"Gifts of the Spirit"
A sermon by The Rev. Keenan Kelsey
Noe Valley Ministry, Presbyterian Church (USA)
November 6, 2005
- 1 Corinthians 12:8-11
- 8 To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.
- Galatians 5:16, 19-25
- 16 So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 19 The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like... the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
Timeless God, speak in this time and place - in the calming of our minds and the longing of our hearts, by the words of my lips and in the thoughts that we form. Speak, O Spirit, for your servants listen. Amen.
ONE OF THE PHRASES I most dislike is "spiritual but not religious." In my experience, this has become a blanket absolution from doing anything intentional about one's relationship with God . It avoids any disciplined practice or structure around that relationship - especially God in community. This increasingly empty cliche seems to say, "I acknowledge a higher power in my own way, in my own back yard, so don't bother me." But isolated spirituality ends up worshipping empty gods, those same false gods that the Israelites fell prey to over and over, under Moses and, as in today's reading, under Joshua. False gods are mute idols which have no purpose other than being privately adored by their worshipers. They might be blatant idols of hedonism or laziness or money. Or they come in a more seductive guise. Transcendental meditation is a wonderful exercise. But it makes a mute idol when trying to serve as an individual's deity. Celtic harp music is relaxing. But it is a mute idol against injustice. The mountains are inspiring. But they are mute idols in times of true suffering or loss.
Okay, I may be a bit harsh here. But I am reactive because this phrase is so totally dismissive of church. The subtext is a relegation of church-goers to unthinking intolerant ideologues. It is not fair. I do understand that some of the resistance to being "religious" is an impression that religions are narrow-minded, dogmatic, judgmental, often staid and inflexible institutions. I know people say that the religion fosters extremism. And I even agree that there is sufficient hypocrisy in the church to contradict and counter all our good intensions and good words. We in the church can indeed be mean and ugly, hurtful and prejudicial, unforgiving and intolerant.
But this is the human community, the human condition. On fact, at its best, church brings God into this very community, into our humanity, into our struggle, not the other way around. Whether as a nations traveling through the wilderness or as a people trying to follow Jesus, God calls us to worship, to live and to work together, to pursue the common good, to let God's goodness and righteousness work through community. We are called to be the body of Christ, to be church, people of mercy and justice, of repentance and forgiveness.
As much as we resist the Apostle Paul, here is one arena of faith in which Paul is quite helpful. For starters, he emphasizes the crucial nature of being "spiritual." While the dictionary tells us that spiritual means "concerned with, or affecting the soul; of, from, or relating to God; of or belonging to a church or religion; sacred"; Paul elaborates by explaining that spiritual means claiming the gifts (or fruits) of the Holy Spirit. To St. Paul, the Church of Christ does not appear as some administrative organization, but as a living, organic ensemble of gifts, charisms, and services. There are myriad varieties of spiritual abilities, and Paul underscores that every person, anywhere and everywhere, has been given at least one spiritual gift. The Spirit does not play favorites. The Spirit empowers each and every person, for our undeserved gifts from God the Holy Spirit, are about God working in us. It is up to us to claim those gifts.
Last week we celebrated all of our saints, and theologian Frederick Buechner gets at the original meaning of "saints" when he writes, "I mean saints as men and women who are made not out of plaster and platitude and moral perfection but out of human flesh. I mean saints who have their rough edges and their blind spots like everyone else, but whose lives are transparent to something so extraordinary that every so often it stops us dead in our tracks." Saints are people who recognize, celebrate and use their gifts - gifts of wisdom, knowledge, faith, prophesy, healing, listening, playing, praying. Gifts of love, joy, patience, kindness, passion, compassion, gentleness, wit, simplicity, complexity...
A spiritual gift is that which stimulates and fulfills you. Claiming your gift helps you feel like you are "in flow," like you've just found the perfect fit for a puzzle piece. "I like helping other people," we say to ourselves. "That's just the way I am. There's nothing special about that." "I guess I just have a mind for numbers," someone else will say, "that's why I like the finance team. But I could never do something really special, like teach a class or sing a solo." When you identify and use your gift, you ARE being your most special self. You are being spiritual.
