1 Corinthians 12: 1-7

12 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. 2 You know that when you were pagans, you were enticed and led astray to idols that could not speak. 3 Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says “Let Jesus be cursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit.

4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. 7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

The Gifts of Others

I love seeing how people use their gifts. I especially love seeing people connect their passions and gifts with a particular need. For instance, a congregant who’s a member of the church choir has a gift for organizing and creating databases. She also has a passion for music and singing.

Recently, she married these gifts and passions with a need for our choral music to be organized and digitized. Now our amazing music director can just type in a key word on her computer and find a piece of music!

Everyone has gifts, passions and talents.

What are your gifts?

Do you know them?

Have you accepted them as gifts?

Have you claimed them to their fullest extent?

In her book, “The Happiness Project,” Gretchen Rubin names the conjunction of a person’s gifts with another’s needs as her second splendid truth:

“One of the best ways to make yourself happy is to make other people happy. One of the best ways to make other people happy is to make yourself happy.”

1 Corinthians

Is this true? Is caring about and helping others inherent to our happiness?

Can we not separate out our gifts from how they impact others?

Go back and look at the scripture at the top. 1 Corinthians 12 comes from an interesting biblical moment. Paul is writing to the church in Corinth approximately halfway through the first century.

Corinth is a metropolis. It’s a magnet for diversity. It is not a simple nor homogenous group of individuals that make up the collected body of Christ believers in Corinth. The majority of Christians there are gentiles. They didn’t come to the good news rooted in scripture. They didn’t have a familial tie with Abraham and Sarah nor an emotional connection with the covenant.

There were strong leaders in this early Christian church. Along with Paul there’s: Priscilla and Aquila, Gaius, Stephanas, and Phoebe. Still, the new believers are struggling.  Infighting, disputes and power struggles are raging.

Things we know all too well today.

Paul writes to the new Christians so that they can “be informed.” He also is trying to foster a sense of unity and communal vision.  Whenever Paul wanted to make a point and emphasize it, he did was most ancient writers, orators, and story tellers do: he wrote it three times.

4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone.

We can contribute to the kingdom of God. The opportunity is ours.  The spiritual gifts that we have are needed and important.  While you wrote different happiness resolutions with varying goals and gifts in mind, they are still essential and valuable to you, your loved ones, the community of faith, and to the kingdom of God.

A clergy friend of mine, through using the self-awareness tool of Enneagram, recently told me: 

“I see now, how I have been given intuition and compassion as gifts to help others. She said,“ I can often walk into a room and immediately sense who is at ease and who isn’t. I can tell if someone is struggling or tense without a word being said. I’ve learned to embrace this gift and use it in my pastoral care work.” 

You might think:

That’s great for a pastor, but how is my new year’s happiness resolution going to matter one iota to the kingdom of God?

Let’s explore that. Say you were one of the ones who wrote:

“Take a daily walk”

Perhaps you’ve been walking most days and, you’ve realized that the strategy of scheduling and accountability is most helpful for you to keep your resolution. So now, you’re walking with a friend on a regularly scheduled basis. You’re not only getting the benefit of a walk but you and your friend are gaining encouragement and joy from the experience. Your happy faces are a blessing to passers-by and you’re able to be more patient, kind, and charitable with others as a benefit of your taking this time out for yourself.

Using your gifts and keeping your resolutions can be simple but profound.  

As you work on and toward your happiness resolutions remember that each time you fulfill your daily goal it’s having an impact on you and your loved ones.  The ripple effects will spread far wider than you know! As Gretchen Rubin puts it, “What we do everyday matters more than what we do every once in a while.” 

Pay attention to the gifts you have and how you use them to help others.  Also, appreciate the work of those around you. It’s far too easy to take for granted the loving support and work of those closest to us.

• Do you reserve your venting and tirades until you get home then your spouse gets an ear full?
• Do you save the pent-up frustration from a bad encounter and let it out sideways at a best friend?

Often, we treat most poorly the ones who matter to us most.

It takes work, intentional and disciplined work, to develop a happy life and cultivate your gifts in ways that are meaningful for others.  It is possible to do.  

United Methodist Bishop from Iowa, Rev. Laurie Haller visited Africa University late in 2018 to see their new “Ubuntu Center.”  It is a result of a $1,000,000 building campaign that Haller led with 450 churches from her home Conference.  Rev. Haller said in a recent interview, “It was a wonderful thing. Building this center for educating students in Africa. It helped many people come together for a common purpose.”

Ubuntu is an African term meaning:

 “I am what I am because of who we all are.”

In today’s world, it is easy to get caught up in divisions but Christ tells us that true happiness comes from using our spiritual gifts to work together for the common good.

Application

1.) Take time to write a list of 7-10 gifts you have.  Ex.: listening, helping, cooking, humor.  

2.) Complete step 1 then next to each gift write 2-3 ways you use that gift to help others.

3.) Speak with 7-8 people who know you well and who will be honest with you and ask them what they see as your spiritual gifts and how they see you using them.  If possible, ask people from a cross-section of your life including family, co-workers, friends, neighbor.   

Blessings y’all,

Rev.Wren