, 44, has always been a singer with a clear lovely voice. It wasn't until her father grew ill and moved into a hospice that she started writing songs. She found solace in the music and a way of communicating that was sometimes easier than spoken words.

At hospice, patients are taught five simple truths to tell their loved ones before they die: I'll miss you. I love you. I forgive you. I'm sorry. Goodbye.

Borrowing from that theme, Nagy wrote a farewell song for her Dad. She pooled her $50 talent money with her husband's share and cut a CD to sell to church members. Ironically it was finished just an hour before her father passed, on Oct. 11. Nagy stood by his bed and sang it for him anyway.

On Nov. 11 - her father's 72nd birthday - Throckmorton preached a sermon about dying. He invited Nagy to the altar. There, accompanied by a cellist and a pianist she sang "Before You Go."

I didn't mean to, but I probably did.  At least one of them actually told me I was scaring her.

No, Sandi doesn't do the "fire and brimstone" number for her Sunday School Advent Series.  Rather, I was teaching on the prophecies concerning the birth of Christ, and how God had a plan for reconciling Man to Himself.

Doesn't sound so bad, does it?  I mean, you know, in terms of scaring ten- and eleven-year-old children.

But then, I told them that there are people who are angered or frightened or in other ways put off by the idea of a personal God who has a plan and to whom they are accountable. 

Jesus said this, in the gospel of Matthew: 

How did we get from the prophets Isaiah, Micah, Jeremiah and Hosea to that?

The key to my lesson today was that God has a plan. What made me kind of sad is that when this parable was brought up, one of the students instantly responded that he'd buried what he was given.

Yes, they're only in fifth grade, but God loves them and has and will entrust them with "talents."  I hope they don't bury them!

Ok....so three weeks into the world of blogging, I can say that it's been an intesting experience so far. I've roamed around some, but am just beginning to 'add friends'. Have gone back to my profile and edited it. This is very different from 'chat rooms'; which I am not really attracted to. It offers varying degrees of  'connection'.  Possibility of friendship, compatibility, and yes...intimicy (not that kind!) in a widespread, anonymous, (dare I say?) safe forum. Takes 'reach out and touch someone' to a different level. I particularly enjoy the oppourtunities to view the myriad artistry and talents of others. Whether written, photographed, or musical. 

What "they" don't tell you, about parenthood, is that you are instantly supposed to turn into a teacher. Not only A teacher, but THE teacher. The first teacher your children will know.  As this person, you learn how to explain things in such a way that your child will understand the answer.

For one child, you might need to give a flat-out definition.  "Mom, how do babies get made REALLY?" is always a fun one for the first time parent.  A vocabulary word should be used in a sentence, in a context, that will be understood.  Sometimes, a social situation will have to be explained using a parallel situation with which a child is already familiar.

A good teacher knows his students.  The BEST Teacher knows how to present information not just for one learner, but for all the learners that will follow.

Which is why, here in the book of Matthew, we see how Jesus' disciples asked him a question:  What signs will there be before the End of the Age?  They thought this might have one answer but their rabbi gives them many different answers that all basically say the same things.

Be obedient.  Be prepared.  Do not expect the timing to be when you think it should be.  Those who are not prepared will be left out and/or disciplined.

The illustration he used after the parable of the ten virgins is the parable of the talents.  A talent, in the context of the scripture is money. In Nave's Topical Bible, one talent is approximately equivalent to $1,940.  Ten, then, would be $19,400; five, $9,700.  You can read all of the parable here in verses  14 - 30.

Basically, a man goes on a journey and leaves his estate to three servants to manage. He gives them varying levels of responsibility. One man gets ten talents, one five, and one, one.  The one with ten puts the money to good use over a period of time, doubling it.  The one with five did likewise. The one who got only one talent to use for his employer probably debated with himself what to do, eventually deciding to bury it in the ground and keep it safe.  Note that he didn't squander the money, but he didn't use it for growth, either. 

The master/employer returns and, of course, demands an accounting from his servants. He expresses pleasure with the first two servants, and immediately gives them more to work with, greater honor and greater responsibility.  The third one though, comes across as fearful and overly timid. Foolish, too.  The master reprimands him.  "You could at least have put the money with the bankers so that IT could have worked, if you didn't want to!"  (Sandi's paraphrase.) 

The result for that the last servant is this pronouncement: 


What does this have to do with what Jesus says about the End of the Age, as his disciples asked?  Jesus is not only teaching about the signs that will come before this ending, but also about the preparations people should make before they happen.  The lesson, here, is not to languish while we wait for the return of the Master.

We each of us have been given gifts. Talents...as in skills, not money necessarily.  Things we can do particularly well.  The job we have to do is to make use of these skills, not bury them. It's not hard. Now, it's hard to do someone ELSE's job. Yes.  I might have the brains, say, to be a doctor, but I do not have the spirit to make it my life's calling.  I have the knowledge and even experience to be a youth pastor, yes. But I found out through trial that it wasn't my calling. I was not happy, there.  Even in service to my God. I was serving, but not serving where I had my talents.  I don't know that I was able to double my portion in any way while I was there.

You have seen people who are truly happy in doing what they are doing.  It could be shaking hands, talking to people in grocery stores, waiting on tables, taking blood, helping a little child to read... When someone is happily engaged where they belong, they are multiplying their gift to share and grow themselves and others.  That is investing in God's people in the way that he has deemed good and right.

So today, if we are investing our gifts where they are doing some good...multiplying them, spreading them around, not burying them out of fear of our Master...  If we are doing this, then our work has been good and we will be rewarded.  If, out of fear or carelessness or unwillingness to put ourselves forward, ignore what we are given to do, we shall be punished.

Jesus uses that "darkness" and "weeping and gnashing of teeth" thing often when teaching about the Kingdom of Heaven.  Just as a good teacher will point out all perspectives of a lesson, so does Christ. He shares the benefits of obedience as well as the penalties of disobedience.

Do not shut your eyes to one or the other. To Christ, this is very important; he spent precious time making sure he said it over and again, using illustrations for every kind of mind and experience.  There will be a reward in heaven. There will also be punishment in the dark, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.  He has promised both.

And both will be eternal.