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Tuesday, January 19, 2016

January 17, 2016, 1 Corinthians 12:1 & 3 -11



Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed… 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.

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It can be eye opening to go to another country and find our American currency doesn’t work. That no matter how strong our economy, locally, there is a different system, one based on both the present of state of trade in that country, and also its history. Perhaps we find their coin currency heavy but weigh that it is long lasting. Perhaps we look not at white presidents and inventors depicted in green but at paintings of birds colored in oranges and reds. They may be a historic reason you can’t trade our note with Andrew Jackson for Curacao’s note with leaders of black slave rebellions. Its a different type of system, its a different type of currency, you can’t trade one for the other. 

Similarity, I watched my parents struggle with the content of, “island time.” It began at the airport with a two hour customs wait, followed by a missing car rental employee who reminded my father, to no avail, “Your on vacation, relax.” It was true we had no where to be, but my father was insistent, that waiting at the airport was not where we wanted to relax. We would go out to eat, and each minute that a water, or drink didn’t come was taken as a slight, “Are we being treated this way because we didn’t make a reservation?” and then a measure of bad service. After an hour of time spent around a table with their family, I would see my parens glance at the watch on their wrist. It’s a different kind of time you can’t measure one against the other.

Likewise, the Holy Spirit deals in a different type of currency and in a different sense of time. We as a church have been measuring our lack. We have been measuring how much we will miss Luke when he is gone. We have been measuring what youth ministry would be like without a paid, full-time youth director. We have been measuring the decrease in our stewardship. We have been measuring the lack of volunteers. We have been measuring the empty Session positions. This is not how the Spirit measures, it doesn’t measure in lack, it measures in abundance, and you can’t trade one for the other. 

The Holy Spirit’s currency is entirely different. What if we measured instead that we have Luke for five more months, how can we make best of that time together? Does it look like the Youth and parents this weekend on their retreat? What if we measured the dozens of possibilities for youth ministry. Luke and I sat together and wondered how he would help the youth and their families to not be so reliant on him. We dreamed what if each youth suggested one person in the congregation who they felt they could go to if they were having a hard time or a joy. That that congregant, like a confirmation sponsor would pray for them, watch their games or recitals, and be in contact with their parents for support. How beautiful would it be rather than one person holding up the youth if we as a congregation offered ourselves to live into those promises of baptism. Recently, in a conversation about Christmas Eve, I told Kourtney that when I began I would sneak Bill Fessel’s name into the Christmas Eve slot as liturgist. He was so poised, well prepared, and well spoken, and I thought it was a good picture of our church to have an older gentlemen and a younger woman pastor both reading the scriptures. I said, in recent years it has been too hard for Pat to come, so they have stayed home together. This year they had a visitor, having known the Fessel’s from their buying her at Youth Auctions, Kourtney brought over cinnamon rolls on Christmas Eve. Bill was so excited as he had not yet made anything for Christmas morning and Kourtney watched Bill care for Pat, which is what I wish on any young girl or boy, to witness that kind of love. Later, Kourtney told Luke, who in tears told me, tears because Luke and Jed had been the Fessel’s rent-a-grandkids, it had been the Rembold’s job to care for the Fessels and likewise for the Fessels to care for them, and watch the boys as they grew. Now as Luke was leaving again, he was able to know both the youth, and the grandparent, were in good hands. This is how the Spirit measures. This is the Spirit’s timeline, in generations, in words said in passing, and picked up and followed through without direction. What if we as a church measured this, this abundance. 

Similarly, what if we asked who has increased their stewardship this year and learned from them? What if we counted Stewardship not just as pledges, but gifts of time, and resources, and talents? What if we saw our currency not just as our American dollar in the stocks of our endowment and the pledges of our people, but instead in things like Jim Lissman’s carpentry, Katya and Sabine’s voice, Evan’s computer skills, and Dale Dodson’s humor. You can’t put a price on that abundance, it doesn't trade, you can;t trade the values of the outside world for the gifts of the Spirit. What if before we started anything new, or redid anything old, we looked the list of gifts of our congregants. Do you know how many people offered to lead a hike in last week’s visioning? Enough to make me wonder, why are we not hiking more, getting outdoors, going camping together? There is this whole pile of gifts for outdoor ministry. You see it in the energy of youth Sunday or Worship in the park. Its listed on our wall in blue sticky notes waiting to be used. Do you know how many people said they could cook? It made sense those are ministries which thrive. There is never a problem finding someone to cook in this church and likewise I could name a handful of, “best ofs” Bob Moon’s Lasagna, Shirley’s deviled eggs, that dessert that Betty Duncan makes, Mark Fern’s elk chill, Ginger’s sundries tomato bread…etc. I dream of a meal comprised of all these things, think of the abundance. Did you notice any gifts that had no place to share and were just waiting to be asked, to find a place for their special gift of the Spirit? Did you ever wonder, perhaps we have more than we could ever need. 

The Spirit doesn’t look at the holes, it looks at the gifts, it doesn’t follow our calendar for budget processes and stewardship seasons, and looks our abundance and it dreams. It dreams what could be and it in works in things like cinnamon roll deliveries, based on youth auctions, and generations of kids, and the Fessels loving nature. Perhaps we have been too busy glancing a our watches to realize we are surrounded by family and have no where to be and that is more than what we could ever ask. Its what we wanted in the first place.