Gifts and Justice

                For the next several months we will ask members to review and evaluate their gifts within the context of the needs of this congregation and community.  One part of this evaluation is about what our gifts as individuals are.  The other part of this assessment is about the needs within the congregation. 

                It is important to know where our gifts and “passions” for service lie.  God does not ask people to do things for which they have no gifts or skills.  It is very important for all persons to assess themselves so that we (with the help of others) know where our skills and passions lie.  We “do justice” when we see the world through God’s eyes and ask for the gifts, the energy, the power, and the will to respond to these needs.  We often get caught up in thinking like our culture—that our gifts are given to us for our pleasure and delight and are meant to enhance our status, our power, and our situation.  My gift of music, of business sense, or teaching, or of technological savvy is seen as something that I delight in and that enhances my own circumstances.

                It is easy, therefore, to use the excuse that “I don’t have the gift or the passion to do that.”  When we ask people to serve on a Commission or when we invite people to volunteer to help with other congregational activities, we often hear, “I do not have the ‘gift’ or ‘passion’ to do that.”  Remember this—God gives gifts to meet the needs of our congregation and community.  Are you ready to ask for those gifts?  We often avoid asking for the necessary gift.  We refuse to open ourselves to what God could do with us.  We as individuals evacuate the space in the laboratory of God’s grace, refusing to consider what God might have in store for us.

                Notice the needs in this congregation; ask God to give to us individually the gifts that are necessary for us to meet those needs.  I believe that God is generous in giving the gifts that are needed to meet the needs of the church and the world.  Sometimes we may be sure that we have neither the gift nor the passion to do a job that needs to be done.  When I pray to God to provide the gifts to meet the challenge, God may unexpectedly provide me with the capability and desire to do what is needed by God and by the people with whom I live.  The gifts that God gives to God’s people are not only inherent, “born-with” abilities, but God also gives new gifts that we never dreamed we had, so that God’s desires and purposes can be fulfilled.  We need to make this our prayer:

                God, give me the gifts that you provide so that I may assist in bringing about your will here on earth.  Use me, Lord, so that I may receive these gifts and may serve you with joy meeting the needs that I see.                                          

                                                                                                --Ron Guengerich