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"Do You Hear What I Hear?"
January 15, 2006
An Incomplete Feast
December 25, 2005
The
Third Gift
December 24, 2005
Nothing will be impossible with God
December 18, 2005
Redeeming Holiday Cheer
December 11, 2005
Comfort, comfort my people …
December 4, 2005
Advent begins in the dark…
November 27, 2005
Thanksgiving Day
November 24, 2005
It's All About Respect
November 20, 2005
The world is a better place because ...
November 13, 2005
Holy Baptism and Festal Eucharist
November 6, 2005
Promise and Presence
October 30, 2005
This is Only A Test
October 23, 2005
Made in the Image
of God
October 16, 2005
Finding Our Way
October 9, 2005
Our Lives Are
Based On A True Story
October 2, 2005
It
Is God Working
In You
September 23, 2005
Whatever Happened to our Security?
September 11, 2005
Put on the Armor of Light
September 4, 2005
Giftedness and Identity
August 21, 2005
What about Respect?
August 14, 2005
Dean Lane's Final Sermon
July 31, 2005
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Sermon
Giftedness and Identity
Romans 12:1-8
Proper 16A
August 21, 2005
The Rev. Canon Anne E. Kitch
Cathedral Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem, PA
There is a computer game my children enjoy playing called Zoombinis. The Zoombinis are a tribe of people and the point of the game is to move a group of them to a new homeland through a series of obstacles. One of the most fun parts of the game comes right at the beginning: you get to create you own troop of 16 Zoombinis. They each come with a round blue body, but you get to choose the hair, eyes, nose and feet, creating an innumerable number of creatures with whatever combinations are pleasing to you.
Have you ever thought about how much fun God must have had creating you?
Have you considered how much it delighted to God to choose all the different components that go into you? Sure we have genetics and heredity to thank for most of our looks and it seems that even personality is hardwired into us. But after all, it is God who set all that biology in motion in the first place. And after all of the physical and personality characteristics were mixed together to create a unique human being, there is still the matter of gifts.
God has given each of us spiritual gifts. Can you imagine the delight of God, the great gift giver, in choosing what gifts to give you?
We each have these God given gifts, spiritual gifts, and none of us is given the same. As St. Paul says in his letter to the Romans, “We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us.” (Romans 12:6)
What are spiritual gifts? They are gifts that God gives us that help us carry out God’s ministry in the world. A list of some of these gifts can be found in Scripture; they include things like wisdom, knowledge, faith and healing. Sometimes the gifts refer to roles such as apostles, prophets, evangelists, teachers and pastors. The list from this reading from Romans includes prophecy, ministry, teaching, exhortation, giving, leadership, and compassion.
When writing about spiritual gifts St. Paul is clear about several things
- each of us is given different gifts from God. Nobody gets them all and nobody is left out; we each have spiritual gifts.
- while the gifts are different, they all come from the same spirit. No gift is more important than another.
- these gifts are to be used for the common good, to do God’s work in the world.
- we need each other and each others gifts to be completely the people God would have us be.
A spiritual gift is something that brings you great joy when you use it. One way to identify your gifts is to think of a project that you completed with a great sense of accomplishment and enjoyed the work along the way. Msot likely you were using your gifts. A gift is different than a skill. A skill is something that we learn and hone over time. We may be very skilled at something and do it well, but it may not delight us too much. I might be a very skilled administrator, but it is a necessity rather than a joy. Yet there are others I know who find great joy and satisfaction in administration. For them, it is a true gift. A true spiritual gift is so much a part of who you are, that it never really goes away, even when you don’t use it.
When Paul writes this part of the Letter to the Romans, he is talking about the new life one finds in Christ. He is encouraging the new Christians in Rome to define themselves in relationship to God, rather than to any number of things in the world around them that vie for their attention and loyalty. Paul exhorts them to place their true selves before God. He appeals to his readers then, and to us now, that true reverence for God is offering our selves. When we gather in community, when we come before this altar, we do so most rightly not when we present our Sunday dressed, best polished selves, but when we come with all humility and present who we really are. We worship God most fully, when we offer to God our selves, our souls and bodies. Because who we are is holy and acceptable to God.
The humility that is asked of us is simply that: a down to earth knowledge of self that is neither puffed up nor tramped down. As Paul exhorts, “I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly that you ought to think but think with sober judgment… “ (Romans 12:3) True humility is knowing who we really are, and knowing who we really are means identifying, understanding and living into our spiritual gifts. Giftedness and identity are intertwined. Who am I? What are my gifts? How can I use them for the glory of God?
I think that too often when we seek humility we strive only to rid ourselves of visions of grandeur and forget to honor our gifts. Notice the variety of gifts that are described. In this list in Romans alone Paul holds up not only gifts like teaching and leadership, but also generosity and compassion; these also are true gifts. God delighted in creating each of us and God delights when we celebrate our gifts.
In addition to scripture, gifts are commended in our Prayer Book Catechism as
well. The question is asked, “What is the ministry of the laity?” (BCP p. 855)
The answer given is this:
The ministry of lay persons is to represent Christ and
his Church; to bear witness to him wherever they may be; and, according to
the gifts given to them, to carry on Christ’s work of reconciliation in the
world; and to take their place in the life, worship, and governance of the
Church.
We are all called to represent Christ and witness wherever we are. And, we are
to use the gifts
given to us to bring reconciliation; first in response to the world, then to the worshipping community.
The Rev. Dr. Ted Loder was the senior minister at First United Methodist of Germantown, down in Philadelphia, for more than 30 years. It is a parish that is known for its artistic endeavors, political activism and social justice. But I came to know Ted Loder as a man of prayer in book of prayers he published more than 20 years ago called Guerrillas
of Grace.
Here is a prayer from that book:
Holy One,
untamed
by the names
I give you,
in the silence
name me,
that I may know
who I am,
hear the truth
you have put into me,
trust the love
you have for me,
which you call me to live out
with my sisters and brothers
in your human family
(from In the Silence, Name Me)
Knowing that God delighted in creating you, and that God delights in you still, live into who you truly are. Uncover, recognize, recover your gifts and then use them with abandon.
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