Take a moment to identify the gifts you have received in yourself Is it the gift of compassionate listening? of praying for others? of humor and bright outlook? The gift are caring? the gift of creativity? organization? words? The gift of service? The gift of humor? The gift of praise? The gift of tears? The gift of outrageous and courageous ideas? Some gifts are glorious in appearance and dramatic in their effect. They are easy to identify and easy to praise. Other gifts are more subtle, more ordinary in appearance, and have their impact over the long term rather than in the instant and often they fail to receive the recognition they deserve. Through the Spirit, we are each blessed.
Having established the importance of gifts of the Spirit, Paul then takes that troublesome phrase and changes the BUT NOT to AND. We are called to be spiritual AND religious. And this is a good thing! The word: religious, is derived from the Latin religare, which means to tie fast, to stabilize. Religion, then, is the system which grounds and grows our innate spirituality. It creates an identity or context for us. It adds the structure of practice and emphasizes that all these gifts are given for "the common good." Spiritual gifts are not given for one's personal enrichment or use, but for building up one another, for edifying the community, for helping the church fulfill its mission.
Our gifts are a part of our interdependence as the body of Christ; we need each other to use and encourage our gifts so we can grow in spiritual maturity and outreach. T.D. Jakes is the founding Bishop of The Potter's House, a multiracial nondenominational mega-church in Texas with 50-plus active outreach ministries. He makes the point that few of us move outside our comfort zones in life. We hang around with people who are like us: people who are in our same profession, or of our same race or religious preference or from our neighborhood. There is value in finding people who are like you. But you could greatly enrich your life by stepping outside your relational comfort zone too. As Bishop Jakes says, "There is a difference between harmony, which is derived from two distinctly different notes that blend together, and unison, the same note made at the same time. Harmony is far more appealing to the ear than unison. Your relationships should be harmonious without being in unison." When we fail to value and use all the spiritual gifts in the church, then we are guilty of singing in unison. When all the spiritual gifts are valued equally and used effectively, then the church has the most impact on the world around it. The church was made to work in harmony.
It reminds me of that summer camp challenge some of you may remember. you are asked to walk on a narrow plank of wood, or, perhaps a single railroad track. Sometimes you are asked to form teams and see who can go farther, fastest. Everyone stumbles around until the leader suggests you put the planks in tandem, and lock arms with the persons on the plank or rail opposite leaning in just a little, and walk together. The strong support the weak, the speedy encourage the slow, and teamwork wins the day. So it is with the church.
Paul writes from first-hand experience. The early Corinthian Church was a gifted church, a church with tremendous potential. Yet, those very gifts -- or at least how they were seen and being used -- were a source of disunity and dissension, not only among individuals but among the growing number of competing house churches themselves. Paul knows they cannot withstand persecution or carry out the work of Christ if they are divided. For Paul, the sinful part of human nature is that which is lured by egotism and selfish greed and pride, putting the self at the center of all things, building up walls, breaking the bonds of peace and unity that hold us together. He contrasts the freedom Christ gives us through bonding together as a faith community, helping to break down the barriers between us, making us realize that in Christ we are one.
The Holy Spirit is active and leading when we are being drawn closer to one another in love and service. Throughout this letter and especially in the famous or infamous chapter 13, Paul encourages the Corinthians to think of one another, to love one another. He's already advised them not to eat meat if it might in some way cause a brother or sister to stumble. He has told them to think of one another in regard to participating in Communion and the structure of their meals together. And now he tells them that the spiritual gifts are to be used for one another, to build up one another and the church. Paul knew that love is the path to unity, that only love could overcome their many problems and hold them together. "Become slaves, not to the Law, but to love for one another."
We have not been delivered for our selves. We have not been gifted for our private benefit or enjoyment. We have been gifted for one another. Our call, our mission, is to be spiritual AND religious, in the best sense of the words. May it be so.