Worship January 15, 2022

Let us worship!

How precious is your steadfast love, O God!
    All people may take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
They feast on the abundance of your house,
    and you give them drink from the river of your delights.
For with you is the fountain of life;
    in your light we see light!

A prayer to center you

God of light and love

Shine down upon us

Surround us with your love

Uphold us with your grace and peace

As we gather this hour

Calm our minds

Focus our spirits

Still our hearts

May your Spirit swoosh in us

Around us

And through us

Amen

Holy Scripture

1st Corinthians,

Chapter 12,

Verses 1 through 6

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you were pagans, you were enticed and lead astray to idols that could not speak. Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says “Let Jesus be cursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” expect by the Holy Spirit. How there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone.

 Reflection:

We thought the gift season was over, but here we are looking at gifts again. This time Paul is pulling us back to our own gifts. We are looking at the gifts that we have each received, not from human hands, but from the spirit. Earlier this week my daughter was talking about Paul. She started laughing and told us how funny she thought he was. We found this comment a little odd and asked a few follow up questions. With this further prodding, she said that she thought it was funny how Paul was always calling people out, telling them how awful they were and how they were not exactly getting things right. Well, this is exactly what we see here in this text. Paul states, “I do not want you to be uninformed”. He is pretty much saying to the people in Corinth, “stupid people, you should know better, but I will remind you.” And what he reminds them of is something I often need to be reminded of myself—We all have gifts given to us through the Spirit.

There are a variety of gifts, services, and activities that each person has been given and each one is a gift from the Spirit; valuable, cherished, and needed. We each carry within us these precious gifts. It is through the use of these gifts that we let the light of Christ shine through us.

Several years ago, I lead a study group on spiritual gifts. As I started looking for resources to use, I discovered that there a plethora of resources out there that explore spiritual gifts. There are lists and inventories, surveys and tests galore to help you identify your own gifts. There are endless books and perspectives to help you sort through these lists. With a simple Google search, you can get a pretty good start on looking into your gifts. I also learned that there is no single list of spiritual gifts given even within the Bible. Spiritual gifts are mentioned several times throughout the New Testament.

Here, in First Corinthians, we are given the most extensive list; wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment of spirits, speaking in tongues and interpretation of tongues. In Romans we are given exhortation, giving, leadership, mercy, prophecy, service, and teaching. Ephesians lists apostle, evangelist, pastor, prophecy and teaching among it’s list. First Peter lists service and speaking. The lists are not the same. There are more gifts that I have noted in people in the church that are not listed here, organization, energy, joy, to name a few. So as we started walking through the study, it occurred to me that the list of gifts might not be limited even to those listed in the Scripture. As we went through the study and talked through our gifts and the Biblical texts and our experiences, I realized that we do each have our own unique gifts that God has given to us in different measure. God has given us each different strengths and skills to use for God’s glory and when we use those gifts, we find joy.

As I live my life, I have learned that it is not always easy to remember to use our gifts. I have also learned that it is not always easy to place value on our own gifts. The person who loves to wash dishes may not experience this as a gift, but after a berevement meal, it is truly a blessing to me to have someone willing to stand over a sink and wash dishes (I HATE washing dishes). For the person who loves to send cards, they may not take much measure of this gift, but to the shut-in who may only recieve that one card in the mail that day or week, it means the world. A small measure of connection. For the person who understands finances and loves balancing a checkbook, I give thanks, because those are skills I do not have.

Our gifts of the spirit do not have to be huge. They do not have to be amazing, spectacular, or overwhelming. We all have gifts given by the spirit that allow us to share a small bit of God’s love in the world around us. wither it washing dishes or balancing the checkbook, if it is interpreting Scripture or teaching others. Whatever our gift is, when we use it we will find joy and we will share the light of Christ for others.

Let us seek out our gifts and let God’s light shine through us.

Amen

Thinking it through….

What spiritual gifts do you see in others around you?

What gifts do you see in yourself?

Think of a time when you used your spiritual gifts to let the light of God shine through you.

What spiritual gift would you like to nurture within yourself?

How would you do that? What would that look like?

The Word in Action

Google (or your favorite browser) search for spiritual gifts. Play around with what comes up.

Search for a survey and see what the internet comes up with as your spiritual gifts.

This week, play with your spiritual gift and let your light shine!

 Prayer of sending

Holy God,

may your light shine through us

may our gifts be made whole

may you use us to help those around us

may you use to shine a light for those who are in need

may we be yours

now and always

Amen

Going out.

Go out into the world, renewed and revived by the word of God.

and in all that you do, may the love of Christ Jesus uphold you,

the peace of God sustain you and may the Holy Spirit guide you each step of the way

Let all God’s people say: AMEN