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To get his point across, a pastor once announced to his congregation: "Friends, I have some discouraging news. The building we have just completed is no longer ours to occupy. The bank is foreclosing our loan. We are being sued. It looks like we will lose everything. Beginning next month, we will not be allowed to worship in this building." The ears of the congregation perked up.

"The problem," the pastor said, "is that someone acted irresponsibly. The wrong figures were given to the lending agency. On the application for the loan, the figure of 2,000 members was used instead of 1,000. They claim we willfully deceived them and acted under false pretenses. The loan for the building has been withdrawn and the building will go up for sale next month. Perhaps it was wrong for us to trust our building committee to present the facts accurately. Maybe they were afraid we wouldn't get the loan if we were totally honest. They didn't do what we expected them to do. At any rate, someone acted irresponsibly, and now we all face the consequences."

This was, of course, just a make-believe story. There is a story just like it that is not make believe. This story has very similar dynamics and characters. It is the story told in our text this morning, the story of talents and the care and use of those talents. This story can be seen as a story of another building committee, a story of entrusting to a few the responsibility to act with integrity on behalf of multitudes of people. It is a story of how serious the consequences are for the multitudes if the few fail to be good stewards of what has been entrusted to them. It is a story of trust, the misuse of that trust, the resulting anger on the part of the owner and ultimate consequences.

The property owner in this story is God. The building to be constructed and cared for is Mother Earth - the environment - the integrity of creation - all of God's beautiful creation. The building committee, entrUsted with the task of creative use of resources, construction, care of and maintenance of this property, consists of you and me. We humans are placed in charge of this project. We are the building committee. God, the owner, has entrusted to us this property, just like it says in verse 14:

For it will be as when a man going on a journey called
his servants and entrusted to them his property.

The story goes back for its beginning - way back to the beginning of the biblical narrative in Genesis. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth ... and God saw what had been created and said 'It is good.' " God placed humans in charge saying, take care of it. Keep it in proper balance so that it will work for everyone. Enjoy it.

"Let the earth bring forth its fruit in due season. Dress, till, keep the soil." The creator knew that the soil needs careful attention. God told those in charge to have dominion, tenderly care for, be responsible for the right order of relationships and resources. Then it will work for everyone's enjoyment. Be careful not to misuse it or neglect it. I'm putting you in charge. The elephants are not in charge, though they are bigger. The eagles are not in charge, though they see things from a better perspective. You, the ones I created in my image, you are in charge.

We are the building committee. We are the servants, the stewards of creation. We have been entrusted with the property. It is an awesome calling.

But my friends, we are being foreclosed on. We are being sued. We are in danger of losing our property. In a very short time, the doors will be locked. We will not be able to occupy the building. That which was made for us to use and enjoy will be closed to us. The doors are already closed to some of us.

Why?

Because the building committee, the human family, has not acted responsibly. We have not taken seriously the task given to us. There has been flagrant mismanagement. The facts have been construed or withheld for the benefit of a few. Resources have been abused. And now we all must pay the consequences. The day of accountability is upon us.

In our text the owner, the master, came to settle accounts with the servants, the stewards. It sounds rather harsh to read in the final verse. "Cast the servant into the outer darkness. There people will weep and gnash their teeth." How could a loving God do that? God takes care of creation very seriously.

Are we already experiencing the consequences for our failure to care for the earth? If we follow the scenario of the story, if the property entrusted to us is the integrity of creation, then it is not difficult to see that the outer darkness is the result of what's happening to the environment today. The question of survival and the possibility of an environmental catastrophe is just around the corner because someone has buried their talent. Someone did not act responsibly with that which was given to them.

About a week ago the headlines in the St. Paul Pioneer Press read "Ozone Thinning Quickly Over Us." The ozone layer, the wonderful protective shield high above us, that God created to protect us from some of the rays of the sun, is thinning three times faster than expected. If present trends continue, it will mean thousands of more deaths from cancer, say nothing of other complications. We, who live in the United States, with our chloro-fluorocarbons from air conditioners, aerosol sprays and refrigeration, have contributed the most to this ozone crisis. But the effect of our action is spreading over the whole globe. We have discovered a large hole in the ozone shield over Antarctica. Many are asking: Is it too late?

Now add to that the global warming trend known as the greenhouse effect. We hear a variety of stories about this crisis, but everyone agrees on the fact that temperatures on the earth are six-tenths of a degree Celsius higher than 100 years ago, and it is rapidly increasing. The warming is much faster than predicted. There is disagreement on how fast we are warming up, but everyone agrees that it is a serious issue. We can no longer procrastinate in doing something about it. The biggest problem is the presence of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere which is produced by combustion of fossile fuel. This innocuous gas threatens our future on the planet earth. Most of this crisis centers around our demand for energy. Fossil fuels today provide about 80 percent of all our energy. The automobile is one of the main pollutants. In 1954 there were 52 million cars in the world. Today there are 350 million. By 2000 there will be 500 million. Once again, the industrial countries like the United States and Europe lead the way in the emission of these poisonous gases into the atmosphere; but the whole world suffers. Food production for the future could be in serious jeopardy. Many are asking: Is it too late?

Another sign that we are being foreclosed on and being locked out of our beautiful habitation is the degradation to the land, the loss of soil on the planet earth.
Cropland, forests and grasslands supply the bulk of our materials for industry, food and recreation. One third of the earth's surface is land. The rest is water. Of that one third which is land, only 11 percent is arable ... usable to grow crops. Twenty-five percent is pasture and rangeland, 30 percent is forest - covered with trees, and 33 percent is wasteland, desert or paved over or built on.

