PRAYER

Gracious God, the giver of gifts, we celebrate Your creativity in designing Your people to have strengths that help the Holy communion function as a healthy body. Rise up Your church and those within to use their talents and treasures to bring Your Kingdom here on Earth.

READING

1 Corinthians 12: 1-11

12 Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. ² You know that when you were pagans,somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols.³ Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.

⁴ There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. ⁵ There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.⁶ There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.

⁷ Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. ⁸ To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, ⁹ to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, ¹⁰ to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues,^[a] and to still another the interpretation of tongues. ¹¹ All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.

REFLECTION

Teaching, administration and encouragement. These are my Spiritual gifts. I didn't know these were my gifts until I did a couple studies on Spiritual Gifts and became more attentive to what areas of serving I was drawn to and felt energized by. Hospitality is not one of my gifts so when I plan a church event that involves cooking & serving food, I feel much more stressed. I make sure to ask parishioners who have this gift, to help out with the event. Working together, using our Spiritual gifts allows for the church to function well.

Have you ever bought someone the perfect gift only to have them place it on the shelf and never use it? I was once given a boardgame that I had no clue how to play. After a few weeks, I decided to give it a try and read the instructions. I was so confused. Next, I YouTubed an instruction video and watched it a few times. I finally felt better about the game and my family played it for four hours straight on the first go. We loved it! We just had to learn how to use the gift and then fully enjoyed using it. This is very similar to Spiritual gifts. God has gifted you a talent that is beneficial to the church. First, you must figure out what your gifts are. Second you need to learn how to use them and thirdly, use them! If you need help figuring this all out, talk to your youth pastor or clergy to guide you in finding out your Spiritual gifts. There are online tests which give you a general understanding but if you want to go deeper, there are books and courses to take.

LENT CHECK IN

If you are interested, learn more about what the Spiritual Gifts are Full Definitions & Descriptions of Spiritual Gifts

Try taking this quiz to get an idea of what your Spiritual Gifts might be: Spiritual Gifts Test