RE News
With Sharee Thomas
This Sunday’s Gospel is a very familiar parable and one that is often used with students and young people. It is generally used as an encouragement to make the most of the gifts and skills that the listeners possess. It is rarely, however, placed in its context as part of the full Chapter 25 lesson about the time of waiting and preparation for the coming of the Lord and the Christian life.
Again, the story is presented as a parable of the Kingdom – a glimpse into the right order of things in the realised Kingdom. A very wealthy master entrusts his considerable assets to his servants to manage in his absence. The three servants were allocated money, ‘each in proportion to his ability’. The emphasis of the parable is on what each servant did with the funds they were allotted. They were charged with managing the money in the place of their master; acting in their master’s place to further develop his wealth.
Like all of Jesus’ parables, this one has a sting in the tail. Although the third servant has done nothing illegal or corrupt, he is very harshly dealt with. His crime is laziness! He was given a great opportunity to demonstrate his abilities and yet he shied away and returned to his master exactly what had been entrusted to him, unimproved. The author of Matthew’s gospel uses this parable to shock the audience out of complacency. They cannot rely solely on the promised return of the Lord, they must continue to act on Jesus’ message and work to bring about the Kingdom in their own lives. Those who fail to act, leaving everything to the work of God, are as bad as the lazy servant who failed to grasp an extraordinary opportunity.
This week as a family talk about how you use your talents that have been given to you. Are you using your talents to bring about the Kingdom of God?
NAIDOC WEEK
This week we celebrate NAIDOC week as a nation. NAIDOC week celebrates our Indigneous citizens, this country’s first inhabitants, and their extraordinay connection to this land.This week is particularly important to myself, who is from the Gundungurra and Dharawal mobs, but also 5 other children in our school and their families who are Torres Strait Islander people. Always Was, Always Will Be.
Always Was, Always Will Be recognises that First Nations people have occupied and cared for this continent for over 65,000 years.
We are spiritually and culturally connected to this country.
This country was criss-crossed by generations of brilliant Nations.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were Australia’s first explorers, first navigators, first engineers, first farmers, first botanists, first scientists, first diplomats, first astronomers and first artists.
Australia has the world’s oldest oral stories. The First Peoples engraved the world’s first maps, made the earliest paintings of ceremony and invented unique technologies. We built and engineered structures - structures on Earth - predating well-known sites such as the Egyptian Pyramids and Stonehenge.
NAIDOC 2020 invites all Australians to embrace the history of this country – a history which dates back thousands of generations.
It’s about seeing, hearing and learning the First Nations’ 65,000+ year history of this country - which is Australian history. We want all Australians to celebrate that we have the oldest continuing cultures on the planet and to recognise that our sovereignty was never ceded.
Go to https://www.naidoc.org.au/ for more information and events being held in our local areas this week.
Have a great week!