HELLO!

Pentecost is typically associated with the gift of the Holy Spirit, how it comes to the church, animates God’s presence. But’s it’s also about love.  Love for God, love of self, love of one’s own individuality, but also love of each other’s individuality and love for the entire community. In today’s Bible Reading, 1 Corinthians 12:4-13, the Apostle Paul writes a letter to a church in Corinth he helped to start around 50 CE. It’s a very diverse church, with many people from different religious and cultural backgrounds, including both very rich and very poor people, all trying to worship together. Paul is writing them because they have written him a letter asking for help resolving conflicts among the church members.

One of the conflicts is about whether those who speak in tongues are spiritually superior to those who don’t speak in tongues. Speaking “in tongues” means speaking in an unknown language about God or Jesus.  The person speaking in tongues is moved to say words no one understands but which they believe have meaning. The problem in Corinth was not some people spoke in tongues but that those who did speak in tongues thought they were superior to those who did not. In response Paul gives them a lovely tutorial on the Spirit, what it should mean to their church. First, the Spirit moves people to proclaim Jesus as Lord. Second, the Spirit is the source of all gifts in the church, of which there are many varieties. Paul lists just a few: wisdom and the speaking of knowledge, healing, working of powerful deeds, prophecy, discernment of spirits, and speaking in tongues and the interpretation of tongues.  Paul asks the Corinthians to understand all spiritual gifts come from a single source — the Spirit — yet diversity is the norm when it comes to talents, activities, and interests. Third, the gifts, like the people to whom they are given are equal, equally important, and given for equal purposes. They are also given for what Paul calls the common good or the edification of all. 

I attended a webinar entitled “Rethinking What God Calls Volunteers to Do.” The speaker said that churches fail, not because they run out of money, but because they run out of volunteers. A church of 10 people can thrive if each member is willing to volunteer for the necessary tasks.

So why don’t church members, living out God’s vision, gifted by the Spirit, volunteer? Here are some reasons. Being asked to volunteer for something one is not good at tops the list of why people don’t volunteer for certain roles. The volunteer role involves too many responsibilities. Sometimes these volunteer positions need to be broken into smaller jobs or shorter time commitments so those who take them on are not burned out. The volunteer work happens at the wrong time: it can be discouraging for volunteers, especially if they are still in the workforce, to be asked to take on tasks that involve activities on weekday evenings when they have just gotten home. The volunteer work is not organized: it can be discouraging to arrive at an event and find little instruction or assistance in what one should be doing. And lastly: No one appreciates or thanks the volunteer. To not be acknowledged or thanked for our gift of time and talent can discourage us from continuing to volunteer.

Pentecost is about love, the kind of love that proves itself more in action than in feeling. Love yourself and your own spiritual gifts. Never let others discourage you from manifesting what the Spirit has given you personally. Love one another, remembering that love is the foundation that will hold us together as a church, as a community, and as the body of Christ. Finally, love God, volunteer for Jesus, and give thanks to the Holy Spirit who unifies us in our diversity and makes us a church. Peace, Kevin