PLYMOUTH UCC (FORT COLLINS, CO)
Sermons
* Podcast player directly below.
* Scroll down for video of most recent sermons, click PREVIOUS to go back farther.
* If you are in a particular sermon post, click DETAILS to get tags and dates.
  • Welcome!
    • I'm New Here
    • I'm a CSU Student
    • LGBTQ+
    • How Do I Join?
    • More Questions
  • This Week at Plymouth
  • Worship
    • What is Worship?
    • Worship Online >
      • Streaming Worship
      • Worship Bulletins
      • Digital Pew Card
      • Memorial Services
    • Learn More >
      • Faith Statements
      • Sermons
      • Music Program >
        • Mark's Music Minute
        • Music Series
      • Worship Sign-Ups
  • News & Events
    • Special Events
    • e-News
    • Ongoing Announcements
    • Calendars >
      • Today's Schedule
      • Mobile Calendar
      • Full Calendar
      • Calendar Request Form
    • News Archive
  • Living Our Faith
    • Christian Formation >
      • Children
      • Youth
      • Nursery Care >
        • Child Care Handbook
      • OWL (Our Whole Lives)
      • Adults
      • Visiting Scholar
    • Outreach & Mission >
      • The O&M Board >
        • Grocery Card
      • Climate Action
      • End Gun Violence
      • FFH
      • Immigration
      • Student Support
      • The Missions Marketplace
      • Youth for Change
    • Labyrinth
  • Connect
    • Find Your Place at Plymouth
    • Contact >
      • Contact Us Form
      • Jobs
      • Clergy & Staff
      • Lay Leadership
      • Building Rental >
        • Church Use Payments
    • Our Community >
      • Fellowship
      • Gallery
      • Calling & Caring >
        • Faith Community Nurses
        • Stephen Ministry
      • Meal Signups
    • Online Connections >
      • Email Lists
      • Church App
      • Text Responses
  • Give
    • All About Giving
    • Pledge Online
    • Other Ways to Give >
      • Text to Give
      • Sustaining Gifts
      • Planned Giving
  • Member Info
    • Member Menu >
      • Budget & Financial Ministry
      • Forms & Resources >
        • General Forms
        • Constitution & Policies
        • Newsletter Submissions
        • Emergency Contact Form
        • Zoom Resources
        • Kitchen Videos
        • Mission Statement
        • Strategic Planning
      • F1Go
      • Weddings & Funerals
      • Library
    • New Members

11/19/2017

Making It Count

0 Comments

Read Now
 
Matthew 25.14–30
The Rev. Hal Chorpenning
Plymouth Congregational UCC Fort Collins, Colorado

19 November 2017
 
A man goes on a long journey, leaving behind him a cadre of folks he hoped would invest his assets wisely. Do you know what it’s like to come home from a three-month sabbatical and find this text waiting for you?!

Actually, it’s perfect! In their wisdom, the folks who created the lectionary plop this text into the season of harvest here in the northern hemisphere, which in many congregations coincides happily with stewardship season. And so when you hear someone pick this text apart, you can usually be fairly certain that they are going to “go financial on you”… that somehow the return on investment from these silver talents will be reflected in the church budget. Well, I’m not going there today. (That said, if you pledge for 2018 isn’t in yet, I know that you can lower the blood pressure of fellow members on the Budget & Finance Committee by pledging today!)

You know, I don’t think that Jesus’ hearers would typically be the kind of folk who would be in the position of financial managers who are entrusted by a master to expand his wealth. So, if it isn’t about money and a solid return on investment, what it is about? I wonder if it is something far more valuable, far more elemental than silver. I am going to hazard a guess that this parable of Jesus is about us.

I know you’ve heard a few parables this fall, and it is important to remember the function of a parable, which is to make us stop and think differently about a situation, to puzzle with it, to wrestle with it, to go deeper.

