Embodying Our Faith

 

Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. ¹³ For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.  Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.  1 Corinthians 12:12-13

 

You are a combination and culmination of countless experiences and encounters.  You are a traveling art exhibit that has collected and curated in your one wild and precious life.  Some of the pieces you carry bring smiles to your face ~ like the beauty of a sunset at the Grand Canyon or the mystery of savoring one solo jellybean.  Other parts of the exhibit are a bit tattered and torn, weathered and worn, like that sweater I have with the elbows threadbare and buttons hanging on for dear life.  You are multitudes.  Just as your fingers help you hold your spoon at breakfast, your eyes help you read these words, and your mind is questioning, “Where is Wes going with all this?”, each part contributes to the collective.  In the verse above, Paul reminds us of the beauty of community and the necessity of diversity.  This is a lesson we are struggling mightily with right now.  More and more, we compartmentalize ourselves into groups that agree with us.  More and more, we prioritize belonging to certain groups.  More and more, we tribalize with those whom we accept, cancel those who are not, and demonize anyone who dares challenge our opinions.  Paul is saying to the Corinthians (and to us) that we need each other.  In fact, the more we can be close to someone who lives and moves through the world differently, the more I can see the world in new ways. 

 

C.S. Lewis once said that while reason is the natural organ of truth, imagination is the organ of meaning.  We keep arguing about truth (without ever talking about how our emotions and experiences skew what we understand or articulate as true).  What we are really thirsting for is meaning.  Meaning can be found in those times when our minds, hearts, souls, and energy of life are aligned with God and with others.  Meaning can be found when my life resonates with your life and the Spirit connects us.  Meaning is deeper than words; more than seeing is believing.  Meaning is always more than one person’s conclusion or conviction.  Meaning is an invitation to be held communally and collectively.  Meaning isn’t static but is always evolving and expanding.  Just as your body is constantly changing ~ shedding dead skin cells, blood flowing, thoughts forming, and life growing ~ so too meaning will never fit in the Tupperware containers stored in our minds. 

 

Today, I invite you to ponder the question, what is meaningful to you?  Where do you find meaning?  With whom do you search for meaning alongside?  On Easter, I asked the question, “What are you searching for?”  But that question is never explored in a vacuum.  It is a question that needs others to help us both listen to ourselves and expand beyond our own limits.  Who is someone who will both lovingly listen to you as you respond to this question and can help you discern the limits of your own conclusions?  If you would like to talk more about this, please contact me.  May our Easter-ing ways continue to expand and embrace the “more-than-ness” of our communal life.  Amen.

Prayer for Discernment

 

Re-Storied and Re-Shaped

 

So far this week, we have looked at Paul’s list of gifts.  You were encouraged to expand and explore that list.  I hope you have thought and are still thinking about your own giftedness and your reluctance or resistance to sharing your gifts with others.   Notice the plural on the word “gifts”.  I think each person has several ways they can show up and let their light shine.  You are not confined or contained in one way.  Just as I don’t think you only have one purpose in life, but seasons when you will shift and begin going a new way.  Some gifts persist throughout life, and then there are gifts that you have for a time and place.  Pause, is there a gift you used when working that is no longer needed or necessary?  Or is there a gift you are cultivating right now that ten years ago you never thought you would want or need?  As you ponder your giftedness and uniqueness and God’s call to blend your light with others, here are a few questions:

 

When did you feel most alive?  What are you doing and who are you with?

When do you find yourself losing track of time?

Ask a friend to reflect with you about when and how they experience you most alive.

What are your three favorite movies or stories (is there a common theme)?

What do you dream about?

What would a good day include (notice I said ‘good’, not perfect)?

What frustrates you about the world?

 

It takes a lifetime to sort through our lives because with every moment, you are being re-shaped and re-storied by those around you.  Taking a step back to ask, who am I, God?  Or who are You, God, calling me to be?  Listen for the Holy calling out to you like Jesus on the beach to the disciples who were fishing.  Can we, together, as a church, listen for the Easter-ing ways God is calling us to collaborate and cooperate and conspire with God in sharing the Good News in these days?  Let the questions infuse and inspire our living and being God’s people/community today.  

One Light that Shines Brighter with Others

 

