Lord, 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 Lord, for your servants listen. Amen.
I would like to conduct a little poll here today consisting of two questions. You have to wave your hands in the air to vote. You can wave one hand, or both, to indicate your favour. Let's practice. Question one - Who would like to hear me really sing out today - to really let go and put all of myself into a hymn, or better yet, into a solo.... Come on - put up your hands if you would like that....
Now - put up your hands if you would rather - Frank or Kenneth - Sandy or Roger - or just about anyone else sing.
The reason I conducted this straw poll is to make a point. A point about gifts and about how we regard them and how we regard ourselves.
That point is this - some gifts we have - and some we don't. Wisdom consists of knowing what gifts we have - and exercising them, and equally wisdom consists of knowing what gifts we don't have - and encouraging others who do have them to use them.
I sometimes wish - as I am sure some of you wish - that I had the gift of music - that I could sing and play and lift up the hearts of all those around me with song - but I do not. I also wish I had the gift of a photographic memory and gift of being handy with machines and wood and tools - but I do not.
By times these wishes have caused me problems. They have focussed my mind and my heart on what and what I do not have. They have led me to feel inferior - incapacitated - unable...
But at other times these wishes have led me in the opposite direction, they have led me to wonder what gifts I do have, they have led me to wonder how God has gifted me and what it is that God has prepared for me to do.
In the twelfth chapter of the First Letter to The Corinthians, the Apostle Paul speaks at length about gifts and about how we should regard them. He also discusses how we should regard our own giftedness and the giftedness of others.
It is an important chapter - and I want to deal with the first part of it this morning - the part that asserts that there are a variety of gifts and of services and of activities - and that each person is gifted with some assortment of these gifts - and that these gifts are a manifestation of the Holy Spirit that is in us - a manifestation that is given for one purpose - and that is for the common good.
Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uniformed.... 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 utter 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.
To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. The spirit allots to each one individually, just as the Spirit chooses.
What gifts do you have?
What gifts do you rejoice in - in yourself - and in others?
Is it the gift of praying for others?
The gift are caring?
The gift of service?
The gift of praise?
Some gifts, my friends, 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.
My home church in Wanchai - was a bit like the church in Corinth that Paul wrote to in Corinth.
In it we had people with the highly visible gifts of prayer and prophecy, and others had the gifts of tongues and still others the gift of proclamation and of wisdom, while still others had the gift of inspired music and of singing, and they could set a meeting room on fire fairly quickly and inspire those around them to new heights of commitment to God and make them feel new levels of enthusiasm for doing the mission of Christ in the world.
And in that church too we had many quieter people, less visible people, who had different gifts.
Some wrote cards to those who were having birthdays, others made visits to the elderly and to those who were shut-in. Some turned on the lights and welcomed those entered the church, others fixed the copy machine. Some touched the hands of the feeble and helped them to go up the stairs, others baked and cooked during Alpha Courses and church functions, and others prayed quietly every day for the minister and the elders and all the people of the church.
As I think about it all, I know which gifts seemed more glorious to me at the time I was there, when I was slightly younger and more foolish than I am hope I am now.
But I also know that without all the gifts that were offered our church would never have grown and that the ministry of Christ in our community would never have touched as many lives as it did.
The tabernacle of God today, as in the days of Moses, requires both fine linen, and leather, gold - and bronze gemstones - and goat's hair. Each has it's place. Each is needed for the worship of God - and for serving God.
Over the Christmas holidays a friend of mine got himself and his family a dog. The dog is 7 months old - she is a puppy actually, but being a Great Pyranese, she is a good size - she is already 22 kilograms, and will end up being about 50 kilograms when she is full grown.
Anyhow, this rather large pup was walking along one day recently and decided that she had an itch that needed scratching, and that itch was only accessible to her back leg. So, while walking, she picked up her leg to scratch. And fell over.
So, what has that got to do with the gifts that we have, the gifts that God has given us?
A great deal actually.
The tabernacle of God's presence - the church - you and I together needs all it's legs - and more - we need those legs to be coordinated, to be in agreement, to work together freely - gladly - and without argument about which is more important or which is less important.
We need the leg of prophetic utterance and the leg of biblical teaching and the leg of inspired prayer and the leg of administration.
We need the leg of letter writing and the leg of mechanical ability and the leg of visitation and the leg of "eat, its good for you" and the leg of quiet companionship.
We need all the legs
- all the parts that God has made,
- all the gifts that God has distributed among his people.
We need the contribution that each person has been gifted with by God - and we need that contribution to be offered willingly - and we need those charged with receiving that contribution in God's name, and that's you and I again, to receive it without questioning it's worthiness - without questioning the giver - without questioning the motives.....
Each gift is important - and we want our brothers and sisters to give willingly - we need our brothers and sisters to give willingly - for without them - we will fall down!
My friends - when each one of us knows what gift God has granted to us and uses that gift as God wants us to use it - in the task of walking together - of working together - to do the ministry Christ has called us to - we will be healthy and whole as both a community and as individuals, and this church will shine with the joy of God's presence, you will shine with the joy of God's presence.
But if we allow ourselves to become distracted - if we stop doing what we are supposed to being and begin to scratch the itches that crop up here and there in our life together - if we forget what we are about and whose we are in the first place we will all suffer - as a community - and as individuals - and it will be dark and cold in this place.
We need to claim and celebrate what God has given to us individually, and exercise that manifestation of God's Spirit within us for the good of all, without worrying or fretting about what others are or are not doing, and about what others may or may not think about our relative importance.
I know that each one of you today has something very special in your hearts - something that has been placed there by God, something that is beautiful and good and precious in his eyes, something that is of vital importance to our church, our community, and our world.
You all have gifts. Claim the gifts - open them up - celebrate them. And then use them - offer them freely - without worrying whether or not your gift is greater than or less than someone else's.
You are worthy - and your gift is worthy - for God has made, and God is the one who gave you, the very thing you have to offer to his praise and his service in this, his tabernacle - in this, his world.
Blessed be his name, now and always. Amen
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