What if the wealth that is invested with us is not our money, but ourselves…our deepest selves…the very life that has been given and entrusted to us by God? Stop for just a minute and think about that: each one of us, the old and young, the foolish and wise, the rich and poor…all of us have been given one life to live out fully. As Jesus says, “I came that you may have life, and have it in abundance.”[John 10:10] That’s the greatest gift for each of us: abundant living. Whether our lives are long or short they can be lived in abundance in each moment.

So if you use that framework, think for a moment about the master going on a long journey and entrusting you with your life. Our cultural framework is based on radical individualism and the notion that “it’s my life to live however I want.” And I might quibble with the theology behind that. What if we saw our lives as a gift from God entrusted to us, not simply for our own satisfaction and enjoyment, but also an investment in God’s kingdom? We only get one life, so we need to make it count.

Each of us has gifts within us; some of them are obvious and some of them are quite well hidden. And sometimes we aren’t even aware of them, because we have quashed our talents and not given ourselves permission to live our lives in full abundance.

I was reading a book last week by Elizabeth Gilbert, about unleashing creativity, called The Big Magic, and it had all kinds of resonances with this parable: “Do you have the courage to bring forth the treasures that are hidden within you?” she asks. “Look, I don’t know what’s hidden within you. I have no way of knowing such a thing. You yourself may barely know, although I suspect you’ve caught glimpses. I don’t know your capacities, your aspirations, your longings, your secret talents. But surely something wonderful is sheltered inside you. I say this with all confidence, because I happen to believe we are all walking repositories of buried treasure. I believe this is one of the oldest and most generous tricks the universe [aka God] plays on us human beings, both for its own amusement and for ours; The universe buries strange jewels deep within us all, and then stands back to see if we can find them.”1

I’m going to invite you to pull out your bulletin or a piece of paper and jot down some of your own thoughts about your deepest longings and your gifts. What are some of those jewels that are still buried deep within you? What are some of the yet-unlived dreams, the yet-undeveloped talents, the yet-unwritten stories that are waiting within you to be mined? Make a note or two for yourself. Bring that into your prayers this week and see how you might go on a treasure hunt that will yield jewels not just for you, but for God and God’s realm.

Irenaeus of Lyon, a second-century bishop wrote that “the glory of God is a human being fully alive.” Have you experienced being with someone who is fully alive? Who has grasped living life with abundance? Who is uncovering and mining the jewels, the gifts, within themselves and sharing that giftedness with the world? We talk about people as being charismatic, and that literally means those who possess a gift. But it’s more than having a nice smile and an engaging personality: it’s being authentically who God created us to be and using our God-given talents.

So, if we all have gifts, why aren’t we using them? What are the obstacles that are getting in the way of us becoming “human beings fully alive?”

Let’s go back to the parable for a moment. Two of the three slaves understand that their master wanted them to unpack their gifts and increase what he had entrusted two them. They don’t spend any time making excuses…they just report how they doubled what had been entrusted to them. The third slave, who buried his treasure and kept it hidden, said, “Master, I knew you were a harsh man” as he tries to explain why he had not increased what he had been given. What kept the last slave from expanding what was entrusted to him was fear.

How many lives could be infinitely more rich if we could help one another move beyond our fear? I’m not talking about sensible fear of things like rattlesnakes and bungie jumping. I’m talking about the chorus of little negative voices within us that beat the constant refrain: “You’re not good enough.” “You’re not old enough.” “You’re not young enough.” “You’re not smart enough.” “You’re not faithful enough.” “You’re not beautiful enough.” “You don’t have time.”

All of us have at times sense those negative voices and the kind of fear that paralyzes us from becoming fully alive and uncovering the talents that lay buried deep within us. And it’s time to acknowledge that we have those fears and say “enough” and put them on the sidelines.

What we need to overcome those fear-laden voices is courage. You may never have thought about yourself as courageous or brave…because you experience fear. But without fear, there is no opportunity to live into courage. Courage is all about doing something scary, stepping out into the risk-zone.

