God gives many and varied spiritual gifts to the church, calling us all to use our gifts for the common good. Everyone has something to offer, and everyone’s talents, abilities, and gifts are needed for us to do the work God calls us to. The key is to follow the directions Mary gives to the servants at the wedding in Cana, “Do whatever he tells you.” In addition to this being annual meeting Sunday at Christ the King, we also celebrated two baptisms at Living Hope this week, so both of those themes are present in this sermon.
Today’s Scripture readings are 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 and John 2:1-11. A few pieces of this week’s message are from my January 16, 2022, sermon on this same theme and texts, and inspired by this reflection from Debie Thomas at Journey with Jesus.
Here’s the livestream from Living Hope with the baptism and the sermon audio from Christ the King.
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Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen
I have a very clear memory from about a dozen years ago of sitting on my parents’ couch with Christin looking at a catering menu, trying to plan food for our wedding reception. Maybe some of you have similar memories.
We were in our last semester of college, getting married two months after graduation, and we had very little money to work with. Our parents were paying for a lot of it, but we were also trying to save as much as possible for moving to seminary.
We invited a lot of wedding guests, but of course who knows how many will actually come, and we knew we didn’t want an open bar, so I think we went with unlimited sodas, but what I really remember is a long debate about whether we needed chicken strips after dinner, and if so, how many chicken strips per person.
Everybody likes chicken strips, right? But do people expect them after dinner? And would they still be hungry after a buffet? Some of them are college students, so probably…the biggest fear, of course, is running out of food. Having some guest go hungry. No one wants your wedding to be remembered as the one where the food ran out.
Or, as in our Gospel story, the wedding where the wine ran out. Running out of wine at a wedding would bring shame on the family, especially in that culture.
You can imagine the guests murmuring, “These people are just in it for the wedding presents – they must not care about their family and friends at all!” What a disaster!
We don’t know much about the servants in the story. It says servants, but essentially they’re caterers. Maybe they’re hired just for the day as a one time gig, maybe they’re a professional group who do lots of weddings. The person in charge certainly seems to have some experience. Maybe they’re second cousins who’ve been pressed into service.
What we do know about them is that they can’t solve this problem. Someone messed up the order, or too many people showed up without RSVPing. Or maybe people just drank a lot. It’s bad.
And somehow, Jesus’ mother Mary finds out what’s going on. There’s kind of an odd exchange between her and her son Jesus, where he doesn’t seem to want to get involved, but Mary knows he’ll be able to help. She has faith in him.
So she says to the servants—and this is my favorite line in the story—“Do whatever he tells you.”
As we think this morning about our life as a church, as we think about this ministry we’re making decisions about today and baptizing Addy and Theo into, that line pretty much sums it up, right? Do whatever Jesus tells you to do. Not a bad church mission statement.
Shifting gears to the other reading: A few decades later, the Apostle Paul is writing a letter to a church in Corinth, and it seems they’re struggling a bit with how to live out that mission, how to work together to do what Jesus has told them to do.
First Corinthians is all about unity and working together, rather than breaking off into different factions and groups, how to get along when the church experiences conflict.
Paul doesn’t say what exactly they’re disagreeing about, but it’s not hard to imagine, right? Corinth is a cosmopolitan city, and the church includes people from different backgrounds with different priorities, and different ways they thought the world should work, kind of like we do.
They had rich people and poor people, and those groups didn’t always get along. The Corinthian church is made up of real live human beings, just like our church.
So as Paul writes, he wants to do two things. First, he wants to remind them that diversity is good, and they’re all there to serve the same God. He says, “No one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit.” All of them are on the same team.
People are different, and there’s room for all of them in the church. In fact, all sorts of different gifts are necessary for God’s family to be whole. Some people are gifted at prophecy, some at discernment, some at healing. Other times when Paul makes similar lists, he’ll say some people are good at teaching, some at hospitality, some at preaching, others at generosity or service.
“There are varieties of gifts, but the same spirit…and it is the same God who activates all of these gifts in everyone.” We stopped at verse 11, but he goes on to talk about how we are all members of the Body of Christ. And each part of the body is important. A foot can’t say, “I’m not a hand, so I don’t belong to the body.” Every part matters. For the community to be healthy, for the community to be whole, each person’s gifts are needed.
As churches, we get mixed up sometimes and think the pastor’s job is to do the ministry and the congregation’s job is to support them. And don’t get me wrong, I like being supported. The church budget we’re going to vote on includes a substantial amount of money for a pastor. I think the pastor’s role is important. But the pastor is meant to support the church in doing the ministry.
I don’t have all these gifts Paul talks about. Nobody does, which is the second point Paul is making. Diversity is good, and all of our gifts come from Jesus. It’s ultimately Jesus’ ministry, Jesus’ work we’re doing. “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.”
In baptism, we are commissioned to do God’s work, to be part of God’s team. We’re sent to “proclaim Christ through word and deed, care for others and the world God made, and work for justice and peace.” And that call is the same no matter what government is in power, no matter what the world around us says. We continue working towards the kingdom of God Jesus proclaimed, where justice and peace reign, where the least of these are welcomed and valued, the “beloved community” as Martin Luther King Jr. called it. God’s gifts are for the common good, not for any one person or group.
Addy and Theo, when you’re baptized, you’re joining the church. God claims you, God tells you ‘I love you and I have a job for you.’ You get to be on God’s team, part of the church; you get the job of sharing God’s love with other people. That means telling them “Jesus loves you” and it also means helping people who need help, taking care of other people.
And God gives us what we need to do God’s work. Maybe you heard that great line, “God doesn’t call the equipped; God equips the called.” As disciples, as a church, as his servants, whatever Jesus tells us to do, he gives us what we need to do it.
God provides for God’s people. At the wedding, Jesus provides an abundance: Huge jugs of wine, and not just wine, but good wine. Jesus provides more than anyone thinks is possible.
Sometimes recognizing God’s provision requires changing our view of what’s needed, but God always comes through with what we truly need.
The key is following the instructions Mary gives: “Do whatever he tells you.” Do whatever God tells you to do with whatever it is you have, whatever resources, whatever gifts you have from the Holy Spirit, and in Jesus hands, it will be enough.
So I wonder, what gifts has God given you? What gifts has God given us as a church?
Because God is calling us to a mission, a mission of serving the world. God has given us a purpose, to love God and love our neighbors.
And through the Holy Spirit, God provides everything we need to carry out our mission.
Let’s pray.
God of love, thank you for calling us to be your people. Thank you for claiming us in baptism and adopting us into your family.
As we move forward as a church, show us where you are leading us, and give us the strength and will to follow, to do whatever you tell us to do, in Jesus’ name.
Amen