Transcript
To each is given the manifestation of the spirit for the common good. Please be seated.
Are you talented or gifted? In other words, are you good at something, or more than one thing hopefully? It’s funny asking if you’re talented almost sounds like maybe you have a hobby that you’ve gotten good at. Asking if you’re gifted almost seems to imply an elevated level. For example, my mom taught eighth grade science at a gifted center. It was part of a mainstream middle school in Fairfax County, and she had all three levels of students. Regular eighth graders honors eighth graders, and gifted eighth graders.
If honors kids were supposed to be smart, gifted kids were supposed to be brilliant. Like taking calculus as a 13 year old kind of brilliant. So asking if you’re gifted almost sounds like asking if you’re brilliant, but I would argue that’s not what being gifted means. Because instead I would argue that we are all gifted. We just have to figure out what those gifts are.
And today, in his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul talks about some of those gifts. The church in Corinth is always getting into trouble. I mean, I’m pretty sure that’s why Paul had to write two letters to them and some of the language in Paul’s letters to the Corinthians is quite comical, like today’s second reading. It’s like Paul is yelling at the Christians in Corinth, because some of them are claiming their gifts are better than others, and thus they are quote gifted, as in brilliant, instead of gifted, as in loved by God.
Because being gifted, having gifts is a way God loves each of us. By giving us the gifts that God has bestowed upon each of us. Before I keep going, because you know I’m about to dive deeper into gifts, I have a disclaimer. I did not know that this would be today’s reading. I really didn’t.
After last week, when I talked about what gifts each of us would bring to Jesus, like the wise men brought, I had no idea that Paul was going to start talking about gifts this week. And it gets better. I checked because this whole conversation about gifts will continue again next week. Perfect timing for our annual meeting. [Laughter] So perhaps one could argue the timing of these readings about gifts are in and of themselves, a gift.
Anyway, each and every single one of us has gifts given to us by a God who loves us. And yes, some of those gifts might be obvious and some of them might be more internal. Quieter. Like in Paul’s list of gifts. Wisdom, knowledge, and faith are all more internal. Whereas talking in tongues and performing miracles are a whole lot more public.
And yet all of them are gifts given through the Spirit by God the Father, for the good of the whole. And yes, that’s another part of gifts from God. They’re not just for us to use and enjoy on our own, like being gifted with numbers. You spend all your free time doing Sudoku puzzles or being gifted with chemistry, so you bake yourself a loaf of bread every week. Also, if that’s you, let me know. I’ll totally help you join community on a fresh loaf of bread every week.
Instead, as Paul writes to each is given the manifestation of the spirit for the common good. No matter what your gifts are, they are not for you alone. They are meant to be shared for the common good. So here’s another thing about gifts. Sometimes it’s hard to know what our own gifts are. Sometimes it takes someone else pointing them out to you before you realize what your gifts are.
Granted, you might know what you’re good at, and you might know what you enjoy doing, but you might not really be able to place a word to it or a classification. That was the case for me with one of my gifts. I know it is a gift now because people have told me it is a gift and it is the gift of hospitality. You see, I just thought I liked meeting new people and smiling at strangers and hearing other people’s stories.
But as several friends and mentors pointed out to me, that is a gift. Specifically the gift of hospitality. Generously and warmly receiving others into my life and to my space in my time. So sometimes it does take someone else to point out our gifts. Or maybe it takes someone else to point out our gifts enough times until we finally think, hey, maybe there’s something to this.
On the flip side, though, I can definitely tell you what are not my gifts. As some of you may have already experienced, I am not good at multitasking. My brain does not work on multiple layers and things happening at once. That does not happen. It’s probably one of the reasons why I have to completely clear my desk before I can begin writing a sermon.
So gifts are given from God to each of us because God loves us and we all have gifts. Even if it takes someone else naming them for us to know what they are and gifts are meant to be shared and community, and especially in church community. And here’s why. This is a direct quote from one of my commentaries. The sanctifying agency of God is so rich, so multidimensional that it requires a variety of expressions.
I’m going to say that again, the sanctifying agency of God is so rich, so multidimensional that it requires a variety of expressions. In other words, God is so vast in God’s Godness that to know God, to love God, to praise God, and pray to God and worship God, it all requires the different ways in which we as a community and as individuals, are capable of knowing, loving, praising, praying to, and worshiping God. Which is why last week I invited you to consider the fact that the gifts you bring to Jesus is the gift of all of you. And yes, that does mean all 100 of you that come on an average Sunday.
It also means all of you, as in the individual sitting in a pew who is hearing this, knowing that all of the heart and all of the mind and all of the soul and all of the strength of you is required. Last week I did mention that you get to decide what your gifts are, but that’s not 100% completely true. You get to decide which gifts you choose to foster and which gifts you choose to ignore. And it is God who decides which gifts you are given.
And here’s another disclaimer. You might choose to foster certain gifts and ignore certain gifts. And if God disagrees with your choices, you will know. God will definitely let you know.
It is when you accept all of who you are with the undeniable gifts that are given to you from God. Offered to the community that is gathered here that you fully live in to the person God made you to be. Gifts have specific purposes and there is a vast array of gifts we are each given, and each gift is given as a way to honor God and honor one another. In other words, to love God and love one another.
Embrace your gifts and offer them back to God as a thank you for all that God has given you, especially God’s everlasting love. You see, it’s almost like an infinite loop. God loves you. As a sign of God’s love, God gives you gifts. Using those gifts are how you can show your love back to God.
For which God loves you. And so on and so on. So, like gifts, have God given you and how will you share them with all of us and with God? Whatever you figure out now, know that there is definitely a place for you in this community and a place for the gifts you have to offer.
Here and with God. Amen.