GOD has so arranged the body, giving the greater honour to the inferior member, that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. Jew, Greek, slave, free...these characteristics have been given by God for the purposes of arranging the body. But they do not preclude us from striving for the greater gifts. And by greater gifts, Paul does not mean the gifts that are more important, because all member's gifts are important. By greater gifts, Paul means the gifts that God gives out less frequently, the rarer gifts – the gift that maybe our community does not yet know it has – that is the gift to strive for. And as a church, our role is to encourage people to discover and to strive for those gifts, and to find where in the community those gifts are most helpful to Jesus in building up the kingdom.
We have the opportunity as a church, to be an example to the society around us of the benefits of IGNORING visible characteristics. As you will see at our AGM after this service, the Right Honorable Mr. Trudeau would be upset with the preponderance of European roots in our choices for church council. And he, or our national church office, might have words to say about how similar they are in skin colour. And from my perspective, they all seem a bit short for the job. But what is IMPORTANT – the diversity that MATTERS – is the different GIFTS they bring. We have people on council who are good with numbers. We have people on council who are good with people. We have people on council who are good with children, with seniors, with money, with planning, with execution, with discernment, with prayer, with maintenance, with innovation. We think we will have people on council and in the congregation who will enable this miniature body of Christ known as Central Lutheran Church to operate at a high level for the kingdom. But it's possible we might be missing something on council. Maybe YOU have one of the greater gifts, the rarer gifts, and maybe YOU are willing to explore developing it as part of our church council. We have openings for a TASTE of council, a 2-year term and even a 1-year term available to be filled. And nobody here is going to have a problem, if you nominate yourself!
Gracious God, help us to use the gifts you have given us in your service, and help us to develop the gifts you want us to use next. Guide us to value and encourage the gifts in everyone, in Jesus name, amen.