It’s hard to believe that it was only a few months ago when
onto the scene, here at this church, there burst like a blaze
of light a small intense man, dressed in a loose-flowing shirt,
speaking up frequently. People took to him immediately; he
was so open and so outgoing, and we at Takoma Park knew
that we had someone special among us in Robert Cecil
White. We had someone special because he had in himself
something special. Call it charisma, call it personality, call it
spark, call it what you will: I call it joy. Robert White lived in
joy and brought us into that joy.
How do you explain a life like that? Where does such a joy
come from? How did Robert get it? Is it available to you and
me? I believe that Jesus not only taught us how to receive
joy, but also how to understand a man like Robert White. I
believe the Bible will show us that if you want joy, real joy,
true joy, wonderful joy, it is not only, as the old song has it,
that you must “let Jesus come into your heart.” That’s true,
as far as it goes, but there is something else. If you want joy,
real joy, true joy, wonderful joy, let Jesus come into your
heart – and – develop the gifts that God has put into your
life. It is only as we grow what God has given us that
authentic joy comes.
In a parable that Jesus told, there was a wealthy man who
was about to set out on a long journey. In order to make
sure that his resources were well cared for while he was
away, he selected three servants and gave each one of them
a certain number of talents. Interesting that in those days a
talent was a sum of money; today we use the word to
describe an ability. However you use the word, it means that
each of these three servants was entrusted with something
valuable. One of them got only one talent; another received
two talents; and one fortunate fellow was blessed with five
talents. When each had received his set of talents, the
master left. The master simply gifted each one and went on
his way.
But you know the story -- how the two talent man and the
five talent man invested their gifts, multiplied them, and
gladly offered them back to the master. To each of these the
master said, “Well done, good and faithful servant; enter into
the joy of the master.” But the one talent man did nothing but
bury his gift in the sand, keeping it safe but unused; for this
holding back, for this lack of initiative, the one talent man
heard the wrath of the master and the threat of being cast
into darkness, where there is no joy at all.
Jesus is teaching us that we are gifted, all of us. I see here
no mention of any servant who is given zero talents. All of
us are gifted, and if we want joy, we will have to venture
what we have been given; we will have to develop it and
share it. Just hiding away what you have will not do; that
leads only to sorrow. Growing and giving, those are the
things that bring joy.
I am persuaded that on Sunday last, as Robert Cecil White
passed from life through death into eternal life, he heard the
master’s greeting, “Well done, good and faithful servant.
Enter into the master’s joy”. For here was a five talent man
who had learned how to grow and to share his gifts.
Would you explore with me the joy-giving talents of a five
talent man – one whom you have described in your obituary
as a Renaissance man? A man for all seasons and a man
whose every nerve was a-tingle for the Lord? A five talent
man – maybe it would help us to get the picture if we use the
five letters of his last name to focus on his five talents. W,
H, I, T, E – would you permit me to play with those letters a
little in order to point up the source of Robert’s joy?
I
W is for writing. Robert wrote, especially poetry. I have on
my computer poems that he sent me by email. You have on
the bulletin one of his compositions. He wrote for the
Takoma Towers newsletter, and, as if that were not enough,
he published his own handouts as well. One of our members
reports having seen him reading poetry on a cable TV
channel. Robert knew that writing is a wonderful way to
share. Writing multiplies the gift, because when you publish,
others can read, the circle widens, and people you do not
even know can benefit from your wisdom.
After all, God chose writing as the gift through which He
would record for us all that He has done. God’s written
word, the Bible, has endured and has blessed us for
thousands of years. Much of it is poetry, like Robert’s. God
gave the gift of writing so that we might share insights across
the miles and through the years.
And yet, did you know that writing is also a misery?! Writing
is agonizing for most of us. It does not come easily. You
have to work at it. The other night one of our members sent
me an email and said, “I have been staring at a blank
computer screen for almost an hour. I have a writing project
I must do and I cannot get started. Do you have any
suggestions?” Well, the pastor is called, you know, to
respond to all the needs of all of his parishioners, and so I
started to answer. And I sat and stared at my blank
computer screen for almost an hour trying to respond!
Writing is an agony! I think about pastor friends I have who
have turned out book after book while serving in demanding
churches. They write books faster than I can read them.
How do they do it? Writing is a tough, painful discipline.
