On this Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday weekend, as we install our
newly elected church leaders for the work of the coming year, I want
to open with a quote from the Rev. Howard Thurman, graduate of Morehouse
College, as was Dr. King. Rev. Thurman founded the intercultural and
interdenominational Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples in San
Francisco and later became the first Black Dean of Marsh Chapel at
Boston University, where he inspired a generation of Methodist pastors.
A
noted pastor, theologian, writer, activist and mystic, it has been
said that “when Howard Thurman spoke, he filled the entire room
with compassion, truth, keen intellect, and joy. To be in his presence
was to experience the drama of life itself—with all its attending
conflicts—and to be carried beyond these realities to the Reality
of a gracious God whose will is life and wholeness.”
In
1973, Rev. Thurman published a little book entitled “The Mood
of Christmas and Other Celebrations,” a collection of brief
meditations which incorporate the hope, celebration, love, compassion
and blessing of the Christmas season. In it, we read these words which
perfectly set the stage for our installation today: “When the
song of the angels is stilled, when the star in the sky is gone, when
the shepherds are back with their flocks, when the Magi are home,
then the work of Christmas begins: to find the lost, to heal the broken,
to feed the hungry, to release the prisoner, to rebuild the nations,
to bring peace among all people, to make music in the heart.”
The
work of Christmas. Our work. The work of the church.
Recently,
one of you stopped by the office and we ended up having a brief chat.
It wasn’t a long conversation, but it was fun. The guy was brimming
over with ideas and dreams for what the church could do and be. One
thing led to another and another and I had to practically kick him
out to get to a meeting.
I’ve
had many similar conversations with others of you over the years.
And the great thing is, your ideas cover the whole gamut—worship,
finances, mission, learning, prayer. These are conversations filled
with words like “what if” and “if only” and
“have you ever thought about” and “why don’t
we…??” For example, it’s how the Friday Emails got
started—that idea came from one of you.
This
is exactly what the apostle Paul is talking about today in his letter
to the congregation in Corinth. Remember, this was the early church
and they were all trying to figure out what that meant, how to be
the church. How was this thing supposed to work? It had all started
out with a focus on Jesus—his life, his ministry, his teaching,
his preaching, his healing, his miracles, his death and resurrection—and
now, without him, the focus had shifted to them. They looked around
the pews on Sunday morning—well, they really didn’t have
pews, you know—but still, they looked and saw pretty ordinary
folks. Folks they knew, sometimes, all TOO well. And just like we
might wonder, they wondered, too. How can God do much with the likes
of us? Or to use Howard Thurman’s words, how can the work of
Christmas continue through us, once the focus shifts from Jesus and
his birth to the on-going life of his message?
It’s
as if their wise teacher, Paul, noticed them looking each other over
and doubting, and he says: Ah…the Holy Spirit has taken care
of this. The Holy Spirit has given to us a whole variety of gifts
so that the community, the church will thrive and Christ’s mission
will go forth through us. The Holy Spirit has already gifted different
ones of us in different ways with many different gifts. And all of
it, said Paul, has been given for the common good, that is, for strengthening
and equipping the church for it mission.
Here
the passage again from the popular paraphrase called “The Message”
by Eugene Peterson to hear it in a fresh way this morning: “God's
various gifts are handed out everywhere; but they all originate in
God's Spirit. God's various ministries are carried out everywhere;
but they all originate in God's Spirit. God's various expressions
of power are in action everywhere; but God himself is behind it all.
Each person is given something to do that shows who God is: everyone
gets in on it, everyone benefits. All kinds of things are handed out
by the Spirit, and to all kinds of people! The variety is wonderful:
wise counsel, clear understanding, simple trust, healing the sick,
miraculous acts, proclamation, distinguishing between spirits, tongues,
interpretation of tongues. All these gifts have a common origin, but
are handed out one by one by the one Spirit of God.”
Now
notice a couple things here. You might find this list of gifts to
be a bit strange, or not quite the list of gifts the church needs
right now. Wise counsel, clear understanding, simple trust…all
those things are great. But what about interpretation of spirits and
tongues? Well, Paul was clearly addressing the needs and issues in
the Corinthian congregation at that time. He might have phrased it
a little differently if he’d been writing his letter to Santa
Monica Methodists in 2007. But then again, maybe “interpretation
of tongues” isn’t such a strange gift after all.
Think
of how hard it is sometimes for, say, an accountant, a musician, an
engineer, a teacher, a homemaker, an actor and a doctor to speak one
another’s “language,” come to consensus and agree
on something! They all speak different languages and come out of different
world views. Different gifts! All given by the one Spirit of God for
the strengthening and equipping of the church for its mission.
Another
thing. Notice how the Scripture says “EACH person” is
gifted in some way by God. Each person! That’s not how we usually
think, is it? We think SOME people have gifts for certain things.
Some people…but probably not ME?!? Paul sees it quite differently,
doesn’t he? The Holy Spirit gifts each person in some way for
the strengthening and equipping the church for its mission.
A
great example of this comes from some of our older, senior members
who are no longer able physically to do all the things they once did,
including their work in the church. But several have told me how they’ve
come to understand that in these later years their gift has become
the gift of prayer. And they pray regularly for the church, its pastors,
its members, its needs. Paul was so right. Each of us is gifted—and
sometimes all we have to do is discern what our gift is at this particular
moment in time. As Howard Thurman also said in other writings: “There
is something in every one of you that waits and listens for the source
of the genuine in yourself…. Don’t ask what the world
needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the
world needs is people who have come alive.”
I
once heard a wise teacher say about congregations, in a workshop on
church renewal, to a bunch of pastors and lay leaders worried about
membership and finances and buildings with too much deferred maintenance
and all those things we can sometimes worry too much about, “you
already have all the gifts you need.” I’ve thought of
that so often. It’s part of God’s promise and God’s
great gift to empower the church created by God to do God’s
work in the world. “You already have all the gifts you need.”
They’re
here. In each of us. Ready to be employed for the strengthening and
equipping of the church and its mission.
This
morning at both services we are introducing and installing those who
have agreed to take on leadership for our congregation in this new
year, about half the list in each service. I’m going to invite
them now to come forward, coming from among you, from the places they
worship each week, I want to ask all of you do two things today. Take
the Focus On out of the Order of Worship and take it home with you
and keep it where you can refer to it regularly. And then whenever
you have an idea, a vision, a dream, or even a question or a concern,
contact the right person on this list who needs to hear what God has
placed on your heart. The more communication, the more ideas, the
more dreams, the better.
And
then, too, take this list out from time to time and pray for these
folks by name. Give thanks for them, for their willingness to add
on to lives already busy with family and work and other commitments
an extra measure of time and energy given in the service of the church.
Give thanks to God for gifting them in whatever ways they need. And
pray God to grant them energy, patience and creativity throughout
the year.
May
the work of Christmas continue in this congregation and in this community
throughout this year, through gifts given to each and all of us, that
God’s love might be made manifest near and far. Thanks be to
God!
Amen.
Notes: Howard Thurman. The Mood of
Christmas and Other Celebrations. Richmond, Indiana: Friends United
Press, 1973.
©Patricia
Farris , 2006. Permission is given for brief quotation with attribution.
All other rights reserved.
First
United Methodist Church
1008 Eleventh Street
Santa Monica, CA 90403
www.santamonicaumc.org
(310) 393-8258
The
Gifts Are Given