Thoughts about Spiritual Gifts + Bonus Feature

Musing about Spiritual Gifts

The pastor's message at Nathan & Laura's church on SUN 9/6, was  based on this text from Ephesians 4:11-16:  Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church:  the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, & the pastors & teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God's people to do his work & build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith & knowledge of God's Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full & complete standard of Christ.

• Some of you, like me, have probably taken spiritual gift inventories. It's been a long time since I've taken one, probably not since the late 1980s, maybe early 1990s.
• The results were always consistent. My spiritual gift always tested out as "leadership."
• Of course, "leadership" isn't included in this list. You'll find the gift of "leadership" in Romans chapter 12. [Another list of spiritual gifs is found in 1 Corinthians chapter 12.]
• That pleased me, because I fancied myself a leader. Ironically, although I had been a Lutheran educator for many years & continued in the field of Lutheran education up until my "sabbatical" began in November, 2014, I never tested strongly in the area of "teaching."
• From the time I tested strongly in the area of "leadership," I began praying & continued praying that the Lord would enable me to use my spiritual gift of leadership to "equip God's people . . . to build up the church."
• Insight #1:  Did I really have this spiritual gift? It may have been a self-fulfilling prophecy & it may have been ego-driven, since I have long known that I have a need for recognition. In hindsight, my prayer re:  the gift of leadership may have been prideful & somewhat shallow. However, praying that the Lord would enable each of us to use our spiritual gift(s) to equip the saints & build up the church, the body of Christ? I think that continues to be a godly prayer for all of us. I really don't know that we need to pray more specifically than that.

Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won't be tossed & blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more & more like Christ, who is the head of His body, the church. He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy & growing & full of love.

• Insight #2:  The nature of a spiritual gift is all about being blessed in order to be a blessing to others. I suspect that not many are given this spiritual gift, because in our human frailty it is all too easy for those in positions of leadership to fall prey to many temptations. Being recognized as a leader is nice. Getting to "call the shots" is nice. Being compensated for being in the position of a leader? That's pretty nice, too.
• Ultimately, when we are all using our spiritual gifts--"each part (doing) its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy & growing & full of love."
• Insight #3:  It is not necessary for each of us to know our spiritual gifts. In fact, Is it possible that maybe the majority of Christians are using their spiritual gifts oblivious of the exact nature of their gifts? The Spirit is certainly more than capable of steering us into those roles of ministry best suited for our spiritual gifts.
• Insight #4:  My conclusion, based on my recent experience, is that the best prayer may be something along the lines of "Lord, bless me that I may use my spiritual gift(s) for the building up & equipping of Your people. May this be done according to Your will, not mine, to Your glory & for the good of those You've called me to serve."

So, now that I am not in a formal, called position of leadership within the corporate Church, what does that say about my presumed spiritual gift of leadership? The spiritual gift that perhaps I've never even possessed? Is there another spiritual gift that the Lord has been employing through me--one that I haven't even been aware of?

I think maybe next time I'm going to explore the idea of "teaching" as a spiritual gift.

Miscellaneous Bonus Feature

Excerpts from Norfolk Daily News (5/29--I'm done including apologies for dated references, by the way):  "Man sues ex for half of $1M lottery prize. "A Florida man is still trying to get half of his ex-girlfriend's $1 million lottery prize, 8 years after he says she took the winning ticket & left him. He says she reneged on a long-ago promise that they'd split any winnings if either of them hit it big. On Thursday, the FL Supreme Court agreed that if they were still romantically involved, any spoken agreement made years earlier was still valid. Now a jury will have to decide if a pact was ever made & if the couple was still an item when Lynn Poirier's lucky number was drawn.
      "Howard Browning said he & Poirier agreed in 1993 to share any lottery money they might win. They loved playing the lottery, sometime driving out of state to buy Powerball tickets when the jackpot grew big enough, according to his lawyer . . . 'He thought to himself, 'She must have won & she split,''Sheppard said. "A while later she shows up in a brand new car & tells him to get out.'
      "The couple had lived together since 1991." [I debated about saving this & commenting on it, because it's really not funny & probably can't help but sound self-righteous, but I'll comment anyway & take my chances. See, there seems to be something missing in too many cases where a couple chooses to live together before or instead of getting married. It's called, for want of a  better term, commitment?! Is it possible she liked playing Powerball & winning big more than playing house? I'm just sayin'.]

Also from NDN (9/1):  "Facebook frenzy. Egyptians in a Nile Delta province are outraged after a cleric allegedly changed a line in the traditional Islamic call to dawn prayers to mention Facebook. Instead of saying 'prayer is better than sleep' twice, as he was supposed to, Shiekh Mahmoud Maghazi of Beheira province allegedly said: 'Prayer is better than Facebook.' [Emphasis added.] The issue drew nationwide attention when he defended himself against shouted accusations on one of Egypt's most-watched television talk shows . . . on Sunday." [I take little joy if any from this news item. First, it would seem somewhat self-righteous. Second, my mom, a church organist, recalled that when the Lutheran Church switched from the green(?) hymnal, which only printed words, to TLH, * there was a great outcry among many of the faithful. Including the musical arrangements was an ungodly distraction, was how she recalled it.]
* She recalled this may have been in the 1930s?!

Also from NDN (9/1):  "Not alone. A Benedictine monk who works at a private Rhode Island school has discovered that finding solitude is no easy feat, even 175 ft in the air. Brother Joseph Byron was recently relaxing atop the Portsmouth Abbey School's wind turbine--as he often does--when a drone zoomed in. Video taken by the drone, owned by a Californian on vacation, shows Byron sprawled across the turbine's flat surface, with views of Narragansett Bay in the background . . . Byron said he climbs the turbine, which was installed in 2006, because he enjoys the view. He found the drone interesting at first but was annoyed after it zoomed by a second time, he said. [God works in mysterious ways. For Luther, it was a thunder & lightning storm.]