SCRIPTURE 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 (CEB)
Brothers and sisters, I don’t want you to be ignorant about spiritual gifts. You know that when you were Gentiles you were often misled by false gods that can’t even speak. So I want to make it clear to you that no one says, “Jesus is cursed!” when speaking by God’s Spirit, and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit. There are different spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; and there are different ministries and the same Lord; and there are different activities but the same God who produces all of them in everyone. A demonstration of the Spirit is given to each person for the common good. A word of wisdom is given by the Spirit to one person, a word of knowledge to another according to the same Spirit, faith to still another by the same Spirit, gifts of healing to another in the one Spirit, performance of miracles to another, prophecy to another, the ability to tell spirits apart to another, different kinds of tongues to another, and the interpretation of the tongues to another. All these things are produced by the one and same Spirit who gives what he wants to each person.
This is a season of firsts and lasts for me.
Christmas was not only my last Christmas in the pulpit,
but it was also my first Christmas without my father.
I was asked if I thought I would miss leading worship on Christmas Eve --- and the honest answer is I don’t think so --- it is an extremely stressful time for a pastor, and I have always missed out on many family activities because of it.
One thing I think I will miss is the opportunity to preach on stewardship.
Inviting people to experience that absolute joy of giving generously is one of the greatest opportunities of being a pastor.
What is always fun is coming up with new (and hopefully creative) ways of sharing about generosity.
For the next couple of weeks, I will share a series that I have titled SETTING SAIL.
This idea popped into my head because it is the current situation for both Meridian Street Church and Nancy and I.
We are both getting ready to set sail on a new adventure.
As I began working on this series a few months ago, my mind instantly created a playlist of sailing songs.
Christopher Cross --- Sailing
if the wind is right you can sail away and find tranquility
Oh, the canvas can do miracles, just you wait and see.
Believe me.
Styx --- Come Sail Away
My freshman year in high school, they played at a dance at my school
One of the things you probably don’t know about me is I am a huge Jimmy Buffett fan --- and his music is full of sailing songs.
The lure of setting sail is at once exciting and at times terrifying.
Christmas is barely in our rearview mirror.
Christmas, in popular culture is, of course, mainly a season of giving and receiving of gifts.
Just a few weeks ago we were inundated with stories about Santa Claus --- depicted as a magnanimous gift giver --- doling out presents for personal enjoyment.
Paul, in our text this morning puts a whole new spin on the idea of gifts.
Paul’s discussion of spiritual gifts imagines a divine giver who bestows gifts based
Not on what we think our heart desires
But rather on what will most contribute to the common good of a whole community.
Unfortunately, the concept of common good seems to be lost on us today ---
But, as Jesus followers, we need to do our best to exemplify the common good for the rest of our culture.
If there is any responsibility, we, as Christians have, it is to
remind,
live-out,
and proclaim ---
that we are here not for ourselves, but for ALL of God’s creation.
Can I get an Amen to that?
Or have we so bought into the message of popular culture that we have forgotten?
If you are not sure about this --- take some time and read once again Matthew chapter 20
Paul often gets a bad rap in our society --- we have twisted his essential message and turned it upside down and missed what he had to say.
Since we are going to be looking at a couple of passages from Paul’s letter to the nascent church at Corinth it might be helpful to try and understand a bit about the context.
First and foremost --- we only have one side of a series of letters.
Clearly Paul was responding to some correspondence that he had received --- and most scholars believe that this is actually a couple of letters that have been stitched together.
Paul will wrestle with several theological challenges in this letter
At the beginning of the letter, Paul lays out his purpose --- and it is what I was trying to say last week:
I encourage you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ: Agree with each other and don’t be divided into rival groups. Instead, be restored with the same mind and the same purpose. (1 Cor 1:10)
In our text this morning, Paul explores for us how this unity of purpose can be achieved despite radical differences.
I love how Paul says it:
“There are different spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; and there are different ministries and the same Lord; and there are different activities but the same God who produces all of them in everyone”
Everyone is given a gift by God --- EVERYONE --- the question is:
are we willing to take the time to figure out what God has gifted us?
And believe me --- I understand our reticence in figuring that out.
Once I recognize that I have been gifted --- I need to do something with it
Paul clearly tells us why we are given these gifts:
“A demonstration of the Spirit is given to each person for the common good.”
I hear pastors bemoaning the fact that their church can’t do something
--- can’t take on a particular ministry
--- because they don’t have the people to lead it.
When I started Celebration church --- I became aware of what Paul was trying to teach us in this section of 1 Corinthians.
I am convinced that every God ordained community has all the gifts it needs to successfully lead the ministries that God is calling it too.
“A demonstration of the Spirit is given to each person for the common good.”
As Paul wanders through the list of spiritual gifts, he ends by saying:
“All these things are produced by the one and same Spirit who gives what he wants to each person.”
Richard Carlson in his commentary on this passage says:
“the Spirit which works in every single Christian as the Spirit so choses. Likewise, the Spirit works in each Christian not so much for the benefit of any individual Christian but for the benefit of the entire community. Thus the Spirit’s activity is quite diverse; no single Christian receives all the Spirit’s gifts. Yet each Christian is empowered by the Spirit for ministry which builds up the whole community.”
The fundamental question isn’t do we have the gifts necessary --- but rather --- are we willing to use the gifts God has given us?
