2 Epiphany 2016
(Year C)
I remember once in college someone
asking me with all sincerity what my spiritual gifts were. And, as ever, being
the glib rapscallion, I believe I said I could levitate and make perfect
omelets.
In truth I admit I can’t levitate,
but I can make pretty tasty omelets—the secret in this case is butter, and not
necessarily the Holy Spirit. But that’s to say I suspect if any of us were
asked what we believed our spiritual gifts to be—I would imagine many of us
would be at a loss.
Maybe it’s because we don’t make
much of the gifts of the Spirit in the Episcopal Church—I mean, sure we talk
about the “sevenfold gifts (or fruits) of the Holy Spirit: wisdom,
understanding, right judgment, courage, knowledge, reverence and fear (or
wonder) of the Lord.” These are easy, because these are all still pretty
intellectual. They don’t require us to really think outside of our theoretical
comfort zones.
And yet, in our reading from Paul’s
letter to the Corinthians, we find there are these other gifts like utterances
of wisdom, knowledge and faith (sure), but then there are still others like
gifts of healing, working miracles (perhaps not turning water to wine…but),
prophecy, discernment of spirits, speaking in tongues and discerning of
tongues.
It’s actually a pretty interesting
list—but is no doubt one that makes us a little uncomfortable in mainline
denominations like ours. After all, things like speaking in tongues and miracles
are more the style of Charismatic Pentecostals than they are the Episcopal
Church. Although, there have been some cases in which Roman Catholic Churches,
and even Episcopal Churches have experienced some charismatic renewal
stuff—but, whether it lasted, or was even legitimate, I can’t really say.
But I think the point is that we’re
told that all of these things—these gifts—the ones we’re comfortable with, and
even those we’re less comfortable with; Paul says they are all manifestations
of the same Spirit. He also says that
this variety of gifts that the Spirit manifests in us, as the Church, are
activated in us for the common good. I would assume he means for the good of
the Church, but we may even by extension say the whole world besides. Yet for
however amazing, or showy any of these gifts may be, Paul is careful here, and
in other places in his epistles, to remind us that the gifts are all important, and all necessary to the good of the Church—and because each is equally
given by the same Holy Spirit which dwells in each one of us, any such gift should
be utilized with humility.
Now, it should be said that this
idea of humility is part and parcel for all that Paul was trying to teach the
Church in Corinth. We know from his half of the conversation that there were
some very dysfunctional things going on—many of which were simply related to
these people losing sight of what it meant to be followers of Jesus.
It seems they had become so
comfortable in their own version of Christianity, that they had begun to
neglect the responsibilities that come with being a Christian. In the end,
there was a lot of petty bickering, division, and abuse of power and
gifts—hence Paul’s explanation about the gifts of the Spirit… And, while the
things that happened in the Church in Corinth could never possibly happen ever
again, we can at least take away this lesson on spiritual gifts.
Anyway, along with these gifts that
Paul talks about in this letter to the Corinthians, I think it’s fair to say
that there are a multitude of other possible gifts of the Spirit which could be
given for the good of the Church. Karl Rahner, the late Vatican II theologian
infers something of this in one of his Epiphany sermons. He writes, referring
to Paul’s letter to the Romans, this idea that “whatever we have to do can be a
vocation to God…” In other words, any job that any one of us is called
to—whether it is church-related or not—can be part of our work as the Church.
Any of the places we bring ourselves and our faith can be, as Rahner puts it,
“our one chance to be Christian (Rahner 97).”
So, whether it is in the Church, or
in the world the Holy Spirit gives and activates gifts in us (as Paul says) for
the common good, and (as Karl Rahner says) so that we can make our lives a
vocation to God. Yet, regardless of the gift, each is to be received and used
with equal humility. And, this is to say that there are any number of potential
spiritual gifts beyond those which Paul names.
Certainly within the life of a church alone,
we know there are plenty of places where people are needed. Only we may take
for granted that such people are “spiritually gifted” because not every role in
church life is sensational. Still, each of us has an important role in the Body
of Christ, and the Holy Spirit gives us the specialized gifts we need to carry
out those roles, whether they seem mundane or not. And while that gift might
not be levitation, I suppose there are ways in which a really good omelet could
be useful. That said, perhaps thinking about your own spiritual gifts might not
feel so awkward…
However, I would like to add that
while we may have an easier time accepting or identifying with spiritual gifts
that seem more conventional within the context of our tradition—I would still
add that I believe that those gifts mentioned by Paul are still relevant, and
necessary when they genuinely emerge in the the Church. I trust that when and
where they show up—assuming they’re utilized for the common good, in
humility—they can be vital to God’s mission in the world.
The point to all of this is that as
the Church, we have a responsibility to the mission and work of God’s Kingdom.
We’re promised in this work that the Holy Spirit will enable within us the
operation of certain gifts—some apparently pretty common, and others a bit more
out of the norm. And this is to say that God’s love for us, and love for the
world is such that any of us may be challenged in unexpected ways to be part of
this work of love. But we’re promised to have whatever gift is necessary to the
task.
So, for us, if we aren’t already
discerning how we’re called to be part of God’s mission, we might begin our
discernment with that. If we do know how God has called us to work, then
perhaps we need to pray for and discern the gifts we’ve been given by the Holy
Spirit. And whether that means making omelets, or speaking in tongues; we must
always use our gifts with gratitude and humility.
No comments:
Post a Comment