I know that churches in general hate taking risks. But if you look at what we have done at Plymouth, you’ll see the high points of our history all involve risk-taking: starting an immigrant church, moving from Old Town to Prospect Road, calling LGBT clergy in the 1990s, voting to become Open and Affirming, expanding and improving our building, standing up for undocumented immigrants.

Courage is about acknowledging the fear and then moving forward with faith. Sometimes we forget that we are not doing this alone and that God has our back.

I also want to challenge you all to look within yourselves and see if some of your giftedness is in helping this particular outpost of the kingdom of God reach its mission by saying yes to serving as a lay leader, as a member of one of our boards or the leadership council. It takes courage to lead, and we want to help develop new leaders within this congregation, so if you have an inkling and want to talk more, I’m available!

When I was in St. Gallen, Switzerland, in September, I stayed in an AirBnb with four young guys, and they invited me to have dinner with their friends, and they asked what our congregation was like, and when I told them about being ONA, doing work around immigration reform, and homelessness prevention, they said, “Oh, our government does all that for us.” Well, our government isn’t doing that, so we need to step up with courage.

Incredibly gifted people comprise Plymouth…together, we have the capacity to expand the talents that have been entrusted to us. We need each one of our members to look within themselves prayerfully and ask what talents they have to contribute to God’s realm. We need to step up with courage, with conviction, and with faith to do become the fully-alive congregation that God intends us to be.

I close today with the words of Marianne Williamson, which you may have heard Nelson Mandela offer at his inauguration:
​
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”2

May it be so. Amen.

1 Elizabeth Gilbert, Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear. (NY: Riverhead, 2016), p. 8.
2 Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love. (SF: HarperOne, 1996).
 
© 2017 Hal Chorpenning, all rights reserved. Please contact [email protected] for permission to reprint, which will typically be granted for non-profit uses.

Author

The Rev. Hal Chorpenning has been Plymouth's senior minister since 2002. Before that, he was associate conference minister with the Connecticut Conference of the UCC. A grant from the Lilly Endowment enabled him to study Celtic Christianity in the UK and Ireland. Prior to ordained ministry, Hal had a business in corporate communications. Read more about Hal.

