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Monday, November 14, 2011

Considering Gifts
By webmaster @ 12:01 AM :: 237 Views :: 0 Comments :: Sister Carol Perry

There's something about a gift, isn't there?

Whether it is the pleasure of receiving one or that other, special joy, of having found just the right gift for another, gifting and being gifted is a delight. (Of course, there are those gifts one doesn't know what to do with that came from Cousin Myra's bottom drawer or those "whatever is it?" strange donations, but we'll skip those for today.)

This is gift year at Marble Collegiate Church, a year that involves no shopping or wrapping, but which will challenge each of us to discover the spiritual gifts that are hidden in our souls. Our clues come from Paul's letters, those impassioned missives to the early church communities through which he tried to make them conscious of what it meant for them to have chosen Christ.

It requires a bit of imagination for us in the 21st century to understand those early communities: there were no ordained ministers, there were no buildings to maintain or use, there was only someone hosting a group that fit into a courtyard or the largest room in the house. It was somewhat informal.

As best we can ascertain, someone told a remembered "Jesus story," (no written scriptures), someone offered a reflection, the needs of each were prayed for and then they brought their offerings, in kind, for those who were in need. Finally, they broke bread together.

"Church" was a group to which each one contributed by voice or hand. And so Paul urged them to look deep within to discover their gifts, be they qualities of leadership, of vision for the future, of concern for each other, of the healing touch. Read I Cor. 12-13 for Paul's reflection on how each should encourage the other and not rank one gift as more important than a neighbor's. As he loved to say, they should all work together as do the members of a body where no one member has the right to claim greater importance.

And what is the gift you would like to share this day with any of the communities to which you belong: at home, at work or in church? Is it compassion, a listening ear, an insight, encouragement...

No one is giftless, but we each, whether giving or receiving, need to remember Paul's final admonition: "The greatest of these is love."

We all have that to both give and to receive.

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