January 17, 2016 Human Relations?

January 17, 2016 Human Relations? Isaiah 62.1-5, * I Corinthians 12.1-11 “Human Relations?” Pastor Jacqueline Hines

The U.S. postal service has been talking about decreasing their deliveries during the week. They might eliminate Saturday deliveries. We are on the edge of our seats waiting to hear the news because we look forward to going to the mailbox. Mail keeps alive the possibilities of good news and pleasant surprises. 

The church at Corinth was happy to get mail from the Apostle Paul. We read that same letter today. 

Of all churches, the church in Corinth needed good news because they ministered in a city that was not especially known for its holiness. Corinth was a place where God’s talents were used, but not necessarily used to glorify God.

Tony Campolo professor at Eastern University is famous for telling the story of his confronting a bunch of thieves. He straight up asked them why they simply do not get a REAL job. They explained that robbing people WAS a real job. They had to sneak around and spy out opportunities. They had to break in homes with crow bars and jump over fences in order to avoid being caught. All of that was hard work.

All of us have gifts. They are given that all God’s children can be blessed, that the church can be strong, that God can be glorified, at least to those who acknowledge God as the creator and giver of every good and perfect gift. Using our gifts encourages us to treat one another as human beings worthy of love and respect rather than as anything less.

When we use our gifts for God’s sake, we see the wonders of God. When we use our gifts for God’s sake, we can have loving conversations about hard topics like poverty and about human sexuality.

Our conversations are creative and life-giving. With conversation and cooperation, we understand how to share and how to care and we understand how to partner and to produce. Our understanding of God’s will, of course, is always evolving, always developing and becoming more mature as we get to know God and as we get to know one another. 

When we use our gifts we apply them to the problem of poverty and the powers of Governments to care for their own people while at the same time knowing that no country is an island and if we do not work together as united nations, we are all at risk.

Recently there was a court proceeding involving Philadelphia police. They hired a former CIA agent who began to spy on Muslims in the community and there were charges of discrimination. The lawsuit was initiated with the question, “Why should anyone be spied on just because they are Muslim?”

Yes, our fears are justified, for those who instill fear in us are homemade as well as foreign born. As long as God creates a church and gives some the gift of courage, we will always find our way to freedom from our fears, but “just say no” cannot be the answer to every situation.

How wonderful it is to be a part of a connectional church where we find God’s people everywhere in the military, in the white house, in the Middle East, and in the belly of the beast, working to do God’s good for the sake of us all.

God’s church has a unique job of spreading good news and good examples  of a holy and righteous God and making disciples. Even a powerful government with a mighty army does not have all the answers or all the power; God calls the CHURCH to lead the way, to be the example and to use our extraordinary and powerful gifts in order to beautify and purify this wicked world.

In the midst of the same challenges we face, Paul writes to the church in Corinth, “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the COMMON GOOD.” 

In verse 8 Paul tells us that to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of  Wisdom knows what to do and when to do it. In the church, the church has the wisdom of a Supreme Court.

And to another the utterance of knowledge. At times God reveals information that we cannot get from any other source. The information may come through dreams or pressing thoughts that provide insight into the reasons for a situation or something that may occur in the future, or an important choice that we need to make even when we do not understand the purpose. In the church, God gives us the knowledge of a central intelligence agency.

We have the gifts of faith that Paul talks about, for God has given us dreams that are so big they can only be fulfilled divinely. 

The gift of healing is a part of the Church and it is a part of our life at Bethel. We experience healing through the soft, gentle, caring ways we speak and live and serve and converse, and study together. We experience healing when we pray and support others for good anywhere, anytime. We experience healing for every dollar of missions we give, for every soup kitchen we serve in, for every blanket made by Edith, Mary and Gracie, for every reward and certificate we earn for reading an inspiring book about extraordinary human beings.

God has healing everywhere for our minds, our bodies, our souls. Just as every day our bodies create new and healthier cells, we know that God’s healing happens constantly in every area of our lives. Healing does not make the body of Christ perfect. God’s healing matters. The bottom line is that love heals. The more love, the more the healing.  

God’s gifts among us are too numerous to count, and we need to share what God has given us. Paul talks about other gifts like the ability to perform miracles – that is beating the odds of nature, to discern different spirits like the difference between good and evil – to see when a coach is a convict or a performer is a perpetrator. God gives us gifts to speak in tongues and to interpret languages.

At times we may focus on the gifts, thinking that gifts suggest God values one gifted human being more than a human being with other gifts, or that our gifts imply that we are more holier than thou. Neither turns out to be true, biblically or in my experience. God gives us gifts to help us help one another to relate to each other as if we are all human.

Staying busy using our gifts and experiencing God’s wonders as we work, leaves us very little energy and time to shun somebody because they have had a certain surgery. Surrendering our gifts to the work of the Holy Spirt makes us unwilling to threaten each other’s live because we do not agree with whom we marry.

We may agree on only one of 1000 different issues but if our arms are wide open to one another, our caring for one another will create an atmosphere where miracles are manifested, where wisdom is plentiful, healing happens, where someone in the circle can discern the heart of the matter, and someone will be bold enough to prophecy what thus saith the Lord, and others have faith to dream big dreams, and someone might get so excited they bow down before the Lord and learn Japanese while another interprets and yet another gets so tongue tied with the joy of the lord that  they start to speak in ways that can only be understood by those who care.

I like that, so I will say it again. We may agree on only one of 1000 issues, but if our arms are wide open to one another, our caring for one another will create an atmosphere where miracles are manifested, where wisdom is plentiful, healing happens, where someone in the circle can discern the heart of the matter, and someone will be bold enough to prophecy what thus saith the Lord, and others have faith to dream big dreams, and someone might get so excited they bow down before the Lord and learn Japanese while another interprets and yet another gets so tongue tied with the joy of the lord that  they start to speak in ways that can only be understood by those who care. May it be so today at Bethel and every church who call themselves children of God. Amen.