As we explore the idea of giftedness, many of us were taught as children not to promote ourselves.  My grandmother would say, “Well, someone is getting too big for his britches.”  In other words, don’t step into the spotlight, don’t bring attention to yourself, stay on the sidelines silently.  In kinder terms, “go along to get along.”  At the same time, God crafts you with unique gifts for the good of the world.  You are the only you there is or will ever be.  We hold these two truths in tension that you are called to shine your light AND you are called to combine your light with others for a blaze of grace and love brighter than our individual candle.  For me, this is what we practice in worship each week.  I can’t play the organ or piano.  I can’t be a whole choir singing all parts.  I can’t produce the beautiful sound of a congregational song or feel what my opening prayer sounds like/evokes in my soul when we all join our diverse voices together.  The invitation of faith is to consider how you are uniquely created in God’s image and invited into the beauty of community.  To be sure, community is demanding and difficult.  Annoyance, hurt, and frustration are the price we pay for relationships that provide love, acceptance, and affirmation.  We can Google an answer to almost any question (regardless of whether the information spit back at us in less than a second is true or trustworthy), but Google can’t hold my hand when I weep or laugh with me at a lame joke in worship.  And dig deeper because you were not fashioned or formed in a vacuum.  You had parents, mentors, teachers, fellow students, and random people who showed up in your life (perhaps for no other reason than to annoy you and teach you how not to be in the world).  In the coming weeks, we will explore more about what the people and places of your life gave you for better or worse.  But for today, ponder who first celebrated your giftedness?  Who encouraged you along the path as a youth or at your first job?  Who, today, is still helping you grow in the ways you share and shine your light?  May each of us celebrate the great cloud of witnesses past and present who are helping us grow into the image of God right here and now.  

Blending and Bringing Together

 

Yesterday, I asked you to ponder the list of spiritual gifts Paul names for the church in Corinth, chapter 12.  I encourage you to think of definitions and descriptions for the nine gifts named: wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, powerful deeds, prophecies, discernment, tongues, and interpretation.  I invite you to add to this list with other gifts you see in yourself and others that contribute to the common good.  Part of what Paul is saying is that your gift is not just for your own benefit and accumulation.  You share and shine your light with/for the sake of others.  You share and shine your light in ways that combine with others who are doing the same.  As the Spirit blends and brings all our unique giftedness together, there is a brighter light of God’s love that shines forth.  Can you recall a time when you worked with others on a project that was a blessing?  I know our minds sometimes get stuck in high school with a project where you ended up doing 99.999% of the work, and everyone benefited from the A.  But that isn’t what Paul is saying.  He is pointing to a moment when each of us does what he/she/they can with God’s grace, and our gifts become greater than the sum of the parts.  Rather than keeping each gift isolated or apart, we bring them together in beautiful/life-giving ways.  In the mystery and marvel of the Spirit, when I bring my gifts, and you do the same, we find a new dimension that wouldn’t have been possible alone.   For example, when I share a piece of knowledge and then stop speaking to listen to others, I find that I learn from another person’s wisdom, experience, and faith.  My knowledge needs the gift of the other to properly function and continually grow.  Too often, we can be tripped up and trapped by the idea that it is only about our gift, and we want to be recognized.  But when my gift meets your gift with openness, willingness, and curiosity, God works in ways we never imagined or could have experienced on our own.  I invite you to think of a moment when this has been true for you.  How might our church continue to be a place where such creative collaboration is part of what we are about as we seek to cooperate with God in these days? 

 

Giftedness

 

Yesterday in worship, we listened to Paul tell the Corinthians that there are a vast variety of gifts.  There are gifts of wisdom and knowledge; faith and healing; powerful deeds and prophecies; discernment, tongues, and interpretation.

 

Did any of those nine cause your shy soul to say, “Tell me more!”?  If you had to write a definition of each of the above nine gifts, what might you say to describe each?  Can you give an example of a time when you witnessed or embodied that gift?  Where and when did you interact with wisdom, and where are you discovering knowledge in these days?  What does faith sound like, smell like, and feel like?  When have you witnessed a powerful deed or heard a prophetic word?  Do you feel a bit confused by discernment?  You might be suspicious of speaking in tongues, or tired of everyone giving you their opinion?  Review the list. Do you see some gifts as more admirable than others?  Do you find yourself rating and ranking?  Of course not, you say, I listened to the sermon yesterday and heard that was what the Corinthians were doing!!  Surely, we don’t prop up some people’s jobs as being more valuable than others.  Clearly, we have evolved beyond calling someone an “essential worker” and then treating and paying that beloved as anything but important.”  Some of you are catching the sarcasm in my writing.

 

I love how wisdom and knowledge are two separate gifts.  We often conflate and confuse these two as the same.  Not all knowledge is wisdom.  Sometimes people like to show off and pontificate.  They like to point out that a bottle of wine was made with the harvest of ‘08, which everyone knows was the best grapes of the last century.  By the way, I know nothing about wine, as if the previous sentence didn’t show that clearly enough.  Where do you notice a distinction and overlap between faith and healing? What does this dynamic duo suggest?  While each gift is distinctive, sometimes we can blend and bring together two or three of the nine gifts in unique ways.  For example, discernment and interpretation can dance together in helpful ways.

 

Today, look over the list and see which one sings to your soul.  Also, pay attention to where you resist seeing one of these as a gift.  Ponder which gifts you’d like the Spirit to cultivate and curate in you.  Today, think about how each gift can support the other gifts, shining God’s light these days.  Finally, I invite you to add to Paul’s list.  What gifts do you think are important for our common life together?  What unique way can you share and shine your light with family, friends, in our community, church, and country for the sake of our shared life?  May this question continue to stir and sing to your heart in this season of Easter.

In the Boat Prayer