Epiphany 3: “Gifts of the Spirit”

1/21/07

1 Corinthians 12.12-31a

I was sort of eavesdropping this week on an on-line conversation among a group of Lutherans who were talking about writing prayers for use in worship, and whether or not it was essential, or proper, or ethically required to give some kind of acknowledgement to the authors of prayers used in worship. This all started when someone shared a prayer that he had written, and then someone else asked permission to use it in her parish, and the author said, “Sure, that’s fine, as long as you give me credit as the author.” Another person said, essentially, “You’re kidding—credit for a prayer? I would never ask anyone to give me credit for a prayer; I figure it doesn’t belong to me, but to the Holy Spirit.” Others came to the defense of the prayer writer: “Writing prayers is his gift, and it’s important to recognize and honor this by giving proper credit.” And so it went, with people lining up on one side or the other, as people will do with almost any question, it seems.

And of course this is nothing new. St. Paul was writing to a church that was filled with problems. Perhaps the most difficult was a spirit of divisiveness and jealousy about spiritual gifts. Some members had what were regarded as special gifts, and they were honored greatly for those gifts. They tended to look down on those in the congregation who did not have these gifts. And so there was division among Christians. Paul responded by talking at some length about the spiritual gifts that God gives, and this passage this morning is part of that response. I’d like to make three observations about Paul’s advice.

First, Paul comes down squarely on the side of diversity. In the church, he says, everyone has different gifts. We’re not all the same. Like the ear is different from the eye, and the eye different from the hand, and the hand from the mouth, so we are different from one another.

Now human beings tend to see differences as obstacles. If I’m different from you, then we may have trouble getting along, trouble communicating, trouble working together. Lois’s dad used to tell a story about something that happened when he was academic dean at Thiel College in Pennsylvania. There was a new professor who had just been hired, and the departmental faculty were invited to a social event to meet him and his wife. It was a lovely party, good conversation, and everyone seemed to get along famously with the guest of honor. After the new professor and his wife left, the conversation turned to what a splendid addition to the community they would be. “I think they’re just wonderful,” said one person, “they’re just like us!” Well, we like people who are just like us, don’t we? People who are different present obstacles.

But here Paul tells us something very important about diversity. It is, he says, a gift of God. It is a gift of God that we aren’t all the same, that everyone isn’t just like us! As frustrating and irritating as people who are different from us can sometimes be, they are a gift of God. So Paul’s advice is to start with that realization—seeing people who are different from us, not as obstacles, but as gifts!

Now one could go in many directions with that observation, but let’s stick close to the text. When Paul discusses diversity, he isn’t thinking primarily of differences of opinion, or ethnicity, or culture. He is talking about diversity of gifts. And his next move is to say that all these diverse gifts come from God. In the Corinthian church, it happened to be the gift of tongues that was regarded as being somehow more special than anything else. But Paul argues that there are many different kinds of gifts that God gives, and when he spells them out—not so much in this passage, but throughout his discussion—it becomes apparent that many of the gifts he has in mind are not at all what the Corinthians consider to be “spiritual.” They are things like teaching, and administration—practical, down to earth things. No gift, he says, is better than another—just as one could not say that the eye is more important than the ear, or the hand more significant than the foot. All are important, and all are given by God.

Now the corollary, and my second point, is that everyone in the church is given gifts. “For in the one Spirit,” he says, “we were all baptized into one body—Jew or Greek, slave or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. . . Now you are the body of Christ, and individually members of it.” This divine gift-giving is tied to Baptism, you see, and to the Holy Spirit, and that means everyone is involved. Everyone receives gifts.

I love that part of the baptismal service where we present the candle to the newly baptized. “Let your light so shine before others that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” That candle symbolizes precisely this point: In Holy Baptism, we receive gifts of the Spirit. Just what those gifts will be will unfold as we grow and mature in faith, but we all receive them—even that infant being held at the font.

So then we must let the text confront us: When you were baptized into Christ Jesus, you received gifts from God. Do you understand that? You are a gifted person, child of God, because you are a member of the body of Christ. That’s not always easy for us to grasp, because we often have the Corinthian problem. We think that some gifts are really important and useful, but that those gifts were given to other people, and not to us! We think of ourselves as the plain, ungifted ones. But that’s not what Paul says! He says God has given gifts to you!

There’s a third thing to say about gifts, and that has to do with their purpose. Have you ever had this experience? Have you ever received a gift from someone that seemed very nice but not really appropriate for you? You said a polite “thank you” and then set the gift on a shelf or in a closet and forgot about it. And then some time later, perhaps even years later, you happened to pick it up and you suddenly became intrigued by it, and then discovered it was really quite wonderful. Maybe you think, “Why didn’t I understand this before?”

I think we often do that with the gifts God has given us. We put them on an internal shelf and ignore them, and we thereby miss the real thrill and joy of the gift. But God’s gifts are intended to be used—and not simply for our own enjoyment, but for the benefit of the community. That’s why God gives them to us—to be shared with others.

Have you ever noticed that line in our bulletin, where, after listing a few of the people who have special roles to play here at Peace, it says “Ministers: all members of the congregation.” You see, that’s what your gifts are for—they are for ministry, service. And for Christians, that ministry is to be carried out in two different contexts.

The first and most important is ministry in daily life. What you do in the world is your ministry. If you are a teacher, or a nurse, or a mechanic, or an electrician, or a salesperson, or a homemaker, or a student—no matter what your occupation, the Christian faith sees it as a vocation, a calling. It is the sphere in which Christ asks you to be a faithful minister. It is the primary arena in which you have the opportunity to use the gifts you have been given in service to others.

The other way you are called to use your gifts is in the congregation. There are so many ways to do that. Shortly you’ll be receiving your copy of Peace’s annual report, and when you page through it, you might well be overwhelmed by the opportunities. Some of the ways we serve are public and obvious—singing in the choir, teaching Sunday School, serving on Council. But others use their gifts in quiet ways that few ever see. Taking garbage to the dump, making coffee, counting the offering, painting a wall, giving an elderly or disabled person a ride to church, serving on altar guild, pulling weeds or planting flowers—all these simply tasks are occasions for using the gifts that God has given.

So perhaps hearing this lesson today is a good chance to take inventory: How are you using your gifts in ministry? The gifts God has given were promised in Holy Baptism, and that promise is good and true. You are gifted! But as I once heard a preacher say, too many of us aren’t “Standing on the promises,” we’re just “Sitting on the premises.” How about you? Are you using the gifts God has given you for ministry? If those gifts are up on the shelf, or hidden in a drawer someplace, this would be a fine time to take them out and discover just how wonderful and significant they are!