January 16, 2022
St. John’s United Church of Christ, Union, Illinois
1 Corinthians 12:1-11; John 2:1-11[1]
“So, what do you do?” That is the question that often begins
a conversation with someone new. What we usually mean by that is “What do you
do for a living?” or “How do you make money?” or “What little box can I put you
in?”
That question can sometimes give a good impression of who a
person is, at least on the surface. But it usually doesn’t go deeper than that.
What do I do? I’m a minister. Right there we have a potential problem, because
what you think a minister is and does may bear little resemblance to what I
actually do. There is the can of worms of explaining what the United Church of
Christ is, and how we compare with whatever expression of Christianity you have
previous experience with. Questions come up, like how I can be a “priest” and
be married with kids, etc. But even if we get through all that, you have really
only scratched the surface of who I am.
I asked a different opening question once. “What would you
be doing if you could do anything?” And the first person to whom I posed this
question startled me with her answer. “What I do right now. I’m an
archaeologist. I am helping to excavate ruins in Mexico.” Wow, right? She
didn’t even have to think about it.
Maybe we should ask “What are you good at?” Except there we
run into problems too, because most of us don’t consider ourselves to be very
good at much of anything, at least not anything important. The thing is there
are many things that we are good at, many talents that we have that may seem
unimportant to the big, bad, hyper-competitive, over-glamorized world out
there; yet, they are vitally important to the person who is standing in front
of me, or sitting across the table from me.
I’m good at listening, and helping people know that they are
loved and that they are not alone in their struggles. I have a talent for
taking the ancient scriptures and making them relevant to people today. I can
play guitar and sing a song that will transport you to another time and place.
I have a talent for making computers and machines do my bidding.
“Now there are varieties of gifts… services… activities, but
it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone” (1 Cor. 12: 4-6).
Each of us is touched by the Spirit of God who knows us in the depths of our
being, who gives us our talents, our gifts, and nurtures our abilities. We are
disciples of the one who said to the fishermen, “Follow me and I will make you
fish for people” (Mk. 1:17).
We have each been given gifts from God, talents and skills
that we can use to help one another and to shape this world into something
better. Perhaps you have a talent for building things. There is someone who
needs you who has lost their home to a tornado, who needs a wheelchair ramp
added to their deck, or who needs a new bookshelf for the family room. Perhaps
you have a talent for caring for people who are sick. There are certainly plenty
of people who need you, right now, if that is your gift. Perhaps you have the
ability to empathize with those in prison. Perhaps you are able to listen
without judgment, keep a confidence, and be the kind of companion that a person
in crisis needs.
We are part of the Body of Christ, members of the household
of God. We are all in this together – our friends, our neighbors, our
classmates, our co-workers, and even our enemies, our homeless and hungry fellow
humans, and all the living beings that cover the face of the globe. “To each is
given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good” (1 Cor. 12:7). Our
talents may not bring us fame and fortune, but they can help bring the members
of God’s household closer into the community and closer in relationship with
God.
As John’s gospel tells the story, Jesus hadn’t really done
much before that wedding in Cana. Yet there he was at this wedding with his
mother. She notices that the host is out of wine. This is a big problem. When
the wine runs out, the guests leave, and that will embarrass the host family,
possibly making them an object of ridicule in the town. Mary has a talent for
recognizing a crisis of social credit, and, knowing Jesus has some special
abilities, asks him to save the day.
Mary of Bethany, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, had a
talent for extravagant expressions of love. They were having dinner at her home,
shortly after Lazarus had been raised from the dead. I imagine there was
conversation around the table that night about death. They knew the chief
priests and Pharisees planned to put Jesus to death, and that they were looking
for him. The writing was on the wall, and Mary knew that her time with the Lord
was running short. So, in an extravagant act of love and devotion, she anointed
the feet of Jesus.
Jonas Salk had a talent for chemistry. In 1953 he invented
and tested a vaccine for poliomyelitis, the virus which had killed 3,000 Americans
the year before. Out of an abundance of generosity, Salk never patented the
vaccine or earned any money from his discovery, preferring it be distributed as
widely as possible.
Martin Luther King, Jr. had a talent for organizing people. As
one of the leaders of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, King
organized events and marches to bring attention to the disenfranchisement of
African-Americans in places like Selma, Alabama. In Selma and other southern
towns, black folk were intimidated, harassed, and assaulted when they sought to
register to vote. The Civil Rights movement brought national attention to the
issue, resulting in the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
A friend of mine, Kate Murphy, has a talent for teaching.
For twenty years at Smoky Hill High School in Aurora, Colorado, she has taught
English. The characters of Shakespeare came alive, the poetry of Angelou
illuminated young minds, and the novels of Steinbeck, Salinger, and Hawthorn
challenged her students to think and write their best. Mostly, though, Kate has
a real talent for caring, and her students know that she is rooting for them,
dreaming big dreams for them, and sending them out into the world prepared and
ready.
As the disciples matured, they were given power and
authority, and sent out. But their new talents didn’t suddenly turn them into
Jesus. They sometimes failed to cast out demons, and couldn’t always heal the
sick. But when they remembered that they were given their talents for a reason,
to do what God was calling them to do, they had much more success.
What made them, and makes us, capable of doing what God is
calling us to do is found in Paul’s letter, “All these are activated by one and
the same Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:11), the Spirit of God which is manifest in us for
the common good. We have talents and abilities in abundance, given to us by
God’s Holy Spirit, to help one another, to heal each other’s wounds, and to
keep hope alive in the hearts of those who walk in shadows.
We are many light-beams reflecting the light of Jesus to the
world. We are branches of the one tree, reaching out to offer our gifts, our
talents, and our love in service to God’s people. What do you do? You use your
spiritual gifts for the common good. What are you good at? You are good at
being the body of Christ in the world.
Amen.
[1] The
scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard
Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of
the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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