Many Gifts, One Spirit

Pentecost is a celebration of the “birthday of the church,” because it is the day when the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles, and gave them the ability to tell of God’s deeds of power in voices that everyone could understand. The church in the book of the Acts of the Apostles is sent forth by Jesus, and empowered by the Holy Spirit to go into all the world (in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth, Acts 1:8) to be witnesses. What does a witness do? A witness tells the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, about Jesus, and about the God we come to know through Jesus.

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. (1 Corinthians 12:4-7)

Pentecost day was a day of power and a day of unity, a day when many people were added to the number of those who followed the way of Jesus. The apostle Paul, writing to the church in Corinth, made an appeal for unity in the Spirit. Apparently the church was having some “diversity issues.” Corinthians came to the church with different ideas of how to be the church. There are varieties of gifts, Paul said, but it is the same Spirit who gives them for the common good.

The United Church of Christ is a diverse body, and so is our own particular congregation. We bring to church our varieties of experience and expectations of what it means to be the church. How can we use our varieties of gifts for the common good, so that we can be witnesses to the power of God in Brainerd, and Minnesota and to the ends of the earth?