Gifts, Gifts, Gifts?
Sermon
Once Christmas is over, internet auction companies start to do quite a lot of business, as customers begin to trade in those unwanted Christmas presents and treat themselves to something they really do want.
And those who don't have access to the internet begin to recycle unwanted presents in other directions, such as jumble sales and raffle prizes.
I was particularly fortunate this last Christmas, in that I was delighted with every single present I received. And since they were almost all surprises, that's no mean feat. Especially welcome, as I'm trying to walk several miles a day on a regular basis, was the Foot Spa with its aromatic oils and its warm water massage!
It's so good to receive a gift which really meets your needs, especially when that gift is unexpected. Jesus' gift at the wedding at Cana, just a stone's throw from his home in Nazareth, was completely unexpected and met the needs of the recipient in an amazingly apt way. In fact, it helped the recipient out of a very deep hole, since to run out of wine at a wedding is a serious breach of social conduct.
On the other hand, running out of wine at a wedding isn't life-threatening. It may provoke unpleasantness and even social disgrace or ostracism, and it could perhaps have long-term effects in losing custom or losing credit, but it could hardly be classed as menacing life itself.
So why did Jesus bother to give such an over-the-top gift as changing hundreds of gallons of water into the finest quality wine? Perhaps because God is concerned with all aspects of our life and happiness, rather than just with our survival or just with our spirituality.
As St. Paul explained in those verses which were read this morning from the first letter to the Corinthians, God gives different gifts to all his people. Nobody is left out, and all the gifts given by God are not only good gifts, but are gifts perfectly suited to fill the needs of the recipient. So that in any community, all the gifts necessary for the well-being of that community will be found.
Of course, not everybody uses their gifts for the well-being of the community, and not everybody develops their gifts as they should be developed. And sometimes communities close their gates to some people, because in some way or another those people don't fit in and are unacceptable to the community. Perhaps they don't speak the language, or perhaps they embrace a different culture, and the community reacts with suspicion and hostility. So some communities may struggle, bemoaning the lack of people able to support the needs of the community, when actually they need to open their gates or encourage folk more.
God's gifts aren't necessarily what you might expect. For instance, the gift of humour is extremely important in any community, as are the gifts of reliability and getting on well with other people.
Some people have a knack with figures, other people have a knack with words. Some people are good with children, others have endless patience with the very elderly. There are those who can tackle authority to seek out grants and put wrong things right, and those who are good at sitting on boards and committees and making decisions.
Some people are good with their hands, some are good with their heads, some are good with their voices, and some are good with their hearts. Everyone is given some gift, and usually more than one.
When Jesus was born as a tiny baby that first Christmas, his life stretched before him as an untouched and unblemished sheet, as it does for any baby. Within a baby is unlimited potential. He or she could become or do anything. Jesus could have developed in many different ways. He might have become a master carpenter, or perhaps a conventional rabbi, or maybe an orator. Or perhaps an athlete or an artist or a husband and a father.
He became the saviour of the world because of the way in which he developed, because development is the key to using gifts from God.
We're all given remarkable gifts from God, but we're given them in embryo. God gives us potential gifts, and we have to choose to develop those gifts. Talents that are buried in the ground, or that remain in embryonic form, never amount to very much.
If it's to be a healthy community, the Church needs every variety of gift. As today's reading said, all varieties of gifts, services and activities are given by the same God. And happily, that God is able to take water and turn it into wine, so none of us need worry that our gifts aren't good enough for the Church or for God.
As Christians, all we have to do is to offer our gifts back to God for his touch, so that he can turn them from water into wine. And as we do that, we'll discover some surprises.
We'll find that he's given us spiritual gifts as well, and that they develop within us without our doing anything but keeping in contact with him.
As St Paul said: to one is given the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge, to another faith, to another gifts of healing, 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.
And he adds: one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses, activates all these. But they're given to each for the common good. And nobody is given the whole lot. We're all given a part to play.
This year, let's avoid a spiritual jumble sale or a spiritual raffle to recycle God's gifts because they're unwanted. Let's embrace them and develop them and spend this year working with God.