Somewhere along the line --- Christianity moved from being a verb --- an action
to being a noun --- a description
To be a Christian is to be actively engaged in the world, using the gifts we have been given --- not for our own benefit --- but to benefit the common good.
To be a Christian is to set sail and follow the winds of the spirit.
But before we can set sail --- it seems to me we need to follow the advice of Jesus as found in Luke 14:
“Is there anyone here who, planning to build a new house, doesn’t first sit down and figure the cost so you’ll know if you can complete it?”
We need to identify the opportunities before us and determine if we have what it takes to make it happen.
About the same time as I announced my retirement late last fall --- I got a phone call.
It was from a member of Meridian Street --- a very active member --- who wanted to share an opportunity with me.
For almost 40 years, when someone comes to me with an idea for the church, I have had a pretty similar answer --- some of you (to your dismay at times) have heard it from me --- and what I say when you present a ministry idea is:
“How can I help YOU bring this to life”
It took me a while to understand the necessary corollary to this statement --- and I learned it from my mistakes --- And I try to impress this upon the staff all the time --- “You are not hired to DO the ministry --- you are hired to help facilitate the ministry.”
This has been one of my maxim’s that has been most difficult to implement here.
Back to my phone call --- this person shared that he knew someone who had experience in leading summer camps for kids and was interested in starting the ministry at Meridian Street.
As you can imagine --- I was intrigued from the get-go.
But as I was introduced to Chris, I was intrigued even more.
Chris’s father was a refugee from Viet-Nam that was welcomed by a church in Ohio (I think).
His father married his mother in a service here at Meridian Street and he later became a pastor.
Chris works for IPS as a counselor at a middle school and has a passion for young people.
If you can’t hear God in this --- I am not sure you are listening very hard.
Think about it for just a second.
On August 15th we gathered at Camp Otto to celebrate one of the greatest legacies of Meridian Street Church --- and then just a few months later, God sends this gift to us.
For the past two months I have been in conversation with Chris with two goals in mind --- First, to discern if this opportunity fits within our mission and vision.
That answer seems pretty easy --- but it wasn’t
I needed to discern
Does Chris know what he is talking about?
What is his agenda? --- why does he want to do this?
And does his purpose align with ours?
And I can tell you --- I am 100% convinced that God sent us this gift and it is a monumental opportunity for us to extend our mission.
Earlier this month, after getting the staff on board --- the idea was presented first to the Trustees and then the Finance teams.
I can tell you that they both not only affirmed the concept but unanimously and enthusiastically, supported it.
But that still leaves the last question that must be discerned.
Are we as a church willing to not only support the ministry, but actively engage with it?
In other words, are we willing to commit to making it a success?
This is the tough one, because I will not be here to nurture it as it launches --- but you will be.
We have spent almost the last two years mired in a pandemic.
We are once again worshipping from our homes so that we can do our part in helping to control the spread of Omicron.
The truth is --- most of our ministries have become stagnant.
We have become less engaged
That is just one of the by-products of the pandemic
But the winds are changing
We can sit and count what we have lost
Or we can venture out and seek the opportunities God has placed before us.
At the top of the bulletin --- I shared a quote from John Maxwell --- a church and organizational leader
The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change. The leader adjusts the sails.
As we move out of this pandemic – which has already changed all of us --- we need to ask ourselves --- Am I using the gifts that God has given to me?
Am I taking advantage of all the Spirit filled opportunities that are before me?
This summer camp isn’t the only opportunity that is in front of us --- I just wanted to share one with you today.
How is God calling you to bring it into fruition?
And if you are not called to bring it into fruition --- where are you being called?
The scary part of setting sail is we know that we cannot remain the same
--- if we are willing to leave the safety of the harbor, we are in.
For the last 40 years, I have served where the bishop has told me to serve (I trust with the wisdom of the spirit).
Sure, Nancy and I have been blessed that we could live in our own house and not one provided by the church.
Just an aside, my first parsonage was furnished by the church . . .
I slept in somebody else’s bed
I ate at somebody else’s table
It was very weird
Yes, we live in our own home today, but we still always lived in the community that the bishop appointed us to.
We are getting ready to set sail on a whole new adventure of picking where WE want to live (how does one do that?)
We know that we must leave the safe harbor we have been in and listen to where God is leading us
Meridian Street is called to do the same thing
The same old ministries of the past won’t/don’t cut it anymore
Are we willing to use the Gifts God has given us to venture out?
As we individually and collectively discern that answer --- hear these wise words from Father Richard Rohr
The God within is like a homing device placed within us, like those found naturally in homing pigeons. No matter where they’re released, they know how to find their way back home—across thousands of miles in some cases! We can think of the Holy Spirit as our interior homing device—that for all our stupidity and mistakes there is this deep internal intuition that we are the sons and daughters of God. No matter how lost we get, it keeps pointing us back “home”—to love, to connection, to meaningful relationship with Someone or something else, to soul. It’s only God in us that knows God. It’s God in us that loves God. It’s God in us that recognizes God.
Lately, I have been reading THE PIONEERS by David McCullough.
It is fascinating to read of those who left behind the safety of their homes to explore (and exploit) what was known as the northwest territory --- the area we live in today.
While we can look back and see some of the errors of their ways --- we cannot fail to see their courage and determination.
Where is God leading us?
Let us take some time to discern the opportunities --- and our willingness to make them happen.
You have the gifts --- the Spirit has gifted each one of you --- use them.
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