Tis a gift to be simple, tis a gift to be free)
Tis a gift to come down where we ought to be
When we find ourselves in the place just right
Twill be in the valley of love and delight

This Shaker song is a beautiful expression of the hope of living in consonance, in alignment with ourselves and perhaps with some plan, some “right way” for us.

“In a place just right”

Do you believe that there is a place, one place, that, for you, is just right? Is there some calling, some need, some role that your gifts…and your life…make you uniquely suited for?

For a religious community that values the individual as highly as we do, these are, I think, important questions.

The Shakers have not thrived, if numbers are any measure, though there are still two Shaker communities in existence. The requirement of celibacy likely has not helped their growth curve.

Most of us probably think of them for their beautiful, simple furniture or their insistence on equal leadership roles for women and men.

But their spiritual life and practices centered on spiritual gifts…gifts from God. These “spirit gifts” or messages were portrayed in “spirit drawings” and expressed in exuberant, and individualized dancing in worship. Those dances were finally choreographed during the height of Shaker popularity in the mid 19th century.

In fact, some of the lyrics in the “Simple Gifts” song were probably instructions for the dance:

To turn, turn will be our delight
Til by turning, turning we come round right.

The turns made sure that each participant returned to their starting place…that place just right.

The language of turning, for a community concerned with spiritual gifts, however, suggests a different kind of turning. It raises the question of how we should turn and focus our lives, how we can know our gifts and use them well. The language of turning raises the question of purpose.

The topic for this sermon was given to me by the person who won the bid in last spring’s auction. Each year, I offer to preach “the sermon you need to hear.” This year as well…just saying…its auction time again.
Here is the question the winner of the sermon posed:

“How do you identify your spiritual gifts? And how can you discover your spiritual calling?”

Google “spiritual gifts” and you will get screen after screen of references from the Christian tradition. Almost all of them refer to the often quoted verses from St. Paul (1 Corinthians 12:4-10):

“There are different kinds of gifts, but the same spirit. …There are different kinds of service, but the same God.

To one there is given… the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge…. To another faith…, to another healing, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy,… to another speaking in…tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues.”

Speaking in tongues, healing, prophecy, miraculous powers…what a list.

St. Paul was writing to the Jesus community in Corinth in the first century…it wasn’t really a church yet. Worship practices hadn’t been settled. The community was still trying to figure out how it would be together…they were still sorting out their covenant, if you will.

They wrote to Paul for help because the spirit seemed to be moving in chaotic ways. Worship had become uncontrolled. The community had started to argue about whose gifts were more important, whose gifts brought them closer to the Spirit.

Paul was not a fan of chaos. So he wrote to say that all those gifts are good. But “chill out.” That is a liberal translation. Enjoy all the gifts, but each in moderation. All the gifts are necessary for the community.

The gifts are individual but they are for the community.

Sobonfu Some’, emissary of African spirituality, wrote eloquently about the role of individual gifts in community.

“The [strength of] community … is based on the fact that each person is invaluable and truly irreplaceable. (Doesn’t that sound like our theology? The inherent worth and dignity of every person?)

She continues: “Each person has a gift to give, a contribution to make to the whole. The kind of gift a person brings, the kind of being a person is, is very unique to him or her and is valued by the community. The community is constantly affirming each person…”

Remember our welcome of new members this morning?

We asked the new members to share their story here, their sorrows and their joys. We also asked them to join in the story of this congregation and to support our mission.

We ask them to share their particular gifts, as we share ours, in this particular community.

But back to that Google search for spiritual gifts. One of the most popular approaches, is from Rick Warren, author of the best selling book, The Purpose Driven Life.

I decided to try his “Spiritual Gifts Survey” this week.

You rate yourself on 128 questions and some require quite a bit of translation, even for me…”I proclaim God’s truth in an inspiring and enthusiastic way” … well, I quickly changed that language to “I help people discover their own truth in an inspiring and enthusiastic way.” Gave myself a pretty high score on that one.

Warren identifies 40 categories of spiritual gifts…it is a bewildering array.

I was gratified that my scores, even in his system, seem to confirm my calling.

My top three scores were for:

Exhortation: that’s preaching and teaching

Leadership and Administration.

Not a bad fit.

For Warren, the quest for personal fulfillment and meaning can only be found in understanding what God placed you on the earth to do.

Warren loses most of us with that statement, but stay with me for a little more translation.

If you believe that you are a unique individual, (and most of us probably do), with a unique story to share and unique gifts to offer, the only difference between you and Rick Warren is who determines those gifts and that story. You would actually agree with Warren about the uniqueness.

I am not arguing for Warren’s point of view.

But I am searching for ways we can connect to some of the conversations out there in the rest of the religious world. We are comfortable talking about faith among ourselves and in progressive religious spaces, but we also need to be talking with other folks of faith…if we are serious about moving our world toward the Beloved Community.

More on that subject for another day.

Back to our unique and particular gifts…in the service of this particular community.

