The Parable of the Talents
(Matthew 25:14-30)
O God, you have been
our dwelling-place
in all generations.Before the mountains
were brought forth,
or ever you had formed the earth
and the world
from everlasting to everlasting
you are God.You turn us back
to dust,
and say,
"Turn back, you mortals."For a thousand years
in your sight
are like yesterday
when it is past,
or like a watch
in the night.You sweep them away;
they are like a dream,
like grass that is renewed
in the morning;in the morning
it flourishes
and is renewed;in the evening
it fades
and withers.For we are consumed
by your anger;
by your wrath
we are overwhelmed.You have set our iniquities
before you,
our secret sins
in the light
of your countenance.For all our days pass away
under your wrath;
our years come to an end
like a sigh.The days of our life
are seventy years,
or perhaps eighty,
if we are strong;even then their span
is only toil
and trouble;they are soon gone,
and we fly away.Who considers the power
of your anger?
Your wrath is as great
as the fear
that is due to you.So teach us
to count our days
that we may gain
a wise heart.Psalm 90:1-8 (9-11), 12
Universe
Mixed media
2007
This three-dimensional map offers a first look at the web-like
large-scale distribution of dark matter, an invisible form of matter that
accounts for most of the Universe's mass.
The map reveals a loose network of dark matter filaments,
gradually collapsing under the relentless pull of gravity, and growing clumpier
over time.
The three axes of the box correspond to sky position (in right
ascension and declination), and distance from the Earth increasing from left to
right (as measured by cosmological redshift). Note how the clumping of the dark
matter becomes more pronounced, moving right to left across the volume map,
from the early Universe to the more recent Universe.
Credit:
https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/heic0701b/
It’s time to put away the harsh rhetoric,
lower the temperature, see each other again …
we have to stop treating our opponents like enemies.
They’re Americans.
President-elect
Joe Biden
Watch, listen, and learn.
You can’t know it all yourself.
Anyone who thinks they do
is destined for mediocrity.
~
President Donald Trump
Painted
Toe Art Society Zoom meeting
Johanna
paints on acrylic.
Interesting
effects!!!
Rocky Mountain Literary Festival AT HOME
https://www.rockymountainliteraryfestival.org
Our
Rotary president, Russell Hammond, with their son.
Our
program
John
Burghardt was our speaker and shared fascinating facts about bats.
Happy 19th Birthday, Jack!
John
(Jack) Hudson Alexander III
now
at the University of Alabama
:
If we are ever in
doubt about what to do,
it is a good rule to
ask ourselves
what we shall wish on
the morrow
that we had done.
~ John Lubbock
November 15, 2020 Thirty-third Sunday
in Ordinary Time Year A
Twenty-fourth
Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 28)
All Saints' Sunday
Previous OPQs may be found at:
[Jesus said:] "For it is as if a man, going on a journey,
summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; to one he gave five
talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then
he went away. The one who had received the five talents went off at once and
traded with them, and made five more talents. In the same way, the one who had
the two talents made two more talents. But the one who had received the one
talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money. After
a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them.
Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more
talents, saying, 'Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made
five more talents.' His master said to him, 'Well done, good and trustworthy
slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of
many things; enter into the joy of your master.' And the one with the two
talents also came forward, saying, 'Master, you handed over to me two talents;
see, I have made two more talents.' His master said to him, 'Well done, good
and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put
you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.'
"Then the one who had received the one talent also came
forward, saying, 'Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you
did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; so I was afraid, and
I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.' But his
master replied, 'You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap
where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? Then you ought to have
invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what
was my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to the one
with the ten talents. For to all those who have, more will be given, and they
will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have
will be taken away. As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer
darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'"
Matthew 25:14-30
Agnus
Day, by James Wetzstein
Good morning friends of Rick and
Ted!
Here’s
one from the archives – a reminder that one day a couple of sheep will again be
able to stand around together and argue about theology with their only fear
being accidental heterodoxy.
“And
the master replied to that slave, ‘Comic strips eh? You’ve spent all this time
drawing comic strips?’”
Agnus
Day, by James Wetzstein
Agnus
Day appears with the permission of www.agnusday.org
Judges 4:1-7 with Psalm 123 or
Zephaniah
1:7, 12-18 with Psalms 90:1-8 (9-11), 12
1
Thessalonians 5:1-11
Matthew 25:14-30
Judges
4:1-7
The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord,
after Ehud died. So the Lord sold them into the hand of King Jabin of Canaan,
who reigned in Hazor; the commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in
Harosheth-ha-goiim. Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help; for he had
nine hundred chariots of iron, and had oppressed the Israelites cruelly for
twenty years.
