You Get What You Get

Leave a reply

Now you are all the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers; then deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? But strive for the greater gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way…I Corinthians 12:27-31, NRSV

Paul finishes this chapter with a couple of pointed remarks and questions spoken with an edge. Are ALL teachers/prophets/apostles? Do ALL work miracles? et cetera…

No, of course. No one gets all the gifts: no one gets none. No one gets a choice, either. You get what the Spirit hands you. Whatever it is, put it to use for the good of all and the revelation of God’s infinite love. Don’t waste time wishing for a different gift; there is a reason you and I got what we got – even if we don’t know what that reason might be. Isn’t it enough to be the only person in the entire history of the cosmos who has the your combination?

Then comes Paul’s final advice: strive for the greater gifts. But what are these greater gifts? The chapter ends without revealing them. They could be anything, couldn’t they? Superhuman endurance in the face of evil; undeniable power of persuasion to inspire and lead others; the ability to heal with a touch (or a scalpel). Until Paul moves on to chapter thirteen and the big reveal:

Faith. Hope. Love.

Not a lot of superhero flash here, and no measuring stick to find our places in the pecking order of power.

Live in faith and faithfully. Remember that hope is stronger than any circumstance. Embrace the eternal nature of love.

It takes a lifetime to trust in the truth that every young life is born into and out of: love has no need to conquer a damn thing because it is the very fiber of God’s creation.

Pick the Right Pronoun

Leave a reply

But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it. I Corinthians 12:24b-26, NRSV

Everyone within a community is connected, and each person is affected by the wellbeing or distress of another. This truth can be accepted, even celebrated. This truth can be rejected, even denied. This truth is still true: what affects one affects everyone else.

These days, too many want to disassociate rather than relate; rather than accept others as integral, others are wished away, even wished harm – as if the wellbeing of one isn’t tied to the wellbeing of all. The other is an it, turned into something of no value or consequence. This delusion damages the one labeled it, and it hollows out the one who labels.

There is no peace, no joy, no love in this. I-Thou is the truth, which leads to the larger, holy truth:

The correct pronoun is always We.

All About the Clothes…

Leave a reply

As it is, there are many members, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect; whereas our more respectable members do not need this.

I Cor. 12:20-24a, NRSV

Paul continues his faith community/body metaphor in interesting specifics. We clothe the parts of bodies we find less respectable – a truth and the reason we wear pants. But I wonder if Paul had a double meaning in here.

Are the members of the community who are well clothed, who are considered important and widely respected – are they the weaker members? Are the well known and well heeled (literally) in need of this attention more than others who don’t get it? Are the unnoticed and under-appreciated who see to the wellbeing of the community the stronger ones?

It’s a cheeky take on Paul’s words, but is it accurate? What do you think?

What would happen if…

Leave a reply

If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many members, yet one body. I Corinthians 12:17-20, NRSV

What would happen if…

…everyone assumed that every single person in a community was vital to its health and ministry?

…no one wanted gifts they did not receive – and everyone valued the gifts they did?

…we trusted that the community had everything it needed to serve God and neighbor in love?

Would we finally know beyond a doubt how precious and holy each and every one of us is?

In Memoriam: Pope Francis

Leave a reply

Compassion. Kindness. Blessing. Simplicity. Hard Work. There are so many adjectives to describe the only man who chose Francis as his papal name.

I never met the man, but his dedication to prayer conversation, and advocacy for those in greatest need defined his time as the head of the Roman Catholic Church – it also made him an inspiration and beloved brother in Christ to Christians well beyond the boundaries of his tradition.

Like the Dalai Lama, Francis shouldered the title: His Holiness. Like the Dalai Lama, his way of being in the world made those two words more than titular: they were an apt description of the man.

Life From Death

Leave a reply

Years ago, a woman I knew got drunk at a bar, got behind the wheel, and wrapped her car around a tree. Had she not been pinned so tightly against the steering wheel, she’d have died from blood loss long before help arrived.

She needed rehab for months afterward, and there were consequences for driving drunk. But I’ve often thought that the most difficult part of her recovery must also have been the most miraculous: that she survived an accident that should have claimed her life. What does it mean to be given life rather than death?

Isn’t that the big question we must all ask ourselves? What does it mean to be given this life? How will we honor this most precious gift?

If we die with Christ, we are resurrected with Christ. How will we honor this most precious truth?

Descent

Leave a reply
Descent Into Hell

What happens to us when we are swallowed by the darkness, with no escape because it is an inner state more than an outer circumstance? What do we do when nothing we do will change a damn thing? We wait, in hope or despair.

Holy Saturday is this waiting, but it isn’t an idle waiting. Something is happening – we just don’t know it yet.

The creeds speak of Jesus descending into hell – the place of waiting for those who died before he walked the earth, incarnate human. He descended, not to condemn, but to free.

If we trust that death itself cannot separate us from God-With-Us, we just may find ourselves not in a dreadful darkness, but in the hope-filled shadow where resurrection comes.

[About this Icon: The Descent Into Hell is a Russian icon from the school of Novgorod. It was written in the later fifteenth century. This picture is from Maria Giovanna Muzj’s Transfiguration: Introduction to the Contemplation of Icons; Boston, MA: St. Paul’s Books & Media, 1991, p. 139]

Darkness Overcomes?

Leave a reply
Prepare the Way

The parade has long since passed by, the passover dinner just a memory. The betraying kiss and the cowardly abandonment are released in an extraordinary forgiveness. All that’s left is to endure the pain until death comes. Giving back this life so others might also live is the last act. Into the darkness that must overcome he goes.

Holy Week Starts With A Parade

Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Mark 11:9b

Public figures become popular, and some become famous. People flock to see them, to be in the presence of someone who seems to have the power to make everything better in some way. Such charisma can be used to change the world in amazing ways, correcting injustices (Gandhi) or showing a way to greater holiness (Mother Teresa).

But what happens when a leader doesn’t fulfill all the projected hopes and dreams of the people who follow them? Or worse, if the hopes and dreams of discounted and disparaged others are fulfilled? Parade goers can turn into an angry mob in a heartbeat.

When a leader pushes us to dream bigger, holier dreams at the expense of our smaller ones, we have a choice to make: do we expand our horizons and our aspirations or do we attack the one who pointed out their limitations?

We know what happened to Jesus. We know prophets are often killed for their efforts. In light of that, it’s not such a bad idea to ask ourselves this question:

What would we do to the ones who come to us in the name of the Lord?

Leave a reply

Indeed, the body does not consist of one member, but of many. If the foot would say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear would say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. I Cor12:14-16, NRSV

Paul isn’t speaking to the ones who value their gifts over the gifts of others here; he’s talking to the ones who think so little of their own gifts that they don’t feel they are part of the group, much less necessary members.

On my more judgmental days, it seems that the faith community is made up almost entirely of those who devalue others and those who devalue themselves. The whole community suffers because the many wonderful, holy gifts of the Spirit are hidden away for fear they aren’t acceptable. On my more clear-sighted days, it’s a different story. All it really takes is a nudge, a prayer, and a sense of humor to get someone to offer their gifts. Once that happens, others jump in.

It’s a lot like a party with a buffet: no one wants to be the first, but everyone gets in line as soon as someone is brave enough to grab a plate.