Opening the Spirit’s Gifts - January 17, 2016

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I Corinthians 12:1-11

Just a few weeks ago, most of us gathered with families to open Christmas gifts. They were wrapped in brightly colored paper or placed beneath mounds of tissue paper in lovely bags. We pulled from them toys, books, clothing, and electronic gadgets, among other things. Some gifts are practical. You know you are truly an adult when socks and underwear top your Christmas list. As a child those were boring gifts that hardly rated as gifts at all. As an adult I am pleased. Other gifts are just for fun. I'm excited by my tickets to see The Book of Mormon. Some gifts are glamorous and others are every day.
Gifts come from many sources: friends, family, and of, course, Santa Claus. My thanks to those of you who donated to the Staff Christmas gift, which is paying for groceries these days when I shop at Winco.
Our reading today from I Corinthians talks about another sort of gift: spiritual gifts. You won't find them in a box neatly tied up with ribbons and topped with a bow. You won't pull them out of a gift bag. Spiritual gifts are both practical and things of great delight.

After the flurry of gifts on Christmas morning, I had to stop and think, "Who gave me the coloring book? What did my sister Nancy send?" It's hard to keep track of everything and it's important to know who to thank for what. In the same way it is easy to confuse spiritual gifts with natural talents or aptitudes. After all, I do believe God is the One who granted one person a particularly sharp intellect and another a sense of perfect pitch. It is also easy to confuse spiritual gifts with those skills we hone through hard work -- all the hours spent playing scales on the piano or at batting practice. Spiritual gifts are not activated by our own effort.
Lost perhaps in the wrappings is the tag which says, "To Sue, From God." These are not signs of status which mark me or you as superior because we have accomplished so much. They come to each of us as a blessing from God.
My Christmas gifts this year ranged from a donation in my honor to Habitat for Humanity to a set of covered glass bowls. The Apostle Paul lists a wide variety of spiritual gifts; wisdom and knowledge, faith and healing, miracles and prophecy, the discernment of spirits, speaking in tongues and the interpretation of tongues. It is quite the list. If you compare it with Paul's list of gifts when he writes to the Romans, you will find it is a bit different. In either case, his list is not meant to be exhaustive. Rather, he simply tries to illustrate the sorts of gifts which come to us from God.
The diversity of spiritual gifts testifies to the diversity of God. As Christians we describe God as the Trinity – as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, or some of us prefer to say Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer. I like to think of the Trinity as three roles God plays while still being One Person, just as I am wife, sister, and pastor and still one person. I bring many of the same qualities and characteristics to each of those roles and yet I relate in very different ways. So we know God in many ways. God is revealed to us in the wide variety of spiritual gifts.
I think we see God the Creator especially in the arts: music, visual gifts like painting and sculpture, dance, and drama. Yes, in some ways those are both natural attributes and skills honed through hours of effort. They can also be spiritual gifts because both in the process of creating and in the enjoyment others receive from them we get a little glimpse of God. And here again we see the diversity in the Godhead because there is such a variety – from a Bach cantata to the rhythm of rap music, from an oil painting by Rembrandt to the bright colors of a child's drawing, and so much more. And while one style of music may speak to me and a very different style speaks to you, so it is God comes to us each in a different way.
So too God the Word is revealed to us in gifts like wisdom and knowledge, in reason and rhetoric. God gave us brains and tongues and expects us to use them. God the Sustainer comes to us through the gifts of relationship: hospitality and caring, leadership and the ability to cast a vision for the future of an organization. And the list could grow from there, for God is bigger than any human can fully understand or experience.
Today I want to celebrate the spiritual gifts I see lived out in this congregation and the ways God is revealed among us through them. As Paul says in a passage we'll read in a couple of weeks, the humblest parts of the body are no less important than the more honored parts. So it is that God is revealed to us in humble spiritual gifts like the folks who show up here to change light bulbs, mop up after a leak, or work through some technical challenge like connecting the new printer to the network which operates our computers. In Jesus God emptied Godself of the divine and took on human flesh, the son of a manual laborer. Jesus said, "Blessed are the meek." And so it is that we see God's humility in the humble, ordinary, and oh so necessary gifts of those who do those practical and unglamorous tasks, whether that's here at the church or for a friend, at home or in their professional lives.
Music has been one of this church's strengths for many years. In this period of transition between music directors it continues to be true. We continue to hear the beauty of God in the mellow tones of the hand chimes and the bright beauty of the hand bells, in the rich harmony of the choir. And those of us who participate, from the humblest follower in the alto section to the ablest musician who can actually count a dotted eighth note, know the wonder of cocreating with God. So too do the women who make cards at Grace Notes or the children busily building block cities down in the nursery.
Because God came among us as one of us, we know God's love best in relationships. Some people are especially gifted here as they seek out visitors to our church to welcome them, or the Lay Pastoral Care team who go to visit home bound folks to supplement my visits, or to offer a listening ear to someone who recently lost a loved one or who is just having a hard time.
Paul wrote to the Corinthians, "To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good." The purpose of spiritual gifts is not to exalt one person over another, it is to help the whole church know God. As is clear from the rest of Paul's correspondence with the church in Corinth, like most groups, they got caught up in power struggles and personality conflicts. Those who spoke in tongues thought they were more spiritual than those with humbler gifts. So Paul reminds them, "To each is given the manifestation of the spirit for the common good." The purpose of spiritual gifts is the well being of the entire church.
I see so many ways the people of this congregation use the gifts God has given them for the benefit of us all. In this last year, TC has been intentional about teaching others how to do the things T has quietly been taking care of for years: maintenance of the clock, upkeep of the boilers, resetting thermostats. The church is stronger and healthier as that knowledge is shared by several people.
When I call DH or LM to organize a reception they call on others. Be it a funeral reception or a special coffee hour, that team of people works together to provide a gracious time to celebrate or remember. God's comfort and joy comes to people both within this congregation and outside of it.
From those who work with our very youngest in the nursery to those who teach and lead classes for adults, teachers help us all to not only learn about God but to know God. One of my dreams for 2016 is to reconnect confirmation mentors with the youth they sponsored. As we build those relationships both youth and adults will grow in their relationships with God.
"No one can say, 'Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit,'" Paul began this discussion. The ultimate proof that the Holy Spirit is present with us comes as we confess our faith in Jesus. As we unwrap our gifts for the common good we are led again to affirm Jesus as Lord. Will you sing with me now #177.