Many Gifts, One Spirit

There are no words of scripture that I quote more often than these from 1 Corinthians 12:  “There are varieties of gifts.”  Here is why I think it is so important …. (after I say a few words about my June 30 retirement that I announced earlier this week) …

1 Corinthians 12:4-11;  John 2:1-11 

Many Gifts, One Spirit

I was looking forward to preaching a sermon this morning about weddings. The evocative story of Jesus providing 150 gallons of good wine for the wedding in Cana

(whose bride and groom are never identified, by the way) was going to lead to my reflections about weddings, about marriage as an institution, and about the continuing public debate about same-sex marriage.

But as I spoke with church leaders and members this week, it became clear that marriage was not really going to be our topic this morning. What most of us are thinking about is my announcement that I am retiring at the end of June. So I want to take a few moments to answer some questions I have been asked, and then to look with you at St. Paul’s words to the Corinthians, and what they may mean for us in the coming months.

First, I want to assure everyone that my retirement is entirely benign. I am in excellent health; I am not burned out; there have been no unpleasant events or confrontations; I am not depressed or angry or frustrated. What I am in 63 ½ years old, and keenly aware of life’s uncertainties. Without getting unduly maudlin about it, none of us know what our length of life will be, and I look forward to having more time for my family; more time for my love of fabric, quilting, and stole-making. I look forward to spending time with my partner Jean, who is 15 years younger than I am, while I can still climb up to waterfalls on the North Shore.

Second, I want you to know that I am not moving away. It would be easier, actually, if we were, but Jean and I have significant family responsibilities in Northfield that cannot really be met if we live somewhere else. Moreover, we love our house and our neighborhood and really appreciate all of the amenities of living here.

But you also need to know that when the time comes, at the end of June, I will make an intentional break from my pastoral relationships with all of you. It is my ethical duty to move out of the way and make room for the next pastoral leaders, and I will be doing that with particular care. We’ll talk more about that when the time comes.

Third, I want to repeat how much I love this congregation, and how meaningful it is for me to be your minister. Leaving will be bittersweet for me, as some of you have already said it will be for you. We’ll have occasion to talk about that later, too.

Finally, I do not want to spend 5 ½ months saying good-bye and I don’t think you do, either. The reason I have made my announcement so far ahead is so that the church council can move forward with some very important planning and re-visioning that is on their agenda for this year. It just seemed dishonest to enter that process with them and then bow out on short notice. I am not asking us to collectively live in denial for several months, but I do hope we won’t get habitually bogged down in farewells.

It would have been thoughtful of St. Paul to have written the church in Corinth with advice about how to deal with a church leader’s retirement – or at least it would have made my job easier this morning. What he actually wrote, though, as we heard a few minutes ago, was a letter about the varieties of spiritual gifts which come from the Holy Spirit for the common good.

There is probably no verse in scripture that I quote more often than this one: “Now there are varieties of gifts …” [1 Corinthians 12:4]. I believe that these words open up some of the most important doors of Christian discipleship: the doors to appreciation, compassion and community.

When we acknowledge that there are varieties of gifts – rather than a single standard of giftedness to which some talents measure up and others do not – when we acknowledge that there are varieties of gifts we move into an attitude of appreciation that feeds our souls and opens our hearts and hands. Consider my friend Sue, who is marvelously talented long-arm quilter – which means she adds batting and backing to quilt tops made by other people and stitches them all together. As you might imagine, the quilt tops that come to her vary in color and design, in craftsmanship and in what we might casually name “beauty.” But for Sue, every quilt is beautiful, because every quilt is the result of some quilt maker’s time, efforts, and skills. She does her best to add to the beauty and usefulness of each piece that comes into her hands, and she is motivated – not by professional pride or business ethics – but by her deep appreciation of the meaning of that piece of artistry to the person who created it.

Likewise, if we really believe in the variety of gifts, we can appreciate different forms of art and music, different personality types, different cuisines, different faith traditions. Our appreciation affirms the extravagance of God’s creation, rather than limiting it with our own tastes, preferences, and traditions.

Acknowledging the variety of gifts among humans is also a great wellspring of compassion, because it lets us move into the minds and hearts of people whose experience and talents are quite different from our own. Remember that the word “compassion” comes from roots that mean “together” and “feeling.”

More than that, I believe that compassion often grows out of our personal experiences of healing from our own shortcomings, foibles, and failures. My dear seminary teacher Flora Wuellner used to say that our most precious gifts are sometimes hidden in our problems and weaknesses. When those problems are addressed and those weaknesses healed, the power of our gifts is liberated. In my experience, the gift that is most often liberated in this way is the gift of compassion. When we have overcome a handicap, addressed an addiction, or let go of a destructive habit, we are free to offer compassion to others who have not yet made those steps. We understand their pain, and we understand it in ways that makes it possible for us to help others and to be companions of the road to healing and wholeness.

And finally, acknowledging that there are varieties of gifts strengthens and enlivens the communities we are part of. We have a tendency, I think, to believe that the best possible neighborhood, town, or church would be one in which everyone shared our values, our dreams, and our senses of humor. But in fact, just the opposite is true. The richest communities are those in which some values, dreams, and jokes are shared, but in which there is a healthy mix of traditions, talents, enthusiasms, and accomplishments. In next week’s text (continuing in chapter 12 of 1 Corinthians), St. Paul will make jokes about how foolish it is to think that every part of the Body of Christ should be the same. So it is for this incarnation of the Body of Christ, this church: we are one body. And we are not one body because of all the ways we are the same, but because we are all enlivened by the same Spirit, because we all experience the same divine love and mercy, because we all have been called by Christ into loving service to the world.

There is one more virtue to acknowledging that there are varieties of gifts: it makes it easier for us to follow Jesus’ great commandment “to love your neighbor as yourself.” I have already said that it sometimes makes it easier to love your neighbor, but it is also critical that it sometimes make it easier to love yourself. On those days when you are particularly aware of your shortcomings and errors, we need the words of Jesus and Paul to remind us that there are varieties of gifts; not a one of us is gifted in all ways. We bring our gifts – both great and small – and offer them to God and to one another. And in that is our strength: our honest appreciation, our deepening compassion, and our life-giving community.

Thanks be to God. Amen.

Prayer for January 17, 2010

Almighty and everlasting God, creator of all things seen and unseen, hear now our silent prayers, as we open our hearts to you in the sacred quietness.

God of faith and hope, we bring before you our prayers for those we have named this morning – we especially remember …The people of Haiti and those who love them .. Bring to each of them the gifts of mercy and grace that are most needed, according to your wisdom and love.

God of our hearts and minds, this morning we offer our prayers for those circumstances in our lives that we cannot usually bring ourselves to say aloud. Help us to name before you and one another the disappointments, shames, sorrows, and shortcomings that eat away at our faith and our well being.

We pray for our relationships that are conflicted, dispirited, or unfulfilling.

We pray for ourselves and our loved ones who live with mental illness.

We pray for ourselves and our loved ones who live with chronic health conditions.

We pray for those whose access to health care is limited by finances, geography, or prejudice.

We pray for everyone who has been betrayed, cheated, or defrauded.

We pray this morning for those who live with addictions and alcoholism.

We pray for those who are estranged from their loved ones.

We pray for those who have lost their employment, and those who have not been able to begin their work lives because they cannot find a job.

And since our miseries are often accompanied by economic challenges, we pray for wisdom about money, time, and emotional energy.

Finally, we pray for the secrets of our hearts that we can speak only to you.

All of these things we pray in the name of the one who listens with loving attention to all of our sorrows, and who bears them with us, even Jesus the Christ, and we pray together now in the words that he taught us …