Tag Archives: Serving God not our culture

Spiritual Gifts

Ordinary Time

January 13, 2023

Scripture Reading:

1 Corinthians 1:1-9

I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind— just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you— so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful; by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. –1 Corinthians 4-9

I wander into activities that seem to be above my pay grade. The digital world drives me crazy as the software providers seem to be in a race to see who can develop the greatest new thing without notifying their customers; they have changed everything overnight. The thing I hate the most is signing on to do something very important and needed quickly to be greeted by a message an update needs to be made. If I make the update, I do not have a clue what they have changed and how to deal with it. So, when I read in the scripture above you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. I thank God for filling in the gaps often with others who share in the work.

Paul describes these spiritual gifts in Romans 12. They are summarized as—(a) perceiving, (b) serving, (c) teaching, (d) encouraging, (e) giving, (f) ruling, and (g) mercy* The first one, perceiving, is probably what I need the most when wrestling with the computer dragon or an eight-year-old might be more helpful. These gifts are all important. Perceiving the situation I am trying to address gives me the motivation to make the effort to learn what I need to learn to complete my mission. Serving, however, is the primary reason for all that we do as we serve the Lord. Teaching, encouraging, and giving are all important as we work together as a community of faith striving to build a better world. I do not know about the ruling gift, but I defiantly need mercy and to show mercy.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for the gifts of the spirit that undergird all that we do in your name.. Amen.

*See at https://www.regent.edu/journal/journal-of-biblical-perspectives-in-leadership/romans-12-spiritual-gifts/#:~:text=The%20seven%20motivational%20gifts%20found,people%20regardless%20of%20faith%20tradition.

Love of Neighbor

Living in the Spirit

September 2, 2021

Scripture Reading: James 2:1-10, (11-13), 14-17

My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ? For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, ‘Have a seat here, please’, while to the one who is poor you say, ‘Stand there’, or, ‘Sit at my feet’, have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court? Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you?

You do well if you really fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. For the one who said, ‘You shall not commit adultery’, also said, ‘You shall not murder.’ Now if you do not commit adultery but if you murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. For judgement will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgement.

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill’, and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.

The entire scripture recommended by the lectionary for this Sunday is quoted above. It is full of practical wisdom for those of us who strive to serve God. Loving our neighbor as we love ourselves has no limitations or boundaries. To commit adultery is equal to murder and so forth. I have noted that we humans tend to create hierarchies of sin. As a child of the late 1940s and 1950s, I grew up in a culture that deemed divorce a significant sin. Adultery was a capital offense in Hebrew law. Both are commonly accepted in our society.  Lying or otherwise misrepresenting facts may get one fact-checked. Still, we seem to accept that we should not believe anything we read or hear unless it agrees with our political opinions. We are fascinated with wealth and denigrate poor people, identifying them as lazy or unable to handle money. I worked at minimum wage jobs in high school and college and thus can attest to the rigor and, at times, the humiliation of being a waitress and the challenges of being a nurse’s aide. When I held those jobs, the minimum wage was at or slightly above the poverty level. The federal minimum wage now is below the poverty level for one person, much less for a family. And yes, it is the rich who oppress people still.

Prayer: Lord, tune us to be your instruments of love, not those of the world. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.