What Gifts do you have?

! Corinthians 12:1-11 What Gifts do you have? Second Sunday of Epiphany Year C Children’s Time…. 1 Corinthians 12:1-11, vs. 11: All these are inspired by one and the same Spirit who apportions to each one individually as he wills. Object: a map of the United States. Good morning, boys and girls, and how are you today? Have you ever wondered why some people can do some things better than you can and why you can do one or two things better than anyone else? You have? Did you know that God planned it that way and that the whole world is about the same way? I mean there are some boys and girls on the other side of the world who wonder why some children can do things better than they can. They also know that there are one or two things that they can do better than anyone else in the neighborhood. I suppose you know that this just doesn't happen to people. Let me show you what I mean. Here is a map of the United States. How many states are there in the United States? That's right, fifty. Are all fifty states important? Could we just give away Florida or Minnesota and still have the United States? Of course not. Every state is important and every state contributes something important to the other forty-nine. For instance, if we didn't have Florida, then we would miss having a lot of oranges and grapefruits and lemons and other fruits. Or, if we gave away Minnesota, then we would lose a lot of the iron ore that the rest of the country needs. Ohio makes a lot of glass, and Michigan makes cars, and Washington makes wood for houses. Every state is important and we must always remember how important they are. Now, there is some oil in Ohio, but not as much as there is in Texas. They grow trees in Ohio, but not as many or as big as they do in Washington and Oregon. That is the way it is with people. Some people can do a lot of things, but they do only one or two things very well. God gave everybody some talent, but no one has all of the talent. No one of our states has more of everything than any of the other forty-nine. God wanted everyone to be able to do something very well, so that other people would need him. But he gave no man everything so that every man would need other people. You know what you can do very well and God wants you to share your gift with others. He also wants you to use the things that other people have so that they know that you need them. 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 Common English Bible (CEB) Spiritual gifts 12 Brothers and sisters, I don’t want you to be ignorant about spiritual gifts.2 You know that when you were Gentiles you were often misled by false gods that can’t even speak. 3 So I want to make it clear to you that no one says, “Jesus is cursed!” when speaking by God’s Spirit, and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit. 4 There are different spiritual gifts but the same Spirit;5 and there are different ministries and the same Lord; 6 and there are different activities but the same God who produces all of them in everyone. 7 A demonstration of the Spirit is given to each person for the common good. 8 A word of wisdom is given by the Spirit to one person, a word of knowledge to another according to the same Spirit, 9 faith to still another by the same Spirit, gifts of healing to another in the one Spirit, 10 performance of miracles to another, prophecy to another, the ability to tell spirits apart to another, different kinds of tongues[a] to another, and the interpretation of the tongues to another. 11 All these things are produced by the one and same Spirit who gives what he wants to each person. Footnotes: a. 1 Corinthians 12:10 Or ecstatic speech or languages could be used for tongues or tongue throughout chaps 12–14. Common English Bible (CEB) Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible One of the things that I have been enjoying on facebook, is all of the remember when post. I love remembering all of those old things about life, it reminds me of growing up. Speaking of remember whens…… In The Service- 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 Anyone here remember what they used to call places where you put gas in your car? They weren’t called “gas stations,” or “fueling centers,” but “service stations.” When you pulled in, someone (or sometimes even more than one) raced out to greet you, ask what you needed, and proceeded to fill your gas tank with fuel. While you sat, warm and comfy in your car, the “service station” attendant washed your windows, checked your oil, even checked your tire pressure. After filling up the tank they took your payment and wished you well and waved you off. “Service stations” also used to give out gifts after so many gallons of gas had been purchased (unbelievable, right?!) I will bet that a lot of us here this morning grew up drinking from juice glasses provided by Shell or Texaco, instead of Steuben or Tiffany. What is the first thing that comes to mind today when someone asks if you ever were “in the service?” There used to be two primary meanings of that phrase “in the service.” The first was military service -- the “service” given by all those men and women who “served” to defend and protect our country. That why George Washington asked for no pay for serving as Commander-in-Chief of Continental forces during the Revolutionary War. He looked at what he was doing as a “service” to his country, so he refused to accept any pay. Nor he did submit expenses, which when added up amounted to nearly ten times what his salary would have been. Before taking office as President, he again offered to serve without pay if all his expenses were covered. This time Congress courteously declined. (Sebastian De Grazia, “A Necessary Evil is Also a Necessary Good,” TLS: Times Literary Supplement, 26 May 2000, 12.) The second association of being “in the service” is now made bare in a hit television show, now in its third series. Any fans of “Downton Abbey” out there? What did it mean in the early twentieth century to be “in the service?” Of course, it meant being a “servant” to others. “In the service” meant a life lived in service to others -- whether that service was being a butler, a governess, a cook, a maid, a footman, or a working, serving