We are not as organized, nor as confident as Rick Warren, in identifying spiritual gifts. We do ask about interests and skills when new members join and we do try to help new members get connected so that First Unitarian can become their spiritual home.

This is one of the areas where I believe we need to do a better job. And I do not mean that we should develop a better survey. Or adopt a UU version of Rick Warren’s categories. I certainly do not mean that our Membership Committee hasn’t been doing a fine job. Witness the new members we welcomed today.

I do mean that too few who visit, and even who join, find opportunities for service and learning that nurture their spirits and sustain them.

One consultant, some years ago, described First Unitarian as a vacuum cleaner, sweeping up new members, but without a bag attached. So although many members join, so too do many members fall away and leave. And, although there are certainly problems with that metaphor, there is some truth in that image that we need to pay attention to.

First Unitarian is not just a non-profit that we join and support financially. We want this church to be a home for our spirits.

I think we should ask more deeply what we expect of one another as members. And what we expect of ourselves. And what we expect of this church.

What attention to our spiritual development, to our progress as people of faith…because we are all works in process…should we expect and organize ourselves to support?

And what opportunities to live out our deepening faith should we come to expect as a new normal?

What if we, together, were to set as an expectation that membership and participation at First Unitarian would help us all live lives of deeper integrity, greater sustaining connection and more joy?

What if we were to move beyond the celebration of our individual worth and accept the challenge of strengthening our practices of living out this liberal religious faith in a divided and divisive world?

How much should we expect of ourselves, of each other and of our church?

I am so grateful to the winner of this sermon. I think there are important questions, her questions have prompted me to raise.
How do we identify our spiritual gifts and our calling?

Asking the question turns out to be just as important for us as the specific answer. Our liberal religious faith relies on those questions to point us toward both deeper truth and a clearer path toward the Beloved Community.

But if all this talk of gifts, has left you wondering how you might offer your gifts and contribute more deeply to the life of this community, …well, there are so many ways to be involved.

Perhaps you will want to offer knowledge that you bring from your life in the wider world…knowledge to share in finance for example…or skills to share…teaching or supporting our education programs for children or adults…

Or perhaps the gift you bring will be your willingness to branch out, try something new…sing in a choir perhaps or work in a justice area that feels important to you.

Perhaps being an usher or a greeter or a volunteer in our shelter would make your week more satisfying… perhaps lay ministry is something you’d like to prepare for…I could go on…

Check the e-news every week. There are always opportunities listed where your skills and your calling might be exactly what is needed.
Or ask any of our leaders or our staff.

Try something out. The more energy and spirit you put into this congregation, the more satisfaction you will get out of it. I am certain of that.

How do you identify your gifts? How do you identify your calling?

Listen. Listen to yourself. What roles spark your interest? What possibilities bring a smile to your face? What challenges make you wonder if it is time for you to try that new thing?

So listen to yourself first, but than ask…folks you trust in this community or in your other circles. You can learn a great deal and sometimes can be surprised by learning how others see you.

So listen, then ask..and then listen when you are asked.

Listen when you are asked to serve. People tend to ask folks they think would find joy in a task. They also tend to ask folks whom they would like to work with. An invitation to serve is an invitation to relationship.

We are a community of deeply gifted individuals, privileged in many ways. We come together to support the vibrant life of this congregation and its mission as a liberal religious beacon in the heart of this city.

It is important to know what gifts we can offer, though those gifts may well change over time and I would hope that this church is a place where gifts are grown as well as used.

But it is critical to be clear how we will use the gifts that we have.

Choose, as Rebecca Parker says, to bless the world.
That choice “will draw you into community,
None of us alone can save the world.
Together—that is another possibility, waiting.”

Author Bryan Doyle reports a conversation with a monk that seems appropriate here. The monk confesses: “I cannot explain why I hope that what I do matters, all I can do is do what I do…” “I love to cut the grass here,” the monk goes on, “for I sometimes come to a sort of understanding with the grass, and the hill, and the creatures in the grass, and with my legs and arms and back, a sort of silent conversation in which we all communicate…”

A place just right? Have you, might you find such a place here? Such a place of consonance. Such a place of spiritual alignment. A place just right.

Doyle responds: “This is what I know: … that there is love, and then there is everything else. You either walk toward love or away from it with every breath you draw.”

Move toward love…move toward where you find love and where you find yourself loving…that is not a bad way to discover your spiritual gifts.

Move toward love and the choice to bless the world.

Prayer

Will you pray with me now?

Spirit of Life and of Love. Giver. Source. Mystery.

We come together to share our gifts
And, together, to search for hope.

The great prophets have taught
That we are called to mercy, generosity, and mutual care,
And that to be great is to serve.

We have only begun to imagine justice and mercy.
Until all are sheltered, none of us is truly at home.

May the blessing of our gifts
And the power we find together
Sustain us in the work of creating community
That one day may be called Beloved.
Whet us for good use
That we may be the hands for holy
Creativity and justice:
That we may together fulfillment and joy.

So may it be.

Amen

Topics: Redemption