Share

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

Details

    Archives

    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016

    Visit our sermon podcast site

    Categories

    All
    Abundance
    Accountability
    Advent
    Advent Conspiracy
    Afterlife
    All Saints' Sunday
    All Things Together For Good
    Annual Meeting Sunday
    Another Way Series
    Antiracism
    Apostle Paul
    Ascension
    Ash Wednesday
    As Long As You Need Series
    Authority
    Awakening
    Baptism
    Baptism Of Christ Sunday
    Beatitudes
    Beginnings
    Being Saved
    Belief
    Beloved Community
    Bent Over
    Blessings
    Book Of Acts
    Book Of Deuteronomy
    Book Of Ecclesiastes
    Book Of Exodus
    Book Of Ezekiel
    Book Of Genesis
    Book Of Habakkuk
    Book Of Isaiah
    Book Of Jeremiah
    Book Of Job
    Book Of Joel
    Book Of Jonah
    Book Of Joshua
    Book Of Leviticus
    Book Of Micah
    Book Of Numbers
    Book Of Proverbs
    Book Of Psalms
    Book Of Revelation
    Book Of Ruth
    Book Of Samuel
    Book Of Wisdom
    Books Of Kings
    Born Again
    Breath
    Brooklyn McBride
    Call
    Camp Sunday
    Celtic Christianity
    Centering Prayer
    Change
    Choices
    Christmas Eve
    Christmas Season
    Christology
    Christopher Muscato
    Church
    Comfort
    Coming Out
    Community
    Compassion
    Complaining
    Confirmation
    Conflict
    Congregationalism
    Connection
    Consecration Sunday
    Courage
    Covenant
    COVID-19
    Creation
    Dance
    Death
    Delaney Piper
    Depression
    Desert Fathers & Mothers
    Dialogue
    Diana Butler Bass
    Difficult People
    Discipleship
    Divine Love
    Dominion
    Doubt
    Doubting Thomas
    Dreamers/DACA
    Dreams
    Earth Day
    Easter
    Easter Season
    Easter Sunday
    Elijah
    Embodiment
    Emptiness
    Environmental Sunday
    Epiphany
    Epiphany Season
    Epiphany Sunday
    Equipping The Saints
    Ethiopian Eunuch
    Eulogy
    Everyday Delights Series
    Fairness
    Faith
    Fear
    Fishers
    Following Jesus
    Forgiveness
    Friends & Family Sunday
    Gardening
    Gardening With God
    Generosity
    Gifts
    Giving
    God
    God Is Still Speaking
    Good News
    Good Samaritan
    Good Shepherd
    Gospels: John 01 To 05
    Gospels: John 06 To 10
    Gospels: John 11 To 15
    Gospels: John 16 To 21
    Gospels: Luke 01 To 06
    Gospels: Luke 07 To 12
    Gospels: Luke 13 To 18
    Gospels: Luke 19 To 24
    Gospels: Mark 01 To 04
    Gospels: Mark 05 To 08
    Gospels: Mark 09 To 12
    Gospels: Mark 13 To 16
    Gospels: Mathew 16-21
    Gospels: Matthew 01 To 07
    Gospels Matthew 08 To 14
    Gospels Matthew 15 To 21
    Gospels Matthew 22 To 28
    Grace
    Grateful
    Gratitude
    Grief
    Guest Preacher
    Gun Violence
    Harvest
    Healing
    Heart
    Heaven
    Hero's Journey
    Holy Spirit
    Holy-week
    Hope
    Hospitable Space
    Hospitality
    Immigration
    Inclusion
    Independence Day
    Installation
    Instant Sermon
    Interdependence
    Jean Vanier
    Jesus
    John Dominic Crossan
    John The Baptizer
    Joseph
    Joseph Of Ariimathea
    Journey
    Joy
    Jubilee
    Jubilee Sunday
    Juneteenth
    Justice
    Kingdom Of God
    Labyrinth
    L'Arche Communities
    Lay Preacher
    Leadership
    Learning
    Lent
    Letters: Colossians
    Letters: Corinthians
    Letters: Ephesians
    Letters: Galatians
    Letters: Hebrews
    Letters: James
    Letters: John
    Letters: Philippians
    Letters: Romans
    LGBTQ
    Liberation
    Life
    Light
    Lineage
    Liturgical Year
    Living In Exile
    Living Water
    Loneliness
    Loss
    Lost
    Love
    Luke 07 To 12
    Lynching
    Magnificat
    Martin Luther King
    Mary Magdalene
    Maya Angelou
    Meditation
    Membership
    Memorial Day
    Memorial Service
    Mental Illness
    Metamorphosis
    Metanoia
    Middle Way
    Mission
    Mother's Day
    Newness
    New Year
    New Year's Resolutions
    Nicodemus
    Older-sermon-audio
    Original Psalms
    Palmpassion-sunday
    Palm Sunday
    Pandemic
    Parables
    Paradox
    Patience
    Pause
    Peace
    Pentecost Sunday
    Pilgrimage
    Pilgrims
    Podbean Link
    Possibility
    Prayer
    Pride Month
    Pride Sunday
    Prodigal Son
    Prophecy
    Protestant Reformation
    Queen
    Rebirth
    Reclaiming Jesus
    Reformation Sunday
    Reign Of Christ Sunday
    Relationship With God
    Render Unto Caesar
    Repentance
    Resurrection
    Rev. Carla Cain
    Rev. Dr. David Petersen
    Rev. Dr. Marta Fioriti
    Rev. Dr. Pam Peterson
    Reversals
    Rev. Hal Chorpenning
    Rev. Jake Miles Joseph
    Rev. Jane Anne Ferguson
    Rev. J. T. Smiedendorf
    Rev. Laura Nelson
    Rev. Mandy Hall
    Rev. Mark Lee
    Rev. Marta Fioriti
    Rev. Nicole Garcia
    Rev. Quinn Gorges
    Rev. Roger Butts
    Rev. Ron Patterson
    Rev. Sean Neil-Barron
    Rev. Sue Artt
    Righteousness
    Road To Emmaus
    Sabbath
    Saints
    Salt
    Salt And Light
    Salvation
    Sarah
    Season After Pentecost
    Seeds
    Seeking
    September 11
    Sermon On The Mount
    Serving
    Sharing
    Showing Up
    Singing
    Solarpunk
    Soul
    Spiritual Practices
    Stewardship
    Storms
    Suffering
    Swords Into Plowshares
    Taizé
    Ten Commandments
    Thanksgiving
    Thanksgiving Day
    The Cross
    The Gospel
    The Last Week
    Theology
    The Sower
    The World
    Thorny Theological Themes
    Totenfest
    Trans Day Of Visibility
    Transfiguration
    Transfiguration Sunday
    Transformation
    Transforming
    Transitions
    Trinity Sunday
    Trusting God
    Truth
    Unity
    Vision
    Waiting
    Welcome
    Where Is Jesus?
    Wilderness
    Wisdom
    Women
    Wonder
    World Communion Sunday
    Wrestling With God
    Yeats
    Youth
    Youth For Change

