Many thanks to Nan Pashon for leading worship and preaching this morning!
I am sure that she added much to this manuscript.
Many
Gifts, One Spirit
1
Corinthians 12:4-13
First
Presbyterian Church, Sterling, IL
May
26, 2013
“I didn't need to understand the
hypostatic unity of the Trinity; I just needed to turn my life over to whoever
came up with redwood trees.”
―
Anne Lamott, Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith
1 Corinthians 12:4-13
Now 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. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the
common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to
another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another
faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 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. All these are
activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just
as the Spirit chooses. For just as the body is one and has many members, and
all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For
in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and
we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
Romans 5:1-5
Therefore, since we are justified
by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we
have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope
of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our
sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces
character, and character produces hope,
and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into
our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.
Today is Trinity Sunday.
The Holy Trinity is definitely a
difficult and challenging doctrine of our faith. But it is not an exam
question, and we are not prepping for the SAT; we are Christians who worship
God, follow Jesus, and live by the Spirit. So we don’t need to think of the
Trinity as an exam question that must be answered before we will be admitted to
the heavenly banquet. The Trinity is not
a “weed out” class like those challenging college courses that try to sort out
the really good students from the so-so ones. Catherine LaCugna explains in her
book, God For Us, the Trinity is “a
practical doctrine with radical consequences for Christian life . . . it is the specifically Christian
way of speaking about God, and what it means to participate in the life of God through
Jesus Christ in the Spirit.”[1]
The Holy Trinity is about
relationship and indwelling. Trinity describes a relationship between three
persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit -- all distinct, but all one. Our belief
in the eternal dance among the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is belief that God
creates, collaborates and communicates with us. And it is about how we are
called to create, collaborate and communicate with each other, to the glory of
God. That’s the center of the lift of the church. Through the Holy Spirit, that
life is made possible.
Last week, for our Pentecost
celebration, we asked everyone who was here in worship
to write on a little paper star
what gifts the Spirit gave to them, and how they share those gifts. It was
really beautiful to see that dark paper sky fill up with stars, and even more
beautiful to read what was written on them, what gifts they had been given.
Even though last week we saw and
heard how the Holy Spirit moved and acted in really dramatic ways, most of the
time we see the Holy Spirit moving and acting in smaller, quieter ways. So,
nobody wrote anything about rushing winds or tongues of flame. They wrote about
compassion, and caring. They described teaching and learning. The Holy Spirit
is moving us to pray, to care for one another, to visit and call and send
cards, to reach out to the world around us with love and compassion. The Holy
Spirit is gifting us to do the little things, to take care of what is needed, whether
it is washing dishes and locking doors or singing and playing music, or
preparing food for the hungry, or caring for and teaching little ones.
Saint Augustine said, “If you see
charity, you see the Trinity” So in that way, each member of this church is a
demonstration of the doctrine of the Trinity. When you see people using their gifts,
you are seeing the Holy Spirit! “In most cases the Holy Spirit usually does not
try to draw attention to itself but rather works on us to strengthen our
relationship of faith in Christ. This
means the Spirit is very busy indeed. In our stumbling attempts at faith in
Christ, the Holy Spirit is at work, overcoming our own desire to be in control.
When we seek comfort, the Spirit reminds us of Christ’s seeking of the lost
sheep and his forgiveness to a betrayer like Peter. When we need correction, the Spirit calls to
mind Christ’s injunction against the love of money or the need to forgive --
even those we classify as enemies. Those who wonder about the Spirit’s presence
in their lives need only look to their struggling faith in Christ and they will
find plenty of evidence. Left to our own devices, we wander far from the source
of light and truth. But the Spirit has other plans. God’s Spirit continually
reaches out to embrace and encourage us.[2]
In times of trouble and pain, such
as we have seen last week in the terrible devastation
of tornadoes in Oklahoma, the
Spirit prays for us with sighs to deep for words. And tomorrow on Memorial Day,
as Americans have done every May since the Civil War we will remember those who
gave their lives in service to our country. While Memorial Day is not a
religious holiday, it is certainly a day to give thanks for those who paid what
Abraham Lincoln called “the last full measure of devotion.”
As we pray for those who suffer, as
we reach out to the world in compassion, and as we hope and pray for God’s
peace to come to the world, we remember that our God, the Father, Son and Holy
Spirit is a God of love.
God created us for love, and
named us as adopted children. As Jesus did, we can call God “Abba, Father.” God
wants to be in relationship with us, not to punish us or teach us a lesson, but
to love us forever and unconditionally.
Jesus came to us in human form, to
live and laugh and suffer alongside us, to be “God with us.” Jesus died and
rose again so that we might have hope, hope that does not disappoint.
And the Holy Spirit is with us,
like a dove or like a flame, as comforter and the one we call “wisdom” so that
when don’t act in loving ways, or when we think we have lost hope, or some TV
preacher tries to tell us that God is punishing us with tornadoes or terrorism
or floods or any other kind of disaster, we have the Holy Spirit as our
teacher, our guide, and our friend, God’s presence within us and among us, helping
us to create, collaborate, and communicate love and joy and hope through the
works of our hands.
Thanks be to God for the Holy
Spirit! Amen.
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