part of a larger whole, and probably not receiving a whole lot of accolades for doing what you’re doing. Service has always been part and parcel of being “in the service”… As time went on, service stations have gotten few and far between. When I learned to drive 25 years ago, there were a few places where I could go as a woman and get someone to fill up the gas tank and check the car. Today – when Debbie and I were driving down 55 to Kansas City and the tire pressure light came on, realized that the gas station is the last place to go for help. They are not service stations anymore – everything is do it yourself or don’t bother. Where can you go in this world – to get good service? I was at a meeting at First Christian church last week, and I was fascinated that one of the fliers that they had out on the counter was opportunities to serve. They listed all of the jobs that needed to be done in church, such as usher, sound board, snow shoveling. But it was presented to people as a wonderful opportunity, not an obligation. First Christian is a very different church, then First Methodist. And in a lot of ways they have a very different theology than we do – theology just means a different way of understanding Who God is and what God calls us as the church to do. I don’t always agree with their theology and I don’t particularly care for contemporary music, But I think sometimes they get a lot of things right in understanding what it takes to be a strong independent church that we as Methodist have long let go by the wayside. And the joy of serving is one those things. I picked the flier up because I would imagine that they will get a lot of response of being joyfully taking on those task. Whereas a list of task for here in our church gets taken as a burdensome obligation that no one wants to be bothered with. I have been looking forward to epiphany – because in the liturgical church it is our opportunity to intentionally think about our service not just to the church but to God. This year, I intentionally let stewardship time be about money – so that we could spend epiphany fleshing out our thoughts on service. Every year – that is the whole point of the journey of epiphany. We start out the year being told to wake up and see the light, the second Sunday we remember our baptism. And for the rest of the season, we look at the book of Corinthians and what it means to be the church. This year – we have a long epiphany season. But every year we look at Corinthians. – This year we look at chapters 12-15. These are the chapters where Paul talks about spiritual gifts. He starts out our verses for today by saying, now concerning spiritual gifts. Obviously this was a question that the church has a question about. The Corinthians were a Greek congregation that has converted from paganism. They considered themselves smarter than most people. But they struggled with how to make the transition from pagan Gods to understanding Christ as their savior. So, Paul had to constantly set then straight. That is why he starts out be telling them not to curse God, But when you say that Jesus is Lord – that you are blessed by God. Only someone who truly knows God, can say Jesus is the Lord of my life. The only way you can say Jesus your will and not mine- is if you are blessed by God. The whole focus of our faith is celebrating the generosity of God. And our spiritual gifts are a gift from God. Paul spells out some of the spiritual gifts of God. I will not go into them today – because sometimes it is not so much important what the gift is, as to realizing that the gift is from and of God. Paul says that there are many gifts, but one spirit. In your bulletin this week, I included a short survey to encourage you to think about spiritual gifts. What is it that God is calling you to do, how is is that God is calling you to serve. In the coming weeks of epiphany we will talk more about gifts. A lot of churches like to gift our spiritual gift surveys. I will make those available in the coming weeks if anyone would like to take one. But as I said, it is not so much important what the gift is, as much as it is to realize that we all have a gift. We all have something to contribute to the puzzle. And there are many ways for us to give our service to the church. The church is intended to be the new service station. Paul makes a lot of really good points in this verse. He tells us that we all have different gifts but from the same God. He reminds us that gifts are not given to individuals, but gifts are given to communities. God never speaks to a person, God speaks to a community. When we are given a gift, it is not given to make us rich – but as a tool to connect with others to fulfill a mission. Faith is not so much in a set of beliefs as it is in fulfilling a mission. A faithful church – fulfills its mission to serve God in the world. No one gift is more important than another gift – they are all a part of the same whole. Even though we are a different church, organized differently, and with a different method than the churches around – we all serve the same Lord. God needs us all to reach the world. God needs us to use our gifts together, to be the body of Christ. And most important – service is about acknowledging that all that we do is a confirmation that Jesus us Lord. A room-service waiter at a Marriott hotel learned that the sister of a guest had just died. The waiter, named Charles, bought a sympathy card, had hotel staff members sign it, and gave it to the distraught guest with a piece of hot apple pie. “Mr. Marriott,” the guest later wrote to the president of Marriott Hotels, “I’ll never meet you. And I don’t need to meet you. Because I met Charles. I know what you stand for . . . I want to assure you that as long as I live, I will stay at your hotels. And I will tell my friends to stay at your hotels.” (Told in Turned On by Roger Dow and Susan Cook [Harper Business, 1996].) My first job was at Marriott’s Great America. I thought I would work for that company forever- because of its commitment to hospitality and going to extra mile. But Jesus has other plans and other opportunities to serve. What opportunities has Jesus given you to be of service? How can you filfill that call this week? Let us pray.