And yet it is a most effective way to share the truth that God
has given us. Robert White took the agonizing gift of writing,
used it, multiplied it, and so is able to hear the Father’s word,
“Well done, good and faithful servant; enter into the master’s
joy.”
II
W, H. H is for harmony. The gift of harmony. Robert loved
to sing. He may not have been Paul Robeson or Placido
Domingo, but he loved to sing. What he lacked in musical
polish he made up for in energy, exuberance, and the sheer
gutsiness of standing before this congregation. Who of us
will forget, just a few weeks ago, when our men’s ensemble
sang, “We are soldiers, in the army, and we have to go.”
Robert stood right here, with his hands gripping this pulpit,
his head waving back and forth, his eyes closed, and his
voice singing it out. And it was only a little farther back when
he sang for us the very theme of this message, “He’ll
understand and say, ‘well done’.” Robert loved to sing.
Harmony was one of his gifts, one of the five talents he grew.
But really I do not think that his gift of harmony ended with
his love for singing. Robert wanted harmony not only in the
choir loft, but also among his brothers and sisters. He did
not like it when folks fought one another. Robert attended
some of our business meetings – which can become, let us
just say, intense. He listened as some of us expressed
ourselves forcefully but not always compassionately. I can
see him now, shaking his head, and speaking up to say, “We
ought to be grateful. We ought to be glad that somebody
has a vision for this church to move forward.” Harmony – he
wanted to see us live in peace with one another, but not at
the expense of doing the will of God. He knew that harmony
that is purchased at the cost of silencing the spirit is too
expensive. And so he spoke up for moving forward,
following the will of God, in harmony. I personally shall
always be grateful that he spoke up to support some things
that as pastor I believe are important for the future of this
congregation.
Harmony – whether in the choir loft or in the business
meeting; whether in the family or over in the Towers;
harmony in the jazz ensemble and among his friends.
Robert White grew the gift of harmony. “Well done, good
and faithful servant; enter into the master’s joy”.
III
Now where are we? W, H, I. I is for inquisitive. Inquisitive.
This man wanted to know. This man was not satisfied with
the old answers, the tried and maybe true and maybe not.
This man was inquisitive. He was alert to his world and
wanted to know more about it.
He could pepper you with questions. These questions could
come anytime, anywhere. He sat in some of the classes I
taught, and did not just numbly swallow everything I said. He
asked questions; he pressed me. He wanted to know. He
was inquisitive. Doesn’t it seem to you particularly
appropriate that one of the last things he did, just hours
before he passed away, was to visit the Egyptian exhibit at
the National Gallery of Art? “In search of immortality.”
Robert did not visit that exhibit as one who was himself in
search of immortality; he knew the Lord and knew that
eternal life was his. But he wanted to know about other
peoples, other cultures, other ideas. He grew the gift of
being inquisitive.
And yet what thrills me about how Robert developed the gift
for being inquisitive is that he did not pursue knowledge for
its own sake, but he pursued knowledge in order to live it, to
use it, to shape his life by it. Robert’s questions in Bible
class were pointed not at some obscure and irrelevant fact of
Scripture; Robert’s questions always focused on the “so
what” issues. If this is what the Bible says, so what? How
does that affect the way we should live? It is one thing to
build up a store of knowledge for its own sake; it is another
to grow knowledge by using it in your life. I have an idea that
if Robert had ever seen my personal library, my books lining
several walls, he would have asked me, “So what have you
learned – for life – out of all of these?”
Inquisitive. Wanting to know something and then how to use
if for life. In fact, upstairs, right now, we have a seminar
going on about how to share your faith. About twenty people
are studying ways to enhance their witnessing for Christ.
Guess who was the first person to sign up for that seminar?!
The gift of being inquisitive, not just to know, and not just to
know that you know, but inquisitive so that you can live the
truth out. “Well done, good and faithful servant; enter into
the master’s joy.”
IV
And then there is T. W, H, I, T. T is for the gift of testimony.
Robert had a story to tell and he told it. He told his story not
to gain glory for himself or to stir up sympathy, but just to
lead others to see the grace of God. If you knew nothing
else about Robert White, you knew that he had a story to
tell. Some of it was not pretty; it was not the “I’ve always
been such a good church mouse” kind of story. But Robert’s
story was real, heartfelt, and it was told.