At that time Deborah, a prophetess, wife of Lappidoth, was
judging Israel. She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and
Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the Israelites came up to her for
judgment. She sent and summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali,
and said to him, "The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you, 'Go, take
position at Mount Tabor, bringing ten thousand from the tribe of Naphtali and
the tribe of Zebulun. I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin's army, to
meet you by the Wadi Kishon with his chariots and his troops; and I will give
him into your hand.'"
Psalm
123
To you I lift up
my eyes,
O you who are enthroned
in the heavens!
As the eyes of subjects
look to the hand of their ruler,
so our eyes look to the Sovereign
our God,
until God has mercy
upon us.
Have mercy upon us, O God,
have mercy upon us,
for we have had more than enough
of contempt.
Our soul has had more
than its fill of the scorn
of those who are at ease,
and its fill of the contempt
of the proud.
or
Zephaniah
1:7, 12-18
Be silent before the Lord God!
For the day of the Lord is at hand;
the Lord has prepared a sacrifice,
he has consecrated his guests.
At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps,
and I will punish the people
who rest complacently on their dregs,
those who say in their hearts,
"The Lord will not do good,
nor will he do harm."
Their wealth shall be plundered,
and their houses laid waste.
Though they build houses,
they shall not inhabit them;
though they plant vineyards,
they shall not drink wine from them.
The great day of the Lord is near,
near and hastening fast;
the sound of the day of the Lord is bitter,
the warrior cries aloud there.
That day will be a day of wrath,
a day of distress and anguish,
a day of ruin and devastation,
a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and thick darkness,
a day of trumpet blast and battle cry
against the fortified cities
and against the lofty battlements.
I will bring such distress upon people
that they shall walk like the blind;
because they have sinned against the Lord,
their blood shall be poured out like dust,
and their flesh like dung.
Neither their silver nor their gold
will be able to save them
on the day of the Lord's wrath;
in the fire of his passion
the whole earth shall be consumed;
for a full, a terrible end
he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth.
Psalm
90:1-8 (9-11), 12
O God, you have been
our dwelling-place
in all generations.
Before the mountains
were brought forth,
or ever you had formed the earth
and the world
from everlasting to everlasting
you are God.
You turn us back
to dust,
and say,
"Turn back, you mortals."
For a thousand years
in your sight
are like yesterday
when it is past,
or like a watch
in the night.
You sweep them away;
they are like a dream,
like grass that is renewed
in the morning;
in the morning
it flourishes
and is renewed;
in the evening
it fades
and withers.
For we are consumed
by your anger;
by your wrath
we are overwhelmed.
You have set our iniquities
before you,
our secret sins
in the light
of your countenance.
For all our days pass away
under your wrath;
our years come to an end
like a sigh.
The days of our life
are seventy years,
or perhaps eighty,
if we are strong;
even then their span
is only toil
and trouble;
they are soon gone,
and we fly away.
Who considers the power
of your anger?
Your wrath is as great
as the fear
that is due to you.
So teach us
to count our days
that we may gain
a wise heart.
1
Thessalonians 5:1-11
Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers and sisters,
you do not need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves know very
well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. When they
say, "There is peace and security," then sudden destruction will come
upon them, as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and there will be no
escape! But you, beloved, are not in darkness, for that day to surprise you
like a thief; for you are all children of light and children of the day; we are
not of the night or of darkness. So then, let us not fall asleep as others do,
but let us keep awake and be sober; for those who sleep sleep at night, and
those who are drunk get drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us
be sober, and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the
hope of salvation. For God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining
salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we
are awake or asleep we may live with him. Therefore encourage one another and
build up each other, as indeed you are doing.
Matthew
25:14-30
[Jesus said:] "For it is as if a man, going on a journey,
summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; to one he gave five
talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then
he went away. The one who had received the five talents went off at once and
traded with them, and made five more talents. In the same way, the one who had
the two talents made two more talents. But the one who had received the one
talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money. After
a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them.
Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more
talents, saying, 'Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made
five more talents.' His master said to him, 'Well done, good and trustworthy
slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of
many things; enter into the joy of your master.' And the one with the two
talents also came forward, saying, 'Master, you handed over to me two talents;
see, I have made two more talents.' His master said to him, 'Well done, good
and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put
you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.'
"Then the one who had received the one talent also came
forward, saying, 'Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you
did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; so I was afraid, and
I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.' But his
master replied, 'You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap
where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? Then you ought to have
invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what
was my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to the one
with the ten talents. For to all those who have, more will be given, and they
will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have
will be taken away. As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer
darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'"