Friends, we are losing ground. We are losing topsoil, that precious commodity that puts food on our table. The potential output from the land is being lowered because of air pollution and acid rain. The pressure for more food, more profits, more exports, has caused the loss of billions of tons of topsoil every year. The Soviet Union loses 1.5 billion tons of topsoil every year. The United States loses 5 billion tons of topsoil every year. Iowa at one time had 18 inches of rich topsoil. Today it has nine inches or less. Increased production of food that we get from the use of fertilizers, pesticides and irrigation are offset by soil erosion, water logging, salinization and air pollution. We are literally and figuratively losing ground. In addition, tropical deforestation is putting large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and throwing systems out of balance all in the name of progress and profit.

Lester Brown, in the helpful resource called State of the World 1990, says that we are living in an illusion. On paper it looks like we have made progress. GNP (gross national product) is up. We are finding ways to produce more food. Most of us in the first world are better off than we were 10 years ago. But the world is worse off than it was 10 years ago, because the building committee is not acting responsibly. We are not getting accurate information on the full cost of our economic growth. Dean Freudenberger asks in his book, Food For Tomorrow?, if present trends continue, will there be food for tomorrow? Maybe not. Not if present trends continue.

We are slowly being cast into darkness while living under the illusion that we are prospering. We have buried our one talent. Soon we will wake up to the weeping and gnashing of teeth. In many parts of the world people are already weeping as is evident through the presence of hunger. Look into the eyes of the parents whose children die because there is no food. Environmental degradation is part of the cause.

Lester Brown gives an interesting statistic. The United States in 1990 spent 303 billion dollars on defense. The money was used for the creation of bombs, guns and missiles, to protect us from military threats. We spent in that same time 14 billion dollars to protect us from environmental degradation. That's a 22-to-1 ratio. We need to ask what good all our finest weapons will do for us if we continue to destroy the environment. A coalition of nations recently spent over 50 billion dollars, some say 100 billion, on a six-week war in the Middle East. A small country emerged as a threat to the source of oil and national autonomy. I wonder if we would be willing to wave our flags and blow our trumpets if we would decide to spend 50 billion dollars to prepare for and wage war on the threat to Mother Earth.

Is it too late? There is differing opinion on how serious the ozone crisis and warming trend really are. We all agree that is a problem. But how serious is it - 70 percent serious, 90 percent serious? Perhaps this example will help.

Your two-year-old is outside playing. Someone comes and reports that your child is headed for the freeway, exploring a new place to play. What would you do? Your child is 90 percent toward the freeway. You jolt out of your chair and head for the door. But someone else stops you and says, "Not to worry, your child is only 70 percent toward the freeway." Will it make much difference in what you do as a parent? Everyone who has studied the facts agrees. We are headed in the wrong direction. If we continue, we are in trouble concerning this beautiful creation God has given us to enjoy. Some may say 70 percent, others 90 percent, but the action called for is still the same. Stop the trend, or we will all weep and gnash our teeth.

What does the parable call for? Why did Jesus give us this story? What should we do as a building committee? By the way, building committees usually do a superb job. Ours certainly did. I use this illustration only to help us see how serious our responsibility for the earth really is.

What is our calling as stewards of creation? I will continue this sermon next Sunday. It is not too late. There are signs of hope around us. There are things we can do to change the situation. Remember, the reason Jesus gave this parable was to alert his listeners, not paralyze them or condemn them. Let me introduce for you today what we will talk about next Sunday.

What is needed first of all is an analysis of why we have gotten into this mess. We need to take a good look at our theology. Why has the church pictured nature as the enemy, material things as disdainful and economics as neutral? Has our theology led to the neglect of care of the earth? Are we so heavenly minded that we are no earthly good? It is a spiritual problem. The healing of creation needs to begin with confession and forgiveness.

We also need a better understanding of our close relationship to the earth. We are of the earth. God took dust, soil, and from it created humans. We need to discover what that means. Our connectedness to the earth needs to be reviewed, renewed and appreciated. We need to love the earth, remembering that God's redemption was for all creation, not just humans. The American Indians can help us in this area. Their spirituality keeps them connected to all creation.

Also, we need to restore and broaden the meaning of the concept of the steward. If we are entrusted with one talent called creation, then what does that mean? What is our responsibility? Can we redeem the word steward which has been used primarily to talk about money and financial campaigns? The story in our text is about stewardship. A steward is accountable to the property owner. So we need to talk about ownership and accountability. Will God forgive us? Will the third world forgive us? Will our grandchildren forgive us for failing to understand what being a steward is all about?

Also, next week we'll talk about the global implications of our lives as stewards of creation. How does what we do connect with our sisters and brothers around the globe? What does it mean to be a family, a global community? How do we love our neighbor 10,000 miles away whose survival is connected to our use or abuse of natural resources? How do the millions of cars we drive affect countries where almost no cars are used? As Jessica Matthews, who monitors global ecology, says, "We need a new sense of shared destiny."

And finally, what can we do to be better stewards? What can we do as individuals, as a community, as parents, as employees, as first world citizens? We will explore some options, some practical steps, some questions that we need to wrestle with. Next Sunday's sermon is an important part of today's sermon.

So don't lose heart. We only got started today.

Is it too late? Perhaps yes for some things, but not too late to reverse the trends and heal the land. We have been entrusted with some property, this planet, our habitation. That's like a talent. All of us are on the building committee. We are placed in charge of the project. We all want to hear the words: "Well done, good and faithful servant."

There is a wonderful promise in 2 Chronicles 7:14. It says: "If my people who are called by my name, will humble themselves, seek my face and pray, and turn from their wicked way; then will I hear from heaven and forgive their sins and heal their land." Let us look to heaven that God may forgive our sins and heal the land. Amen.