Week 6 | The Great Communion | Pre-Conference Devotionals
I was raised in a conservative, Assemblies of God community whose value for spiritual gifts–speaking in tongues, prophesy, etc.–was not lost on me. I watched my grandmother speak in tongues while praying for my sister preceding her brain surgery, and the disruptive blend of discomfort and interest has never left my memory.
As a child, I would watch the elders in my faith community speak a “word of knowledge” (a form of prophecy) over members of the congregation; I watched people crumble to the floor as the pastor prayed over them; I witnessed hours of continuous corporate worship wherein the expectation was a supernatural experience of God’s presence in some form.
I did not, however, experience any of these things for myself. As much as I yearned to shout in an unfamiliar language or fall on the old church carpet while an elder placed a blanket over me, it never happened. I was always an observer trying to understand what I was watching.
More often than not, the spiritual gifts my tradition celebrated were fairly obvious “manifestations” of God’s presence in the world, supernatural exceptions to the norm that were believed to be evidence of Divine intervention. I always longed to be a conduit of these experiences, and while they were never tied as essential to salvation, they were nonetheless important markers of a conversion experience. The other spiritual gifts like hospitality, wisdom, encouragement, and even the less future-focused prophesy were less celebrated.
In his letter to the Church in Corinth, Paul takes a moment to describe spiritual gifts, both their nature and indiscriminate distribution. Describing their purposes, he writes, “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” (I Corinthians 12:7) Most translations utilize the phrase “common good” or something to the effect of helping others, and the message is fairly clear: When we practice our individual spiritual gifts, all of us benefit. They don’t exist in isolation, and we do not each possess every distinct gift, but when we apply our unique expressions of the Spirit, we are working towards the good of our neighbor.
While encouragement of oneself is certainly possible, what good is a word of encouragement if it’s not being shared? What good is hospitality if it’s only directed towards yourself? Even the charism of tongues is intended for community expression and interpretation.
The Spirit didn’t give us our unique gifts solely for our individual good–they exist for the common good, and it is incumbent on us to share them. Likewise, we should never be jealous of another’s gifts, instead celebrating our differences as they lift each other up. Paul urges the Church to remember that it is “the same God who activates” each gift (I Corinthians 12:6), and as we participate in the Church through the sharing of our gifts, we uplift the common good.
Our unity is not in our same-ness, but the ways in which our differences point to the diversity and richness of God. That unity demands sharing, vulnerability, boundaries, and humility.
My sexuality, while not listed as a spiritual gift in the Pauline epistles, is a fundamental and essential element of my humanity. By it and through it, I see the world and myself, and I have learned to celebrate it as God’s gift to me as well as to the world. When I allow my identity to inform my spiritual gifts, I bear God’s image as the light and love of Christ. However you identify, you are a living, breathing gift of God in a world that has long tried to paint LGBTQ+ identities as curses.
When I see my whole self as God’s generous gift, loved and celebrated by the Divine, I pursue the common good. When you cultivate your gifts as God’s beloved child without precondition or repression, you promote the common good. In our own unique ways, with our own unique gifts, we affirm our collective benefit in pursuit of relational justice. May our differences uplift one another, the Love of God, and empower us to share in the common and creative good.
Did you grow up with any understanding of spiritual gifts? If so, what was it? How has it changed as you’ve grown?
What gifts of the Spirit do you see in yourself? Read I Corinthians 12:1-11 and Ephesians 4:11-13 for context.
How does your identity inform your gifts?
How can you cultivate God’s great communion with your unique perspective, identity, and gifts?