Two weeks ago I planned our morning worship around
testimonies. I had prepared a sermon, “When To Be
Stubborn”, on the theme of standing firm. When do you
stand firm? Some folks were candid enough to say that
Takoma Park Baptist Church members didn’t need any
lessons in how to be stubborn! Well, the topic was “when” to
be stubborn. I called for testimonies. Robert was one of
those who came forward. He spoke of difficult days in his
life. He spoke of finding himself in another city, years ago, in
a daze – under influences that were not healthy. Tears
came to our eyes as on that Sunday Robert called himself
the prodigal son, like the one in the Bible story who came to
himself and went home to the embrace of a loving father.
One who because of God’s amazing grace, once was lost,
but now is found, was blind but now can see.
Out of his testimony, Robert had a concern for others,
particularly men, who had issues in their lives. He joined our
prison ministry team, headed by Deacon Rohena Nelson,
and suggested that its name be changed to the prodigal
ministry team. He had a testimony he was willing to share.
He grew the gift of testimony. “Well done, good and faithful
servant; enter into the master’s joy.”
V
And to conclude – by the way, this thing of using the letters
of a name as the outline of a sermon. Do you know the old
story about the students who went to chapel at Yale
University one day, and the preacher took the four letters of
the name of the school as his outline, but spoke for about
fifteen minutes on each one. Y for fifteen minutes, A for
fifteen minutes, then L and E in the same way. As two of the
students left chapel, one complained to the other and said,
“Too long. Boring. Much too long.” But the other student
replied, “Well, there is something to be grateful for. Aren’t
you glad we go to Yale and not to the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology”?
I think Robert would have laughed at that story. The final
letter is E. W, H, I, T, E. E stands for the gift of emotion.
Feelings, laughter, joy. Deep down, out of the heart emotion.
This man not only thought, he felt. His heart as well as his
mind were attuned to the things of the Spirit. His greatest
gift, and the one he grew with gusto, was the gift of allowing
his emotions to lead him. The gift of knowing when the
timing is right and acting. Doing what you feel you truly need
to do. He would sit down here after singing and let loose
with, “I just came to praise the Lord.” Emotion!
After Robert started worshiping here last spring, I called him
one day and asked him if I could stop in and visit about
joining our church. He said that he was a member of another
fellowship, and that he was trying to be supportive there;
they had some needs he thought he might help. So, no, he
didn’t think there was any real need to talk about joining
Takoma. But the very next Sunday, when I had preached
and had given the invitation, here he came, fairly running
down this aisle. He said, “I didn’t come to church today with
the intention of joining. But I felt something calling me.” He
trusted his emotions to lead him to do the right thing, and he
came.
It is truly a gift to know your heart, to read your emotions,
and to do what is called for. In the last week of his life his
heart led him at another place, and we honor it today. His
heart opened to his sister in Christ, his neighbor in the
Towers, his fellow church member, Betty Jones, and he
invited her to unite in marriage. They had planned to come
and see me this week to talk about a wedding. Oh, Betty,
we grieve with you this loss, and we feel the pain of your not
having been able to complete the plan. But Betty, you have
been loved. You have been loved by a man whose gift it
was to know his own heart, to feel the strength of his
emotions, and to let himself be led. Glory to God for such a
spirit as this. “Well done, good and faithful servant; enter
into the master’s joy.”
W, H, I, T, E. Robert Cecil White, a five talent man. One
who grew his gifts and now has presented them to the
master, multiplied and complete. God gave him life. God
gave him these gifts. God gave him new life through Christ.
And now, we believe, God is giving him the gift of eternal life.
And Robert is hearing echoed through the corridors of
heaven the great chorus, “Well done, well done.”
You and I may not be five talent people. We may be two
talent or one talent folks. Whatever you have, God gave it,
and God expects it to be grown and shared. It cannot be
buried in the ground for safekeeping; it will only rot there. It
cannot be used to build your reputation; it will only wear thin
there. It can only be used for the things of the Kingdom, for
only what you do for Christ will last.
If you want joy, real joy, true joy, wonderful joy, yes, let Jesus
come into your heart – and – use what Jesus gives you for
the Kingdom. You will someday stand alongside Brother
Robert Cecil White, singing with energy and gusto, “He’ll
understand and say, ‘Well done’”. Enter into the joy.