916 West Prospect Road
Fort Collins CO 80526

​Members,
log into F1Go here

Sundays

9 a.m. Education Hour
10 a.m. Worship
11 a.m. Coffee Fellowship

Contact Us

Threads
Bluesky
970-482-9212

Subscribe to our eNews

* indicates required
© 2025 Plymouth Congregational UCC Church. All rights reserved.
  • Welcome!
    • I'm New Here
    • I'm a CSU Student
    • LGBTQ+
    • How Do I Join?
    • More Questions
  • This Week at Plymouth
  • Worship
    • What is Worship?
    • Worship Online >
      • Streaming Worship
      • Worship Bulletins
      • Digital Pew Card
      • Memorial Services
    • Learn More >
      • Faith Statements
      • Sermons
      • Music Program >
        • Mark's Music Minute
        • Music Series
      • Worship Sign-Ups
  • News & Events
    • Special Events
    • e-News
    • Ongoing Announcements
    • Calendars >
      • Today's Schedule
      • Mobile Calendar
      • Full Calendar
      • Calendar Request Form
    • News Archive
  • Living Our Faith
    • Christian Formation >
      • Children
      • Youth
      • Nursery Care >
        • Child Care Handbook
      • OWL (Our Whole Lives)
      • Adults
      • Visiting Scholar
    • Outreach & Mission >
      • The O&M Board >
        • Grocery Card
      • Climate Action
      • End Gun Violence
      • FFH
      • Immigration
      • Student Support
      • The Missions Marketplace
      • Youth for Change
    • Labyrinth
  • Connect
    • Find Your Place at Plymouth
    • Contact >
      • Contact Us Form
      • Jobs
      • Clergy & Staff
      • Lay Leadership
      • Building Rental >
        • Church Use Payments
    • Our Community >
      • Fellowship
      • Gallery
      • Calling & Caring >
        • Faith Community Nurses
        • Stephen Ministry
      • Meal Signups
    • Online Connections >
      • Email Lists
      • Church App
      • Text Responses
  • Give
    • All About Giving
    • Pledge Online
    • Other Ways to Give >
      • Text to Give
      • Sustaining Gifts
      • Planned Giving
  • Member Info
    • Member Menu >
      • Budget & Financial Ministry
      • Forms & Resources >
        • General Forms
        • Constitution & Policies
        • Newsletter Submissions
        • Emergency Contact Form
        • Zoom Resources
        • Kitchen Videos
        • Mission Statement
        • Strategic Planning
      • F1Go
      • Weddings & Funerals
      • Library
    • New Members