Spiritual Gifts

1 Corinthians 12:1-11
12:1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed.

12:2 You know that when you were pagans, you were enticed and led astray to idols that could not speak.

12:3 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.

12:4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit;

12:5 and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord;

12:6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone.

12:7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

12:8 To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit,

12:9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit,

12:10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.

12:11 All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.

We all have different spiritual gifts.

Not everyone is a glowing extrovert who is burning with desire to go door-to-door to extoll the virtues of conversion.   Not many of us want to grab a street corner and start shouting.

Introverts can serve the mission of Christ as well.

It is not in what you shout, but what you practice, the shining light of your own life, however imperfect, as it struggles every day to do better, to do the right thing for as many people as possible.

It lies in becoming the hands and feet of Christ, of using your gifts to help, in whatever small way, to bring the Kingdom of Heaven closer to Earth.

For my parish, it is in the lunches we fix for impoverished school church, the meals we prepare for those waiting in line for charity from another group.

It is in the bicycles we refurbish and distribute to those in dire need of transportation so they can go to work or the grocery store.

It is in our visits to prison, hospitals, and nursing homes - not to proselytize or intimidate, but to spread love, hope, kindness, and giving.

It is in all the individual things that each one of our parish members does outside the church - caring for animals and animal shelters, supporting food pantries and clothing centers with material and labor, building homes and repairing homes for those in need, fighting for causes that will make a better world for all of us.

And we use all our individual talents to do it -

- through song, raising the spirits within the sanctuary, and singing Carols to our shut-ins.

- through our church readings and prayers.

- through our writings and expressions of communal joy, and to urge the better treatment of our fellow man.

- through our skills at construction and repair, for our church building, and for those in need.

Through a myriad of talents as diverse as our congregation.

Spiritual talents abound, and every church community is more productive for that diversity.

Let all our spiritual talents shine.

Introvert and extrovert alike, and everything else in between.  There is room and need for all our gifts!