Bishop Budde’s first sermon: What we are doing on earth

Editor’s Note: Rev. Dr. Mariann Edgar Budde was consecrated and seated as the ninth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington on Nov. 12 and 13. This sermon, delivered on Sunday, was the first she preached in her new position.

Jesus said, “For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his servants 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 servants 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 servant; 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 servant; 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 servant! 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 abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. As for this worthless servant, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”                    Matthew 25:14-30

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 In a consecration ceremony at Washington National Cathedral, the Rev. Mariann Budde was installed Saturday as bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington.

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A young woman from another country who worked, as many immigrant women do, caring for the children of our professional class, one day heard the children in her charge yelling and carrying on in another room. She spoke English well enough, but she hadn’t yet mastered idiomatic expressions. So as she entered the room intending to restore order, when what she meant to say was “What on earth are you doing?” she said instead, “What are you doing on earth?”

Of the two questions — What on earth are you doing? and What are you doing on earth? — the latter is by far the more interesting.  And it’s consistent with the kind of judgment that Jesus and all the great spiritual teachers before and after him would have us ponder from time to time. What are you doing on earth?