This Sunday we had a joint worship service followed by our annual meeting. The readings for this week are Isaiah 62:1-5 (read via video by Mary Beth Oyabade, a missionary we sponsor in Nigeria), a sung paraphrase of Psalm 36, 1 Corinthians 12:1-11, and John 2:1-11 (read via video by Tabby Sanderson, whom we sponsor through the ELCA’s Young Adults in Global Mission program serving in Hungary).
One of my pet peeves is pastors complaining in sermons about how difficult an assigned text is to preach on. Today is the opposite. This text is fantastic! What better Bible passage could there be for annual meeting Sunday than Paul talking about the variety of gifts the Holy Spirit gives the church?
Before we get to the list of gifts, though, listen to verse 3: “No one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says ‘Let Jesus be cursed!’ and no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit.”
One of the challenges of God working through the human institution of the church is that sometimes we work at cross purposes with each other. It’s easy when you’re involved in one ministry and you can see the impact it makes to say, “This is what the church should be focusing on. This is the most important.”
Part of Paul’s message for us is that we’re on the same side here. That can be hard to remember—I know I get more excited about some things than others, and that’s ok. The Holy Spirit gives us different gifts. God calls us with all our different passions to work together. The Holy Spirit is at work through all our different ministries.
It’s true for churches too. We’re blessed here in Greene to have churches who generally cooperate with each other and work together. But there’s still always the temptation to be suspicious of each other, or to make it into a competition.
We do a great job working together on Advent and Lent services with our neighbors, but it disturbs me that more of us come to worship when it’s in our building than when it’s across the street. Paul calls us to do better, to combine our gifts.
I get jealous sometimes when I hear about other churches with certain really strong ministries, or pastors who are really good at areas of ministry I’m not good at. I don’t know that I’ll ever be good at going up to strangers on the street and striking up a conversation. I wish I had that gift, but I don’t.
Or, I’d love to have the gift of singing. I wish I could belt out songs in church and inspire the rest of you to join me. And I try. If you sit by me, you’ll notice I sing with gusto. But as much as I try, that verse about making a joyful noise to the Lord is important to me, because I just don’t have the gift of being a great singer.
But there are other people in the church who have the gift of singing. There are people who are good at talking to newcomers, or people on the street. There are gifts you have that I don’t have and there are gifts I have that you don’t have. The beauty of the church is God gathers us and calls us to join our gifts together. It’s like an “Avengers, Assemble!” sort of thing. (Pop culture references are not really one of my gifts either.)
One of the keys to this passage is verse 7. Read it with me. “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” As tempting as it can be to focus on the gifts we don’t have, Paul calls us to use our God-given gifts for the common good. If you’re using your gifts only to benefit yourself, you’re missing the point of why God gave them to you.
We’re here for a purpose. We’re here to reflect God’s love to the world. As Isaiah talks about, the nations will see God’s glory through God’s people. We’re here to serve our neighbors. And we can do so much more together than we can separately. Together, God has provided us with all the gifts we need.
One of my favorite examples of what we can do together is supporting missionaries. You already got to meet Tabby, the young adult missionary we sponsor in Hungary when she read the gospel reading. I also asked her to send a clip introducing herself to our congregation and telling us what she and her husband Tony are doing in Hungary. Take a look.
[Video]
Last year, we gave over $10,000 as a congregation to support the work of our missionaries. That’s a lot more than I could do on my own—and the work Tabby, Tony, Mary Beth, and Bayo all do is more than they could do on their own.
I’d love to go through all the different ministries we do as a congregation together, but there’s a lot more than fits in a sermon. I hope you have had the chance to read through the annual report (PDF link). If not, make sure you take one home and read it. It gives a good glimpse of the different ministries and gifts in our congregation, and there’s still more that didn’t make it into the report.
One purpose of this annual meeting worship service is to look back and celebrate the ministry God has done through us this last year. That’s a big part of the reports, and I’ll also have some pictures to show you during the offering—again, they’re just a glimpse—you only get to see 142 of the 1,600 I started with.
The other purpose of our meeting is to plan for the future, to listen for where God is calling us to go as a church. I invite you to reflect this week on three questions.
First, what gifts has God given you? They don’t have to be on this list—Paul doesn’t give us an exhaustive list of every spiritual gift—or perhaps they are. But God has given you gifts. You have something to contribute to our work together for the common good. What is it?
Second, what gifts do you see in other people? It’s often easier to recognize others’ gifts than our own. Think about the people you know in this church and what gifts you see in them, and then tell them. Talk to them, or write a card, but actually let them know gifts you see in them. And then pray for them as they develop their gifts.
Third, and this one I’m actually going to ask you to talk to the people around you and share for a couple minutes, what ideas do you have for St. Peter? What opportunities do you see for new ministries? What spiritual needs do people have that we’re not meeting? How can our church do a better job of showing God’s love and blessing our neighbors? Take a minute with the people around you to talk about it.
[Discussion]
If you came up with an idea, or you heard a good idea from someone else, I want to hear about it! Share it with someone on council. Talk to me about it.
Please pray with me.
Gracious God, you have blessed us with many gifts. Thank you for the time people put into this congregation, thank you for the talents you have given us to use for your glory, thank you for the treasure you have trusted to us. Help us to use all our gifts for your glory, not for ourselves, but for the common good, through Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord. Amen