Our readings this week are 1 Thessalonians 5.1–11 and Matthew 25.14–30.

Even a cursory glance over them tells us that they must be something to do with how we live our lives, or how we put our faith into practice.  Paul in the letter to Thessalonians encourages us to 'keep awake' and 'be sober'; in the parable Jesus tells us in the Matthew passage, money is dished out by a rich man to his slaves - and the two who have used it to make a profit for him get praised, but the one who has simply kept it safe, not done anything with it, well it doesn't end well.  Darkness.  Weeping.  Gnashing of teeth.

There is merit here - it leads us to a very important question: what are we doing with our faith?  Is it just some list of doctrinal statements to which we nod in intellectual accord, or is something that propels us into the world to make a difference?  Is it something we keep to ourselves, to our private thoughts, moments of reflection, and silent prayers, or is something we speak about, unashamedly and unabashedly?  Is it a nice distraction on a Sunday, or does it work through every moment of every day, underpinning the choices we make, words we speak, and actions we take - be they pragmatic, religious, or political?

There probably is something there to chew on a for a while, if we're honest with ourselves, and willing to step further in how we live out our Christian calling, and so I offer you those questions; but I do offer them with a health warning.  They're only to be taken one at time, on a full stomach, and when you're feeling strong enough.

It's very easy to focus on what we're doing.  It's quantifiable, measurable - it can be reduced to tick lists, targets, and goals.  On the occasions we're getting it right, getting there, and doing what we said we would, that can feel fantastic; but my suspicion is that for most of us mere mortals focussing on what we're doing more often means realising what we aren't.  And that doesn't feel so fantastic.  So if the questions above excite you, help you realise where you're growing in faith and in confidence to share it with the world - fabulous, spend time with them; but if they leave you feeling a little downcast, beaten up, and morose then welcome to the club, and let's have another look at the scriptures.

Because the parable isn't really about what we're doing at all.  It can't be - because we know nothing about what any of the slaves actually do with the money entrusted to them.  Maybe they stumbled upon unexpected business opportunities, or high interest bank accounts, maybe they bought and sold a few properties... but they may also have been gambling with it, selling arms, or running a brothel - we simply don't know.  There is absolute narrative silence.

Add to that the slave who gets himself into trouble, and the point is reinforced.  He doesn't get into trouble because he's misused, or abused the money, but because he  doesn't do anything at all.   The implication is that he could have done literally anything at all with it and this parable would have had a different ending.  You can even imagine him sheepishly coming forward and saying, 'Master, you handed me one talent; see I invested in some grain, but half of it turned out to be weeds... and... well, here's half a talent..?' and the master replying, 'Ah well, at least you tried.  I'll give you something easier next time.'

It was never about what they did with the money; it was about whether, or not, they were willing to engage in the relationship offered them by the master.  It was about entering a fiduciary relationship, no less; or, to dig out that particular root, one of fides: trust, confidence.  Faith.  Faith that God can do, even (especially?) when we can't.

We find the same point in Thessalonians - it's not about what we do, it's about what God does (obtaining our salvation for us), and what he wants us to be (in relationship with him).  And that invitation to be in him remains an open one even when we fail to notice it: Paul does, as noted, encourage us to 'do', to 'keep awake', (v.6) but just a few verses later he concedes that God's purpose for us will still be fulfilled even if we don't (v.10.), "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."

Our God calls us not to do, but to be - specifically, to be in relationship with him, receiving from him in faith and trust, and allowing what we receive to work in us for him.  We are called not to work ourselves ragged, but to rest in him, and to trust in him, and to accept that he is far more capable than us in any case, and that he will in his time, reconcile all things to himself through what he has already achieved in Christ.  And the really strange thing is, if we give ourselves over to that - to trusting in his strength and not ours, to being in him, and allowing him to be in us, then when we do finally turn around and look at what's been going on in, around, and through us, then we'll realise a whole lot more kingdom has got 'done' than we ever could have managed by ourselves.

Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing.