Emphasis Preaching Journal

A pastor received word that Phyllis had died. She was a member of a church he had served early in his career and had been his daughter's first Sunday school teacher. She was tall and skinny, and not in the best of health, but she was alive with God. She was a pillar of the church, a woman of great gifts and graces who used to say that the secret of her energy and enthusiasm was the Spirit of God that lived in her. As the pastor wrote a condolence note to Phyllis' husband, he reflected on the way the Spirit of God had dwelled in Phyllis.

"Your beautiful wife had been given many gifts from God," wrote the pastor, "and she used them well. She was a great teacher, listener, a creative problem-solver, generous in all things, and possessing a wickedly funny sense of humor. She touched my life as she lived hers, always confident in the work God was accomplishing through her. I only wish I had told her these things when she was still living...."

The pastor missed his opportunity to tell Phyllis how he saw the Spirit at work in her, but there is a lesson in that. Christians can build each other up by identifying the gifts of the Spirit and show appreciation for the ways God works in others. As Paul reminds us, "To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good." No better greeting could apply in a worship service than to be able to turn to the person worshiping beside you and proclaim: "To you is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good!"