Manifestations of the Spirit

Part of a previous job was to visit different faith communities to facilitate opportunities to speak about their sense of mission. It was always fascinating to see how Christ was alive and acting in and through them for the common good.

I appreciated today’s 2nd scripture reading at church. It connected spiritual gifts and the common good. In my upbringing the concept of the “gifts of the Holy Spirit” given to Christians was mostly to be used in the spiritual life and within the church, but today’s ESV Bible translation made me realize that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are meant to go beyond church walls:

“To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 

To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, 

and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 

to another faith by the same Spirit, 

to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 

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.“ (1 Corinthians 12.1-11)

I loved: “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.”   Our gifts are for the benefits of others.  Cormac Russell, one of the gurus of Asset Based Community Development said: “a gift is not a gift until it is given, and it is not a gift until it is received.”  Pope Francis also says that our gifts are like the fruits of a tree, they are meant to nurture others, not ourselves.  So the manifestations of the Holy Spirit through the personal gifts of people are for the common good and for the healing of the nations.

One of my joys is to help people identify and manifest their gifts. I've done that through volunteer recruitment and deployment over many years in my career. I love when I can sit back and see people I care about shine on the stage, literally and figuratively. That joy took a deeper understanding today: by helping people to identify and to manifest their gits I am helping the Holy Spirit to be manifested on earth (not just in the church) for the common good. How exciting!  Thanks Denise Boulanger from Grace Anglican Church for facilitating this connection through your sermon at St. John Devine Anglican Church Quesnel. 

I also "loved" the song pointing out that God paints outside the lines.