“Community in a culture of Independence”
I was once told that God has
provided every congregation with the Spiritual gifts that it needs to serve its
purpose for God. God equips God’s
people. Paul is helping the early church
understand this as well. These early
congregations are just learning what it means to nurture their children in the
faith, or to go out and make sure others are fed. They don’t have CE or mission committees,
they don’t have curriculum to choose from, and there are no non-profit agencies
for them to volunteer with. But they
know they are called to be a part of something.
So, as they struggle with how they are to be a part of this new thing
which Paul calls the body of Christ, he uses a simple illustration to help
explain it.
The Spirit gives us each gifts to be
used for the common good: these gifts include:
wisdom, knowledge, healing, prophecy, speaking in tongues,
interpretation of tongues, miraculous powers, and faith. Now, these early Christians were not college
educated, and most did not even have the equivalent of a high school
education. Many could not read. And yet, and yet they gathered, created
community, and sought how they could worship and serve God.
In today’s world, we have all kinds
of books on Spiritual gifts and if you go on-line, you can find numerous
Spiritual Gift inventories. The last
time I did a comprehensive study of these inventories, I was disappointed that
the Presbyterians don’t have one, but the Evangelical Lutheran one is very
good. The list of Spiritual gifts has
grown to include compassion, prayer, teaching, hospitality, generosity, to name
a few.
Each of us should spend time discerning
what our gift or gifts are. Am I called
to teach or maybe I am called to sing in the choir. Am I called to be on the prayer chain, or
maybe to serve on the mission committee.
As you discern your gift or gifts, consider what your interests are,
what your passions are, and how those might intersect with serving God. Maybe you have used your gift for years and
you are ready to do something different.
Perhaps it is a time to refuel yourself with a season of learning or
faith conversation with others. Our
Bible Study groups are a perfect way to come together and ask faith questions,
share prayer concerns, and seek to gain some insight through study.
Together, we are the body of
Christ. We are all part of the same body
and yet each of us has a different gift that can be viewed as a different part
of the body. Some are hands, some are
feet, some are eyes others ears, and some are the heart. Together, we work for the common good.
Growing up, I was encouraged to play
team sports. I was told that in playing
a team sport I would learn to work well with others and gain leadership
skills. Being a soccer player, each of
us on the team had different skills and abilities. I had speed but not endurance, others had
endurance but not speed. I had a strong
kick and could clear the ball while others had precision and were skilled at
scoring. Together, our team worked
together to make it to the State finals all four years of high school. Now, although we worked amazingly well as a
team, there were a few that stood out as the stars of the team. It was hard not to be envious. It was hard not to desire getting the same
publicity and news coverage. We were a
team, we worked together, but yes, we had a star that put us up and beyond just
the usual team.
Soccer, team sports, they are all a
part of culture. And we live in a
culture that seeks out stars, that despite our best efforts to try and work
together as a team, still lifts up the individual within. In no other time in history has culture
become so individualized as ours seems to be.
I was raised to be a strong and independent person, to learn to take
care of myself and not depend on anyone else.
But the church is not to be confused with our culture. Unfortunately, we bring our culture into
church instead of bringing the church out into culture. Within the church, we are not to seek out
self-gain, we are to work for the common good.
We are to be a team, we are to work together for no one else but to
serve God. We need to leave the concept
of impendence and individual strengths at the door, and share with one another
our struggles, our concerns, our joys, and our dreams.
Yesterday, Habitat had their Hammer
for Heroes event. To me, this is a
perfect example of coming together to be the body of Christ in the greater community. All people were invited to come together and
frame a house. Young, old, experienced,
and unexperienced, we were all welcomed and given a chance to help. Do I know how to frame a house? Absolutely not. But to each is given a skill, and the experts
had everything prepared, and showed us where to place the nails, and together,
group by group, person by person, nail by nail, the framed walls of a house
began to appear. No one group built the
house. No one person framed a whole
section, but those that took twenty hammer hits to get a nail in or those that
took three hits, together, we built the frame for this house. That’s the body of Christ. That is how the church should work. We should walk patiently alongside each
other, encouraging and building community.
Yes, we do need leaders, but our first focus should be building
community and sharing our Spiritual gifts for the common good. In using our gifts, in building community as
the body of Christ, we are participating in worship. In using our gifts we are praising God, we
are responding to what God has given to us, and we understand that it is to be
used within the body of Christ.
Within our presbytery, we are
seeking ways to partner our churches together.
We are a connectional church. We
often think of ourselves as individual churches, but in reality, we are one
church with many locations. I heard one
person refer to our congregations as mission outposts for God. Once again, our culture influences how we
perceive ourselves. We are not an
individual congregation, congregation upon congregation are also a part of the
body of Christ. And each congregation is
a part of that body.
Just as we would like people to live
out their faith within the church, within a faith community, so too would the
presbytery like our congregations to live out our calling within the greater
community of the Presbytery. Habitat
could never have framed a whole house in one day if many individuals had not
come together for the common good.
Imagine what we could do for God’s service if we brought numerous congregations
together to serve God. So many positive
things happen in the world around when people work together for the common
good, such as Souper Bowl of Caring, Faith Kitchen, Family Promise, and, next
week, you will learn more about Heifer International through the voices of our
children and youth.
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