November Focus - Spiritual Gifts

In the month of November our parish is exploring the theme of Spiritual Gifts.

One encounters this term in the letters of Paul, in the first letter to the Corinthians and in his letter to the Romans. Paul believed the Holy Spirit gave gifts to individuals in the covenant community in order to empower the community to manifest God's grace in the world.

In fact, the word "spiritual gifts" in Greek is the same root as the Greek word for grace. One may think of a spiritual gift as God's grace manifested in the life of an individual in service to the covenant community.

Paul does not play the role of a spiritual innovator here. The notion of God's empowering presence through the Holy Spirit begins in the book of Genesis where the Spirit of God hovers over the face of the deep (the primordial pre-cosmic chaos). The Holy Spirit at work in the creation also works in us.

The thinking behind spiritual gifts goes like this. God calls us into covenant with God and one another to fulfill God's purposes in the world. We become covenant partners with God (and one another).

As covenant partners we have a responsibility to use our freedom well, that is, in alignment with God's intentions. We make choices every day that either work in partnership with God or work counter to God's purposes.

Thus the moral content of a choice depends on its alignment with God's plan.

Does God abandon us to work out God purposes on our own without God's help? Once we believe we have discerned God's purposes, does God abandon us to fulfill them on our own?

Many people, of course, believe humanity to be functionally godless. Even if God exists God is not active in our lives. This is of course a faith statement. Nothing in human experience justifies this claim.

Scripture makes a different claim. From the call of Moses through the Hebrew prophets into the book of Acts of the Apostles the biblical narrative presents God as one who does not abandon us. God's covenant partners are not left with an impossible challenge. God empowers us to fulfill the divine purpose.

The Book of Common Prayer includes a number of collects (prayers) that capture this idea very well. Here are three examples:

Proper 10
O Lord, mercifully receive the prayers of your people who call upon you, and grant that they may know and understand what things they ought to do, and also may have grace and power faithfully to accomplish them. . . .

Proper 16
Grant, O merciful God, that your Church, being gathered together in unity by your Holy Spirit, may show forth your power among all people to the glory of your name. . . .

Proper 19
O God, because without you are not able to please you, mercifully grant that you Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts. . . .

Spiritual gifts manifest God's presence in world through the talents and abilities God gives us to fulfill the divine purpose.

This parish grounds its work in the world in the spiritual giftedness of each person in our covenant community. We expect God to be at work in that through our faithfulness.

As the apostle Paul says in his letters. Not everyone has the same gifts. God does not call everyone to every task. Our job is to discern the spiritual gift that God gives each of us and then be faithful.

What happens when God's covenant partners faithfully deploy the gifts God has given them in alignment with God's purposes, in service to a hurting world? Blessings multiply. Joy breaks out all over the place. We discover the power of creation at work, even at our fingertips.

Do you know your spiritual gifts? This month we hope to prayerfully discern what they may be. Join us

Download Spiritual Gifts Booklet

October Focus: Stewardship
September Focus: Intentional Faith

Monthly Focus Archive

2006:

Easter Focus: New Covenant
Lenten Focus: A Covenantal Response to Poverty
February Focus: Moving Forward

2005:

December Focus: Longing
November Focus: The Gift of Years
October Focus: Stewardship
September Focus: Foundations
Summer Focus: The Book of Acts
Easter Focus: Tapestry
Lenten Focus: Rule of Life
January Focus: The Next Wave

2004:

December Focus: Surprising Grace
November Focus: Free Indeed
October Focus: Money Madness
September Focus: The Outrageous Promise
Summer Focus: Into the Fullness
June Focus: Thick Faith
Easter Focus: All Things New
Lent Focus: A Hungry World
February Focus: Commitment
January Focus: Unity

2003:

December Focus: Hope
November Focus: Worship
October Focus: Stewardship
September Focus: Seasons of Faith
Summer Focus: The Gospel of John
May Focus: Faith
April Focus: Resurrection
March Focus: Truth
February Focus: Covenant Groups
January Focus: Sabbath

2002:

December Focus: Shut Up and Sing
November Focus: Spiritual Gifts
October Focus: Stewardship
September Focus: Intentional Faith