A Note from Sarah

A variety of gifts

Dear friends,

The Red Sox are floundering these days. My theory is that the Sox are struggling because they haven’t had enough time to gel as a team. There’s so much emphasis in baseball right now on trading players, swapping positions, trying to get exactly the right player for the right position. It’s hard to keep a consistent team from season to season. But it takes time for teammates to learn how to play ball together, how to compensate for each other’s weaknesses and build on one another’s strengths. It can take more than one season for players to gel as a team.

I think it takes time for churches to gel, too. Not because there’s too much coming and going, though! On the contrary, our church “team” will always be fluid – welcoming new members; offering a safe space for those seeking spiritual refuge; bidding farewell when members move; and commending souls to God when death comes.

Rather, it takes time for our spiritual gifts to gel together. I’m thinking of last Sunday’s reading from First Corinthians. St. Paul wrote to the early Christians in Corinth to guide and encourage them in their life together. Some of the guidance Paul offered was about the gifts of the Spirit:

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit;

and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord;

and there are varieties of activities,

but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone.

To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

(1 Corinthians 12:4-7)

Paul was crystal clear that the Holy Spirit is generous in giving gifts to each Christian, gifts to be used in turn “for the common good,” for building up the body of Christ. Indeed, the body of Christ we know as Grace Church has been blessed with myriad gifts! As in every church, these gifts unfold over time; we come to learn what gifts we’ve been given, how to offer them, and how they gel with each other’s gifts. We learn to make room for each other’s gifts, to harmonize them as time goes on. I think this is a holy process that is always unfolding in every church.

In this week after the Feast of Pentecost, when we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the first disciples – and the Spirit’s dwelling within us – what gifts do you discern the Spirit has given you for building up the church? What are the other gifts you see being offered at Grace?

May you know God’s peace today.

~ Sarah