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 This morning I'd like to conduct a little survey.

"To Each - Different Gifts - For the Common Good"                          Text: 1 Corinthians 12: 1-11

Cicero United Methodist Church                 August 2, 2009                                            Jack Keating

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            This morning I'd like to conduct a little survey. Now it only consists of two questions. You have to wave your hands in the air to vote. You can wave one hand, or both to register your vote. Let's practice. OK ... here's question #1--- Who would like to hear me really play the piano today - to really sit down and put all of myself into a hymn, or better yet into a solo ....

            Come on - put up your hands if you'd like to hear that.....

            Now question #2 --- Put up your hands if you'd rather Jared or Sally or Colin or Ralph did it.

            The reason I conducted this straw poll is to make a point - A point about gifts and about how we regard them and how we regard ourselves.

            The point is this .... Some gifts we have - and some we don't. Wisdom consists of knowing what gifts we have - and exercising them, and equally wisdom consists of knowing what gifts we don't have - and encouraging others who do have them to use them.

            I sometimes wish - as I'm sure some of you wish - that I had the gift to play the piano ... that I could play and lift up the hearts of all those around me in song - but I do not. I also wish I had the gift of a photographic memory and the gift to be handy with machines and wood and tools - but I do not.

            Sometimes these wishes of mine have caused me problems. They have focused my mind and my heart on what I do not have. They have led me to feel incapacitated - inferior - ­unable ....

But at other times these wishes have led me in the opposite direction, they have led me to wonder what gifts I do have, they have led me to wonder how God has gifted me and what it is that God has prepared for me to do.

            In the twelfth chapter of the First Letter to the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul speaks at length about gifts and about how we should regard them. He also discusses how we should regard our own giftedness and the giftedness of others.

            It is an important chapter - and I want to try to deal with the first part of it this morning - the part the asserts that there are variety of gifts and of services and of activities - and that each person is gifted with some assortment of gifts - and that these gifts are the manifestation of the Holy Spirit in us - a manifestation that is given for one purpose - and that is for the common good.

            "Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed ... To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses."

To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. The Spirit allots to each one individually, just as the Spirit chooses.

            What gifts do you have?

            What gifts do you rejoice in - in yourself - and in others?

            Is it the gift of praying for others?

            The gift of caring?

            The gift of service?

            The gift of praise?

            The gift of witness?

            Some gifts, my friends, are glorious in appearance and dramatic in their effect. They are easy to identify and easy to praise.

            Other gifts are more subtle, more ordinary in appearance, and have their impact over the long term rather than in the instant and often they fail to receive the recognition they deserve.

            My home church in Connecticut - Christ Episcopal Church - was a bit like the church that Paul wrote to in Corinth.

            In it we had people with the highly visible gifts of prayer and prophecy, and others with the gift of tongues and still others the gift of proclamation and of wisdom, while still others had the gift of inspired music and of singing, and they could set a meeting room on fire fairly quickly and inspire those around them to feel new levels of enthusiasm for doing the mission of Christ in the world.

            And in that church too we had many quieter people, less visible people, who had different gifts.

            Some wrote cards to those who were having birthdays; others made visits to the elderly and to those who were shut-in. Some turned on the lights and welcomed those who entered the church; others fixed the copy machine and plowed the driveway when it snowed. Some touched the hands of the feeble and helped them to go upstairs, others baked and cooked for those who were grieving. Some typed and filed, some drove kids to soccer games, others built and painted and furnished. Some looked after the babies in the nursery and played with the kids in the backyard, and others wrote skits for people to perform in the Christmas pageant. Some prepared minutes and agendas and newsletters to help the congregation, and others prayed quietly every day for the pastor and leaders and all the people of the church.

            As I think about it all, I know which gifts seemed more glorious to me at the time I was there, when I was younger and more foolish than I hope I am now.

            But I also know that without all the gifts that were offered our church would never have grown and that the ministry of Christ in our community would never have touched as many lives as it did.

            The tabernacle of God today, as in the days of Moses, requires both ... fine linen and leather, gold and bronze, gemstones and goats hair. Each has its place. Each is needed for the worship of God - and for serving God.

            A few years ago some friends of ours got themselves a new family dog. The dog was about 7 months old when they got her - she was a puppy actually, but being a German shepherd, she was still a good size. She was almost 22 pounds when they got her and she got to about 50 pounds when she was full grown.

            Anyhow, this rather large pup was walking along one day shortly after arriving and decided she had an itch that needed scratching, and that the itch was only accessible to her back leg. So, while walking, literally in mid-stride, she picked up her hind leg to scratch. And, of course, she fell over. OK ... so she's not the brightest dog!

            Now what, you might ask, has that got to do with the gifts we have, the gifts that God has given us?

            A great deal actually.               

            The tabernacle of God's presence - the church - you and I together needs all it's legs - ­and more - we need those legs to be coordinated, to be in agreement, to work together freely - gladly - and without argument about which is more important or which is less important.

            We need the leg of prophetic utterance and the leg of sound Biblical teaching and the leg of inspired prayer and the leg of administration.

            We need the leg of letter writing and the leg of mechanical ability and the leg of visitation and the leg of "eat, it's good for you" and the leg of quiet companionship.

            We need all the legs - all the parts that God has made - and the gifts that God has distributed among God's people.

            Each gift is important - and we want our brothers and sisters to give willingly - we need our brothers and sisters to give willingly - for without them - we will fall down!

            If you weren't here at all this past week, you missed the opportunity to see the gifts of many used for the good of our whole community.

            This past week, more than 125 kids experienced first hand the love of God (in human form) when they came here each morning for Vacation Bible School. I'm guessing that when all counted up more than 60 volunteers used their individual and very different talents, to help the kids learn about and experience God's love. Some helped make crafts, some told stories, some grilled hotdogs, some undertook roles in dramatic presentations, some escorted kids, some led games, and some dished ice cream. And these 60 folks were led by Sue and Libby and, as a result of all their efforts, the Word of God was preached and lived by many young folks throughout this community.

            My friends, when each of us knows what gift God has granted to us and uses that gift as God wants us to use it - in the task of walking together - of working together - to do the ministry Christ has called us to do - we will be healthy and whole as a community and as individuals, and this church will shine with the joy of Christ's presence ..... you will shine with the joy of Christ's presence.

            But is we allow ourselves to become distracted - if we stop doing what we are supposed to be doing and scratch the itches that crop up here and there in our life together, -- if we forget what we are about and whose we are in the first place we will all suffer - as a community - as individuals - and it will be cold and dark here in this place.

            We need to claim and celebrate what God has given to us individually, and exercise that manifestation of God's spirit within us for the good of all ..... without worrying about what others may or may not think about our relative importance.

            I know each one of you today has something very special in your hearts - something that has been placed there by God, something that is beautiful and good and precious in his eyes, something that is of vital importance to our church, our community, and our whole world.

            If you're not sure what gifts you have to offer, speak to Everett or me or consider attending our next Spiritual Gifts seminar which Sharon leads. We'll help you recognize those special talents and gifts that God has bestowed upon each of you.

            You all have gifts. Claim the gifts - open them up - celebrate them. And then use them ­use them freely - without worrying whether or not your gift is greater than or less than someone else's.

            You are worthy - and your gift is worthy - for God has made them, and God is the one who gave them to you, the very thing you have to offer to his praise and his service in this, his tabernacle - in this, his world.

            Blessed be his name, now and always. Amen.