Our Best Part

1 Corinthians 12, 3rd Sunday of Epiphany C
preached January 21, 2007 at Hope UMC, Duluth

When I was a youth I asked Mom what my spiritual gift was. I had read this text in 1 Corinthians 12 at church and thought this list was pretty interesting. So I asked her, and she said, “Oh honey, your gift is love.”

“But I don’t want the gift of love,” I said to her. “I want something else.”

“Love is the best gift,” she said. “That’s the one you have.

I have felt bad about this conversation for years. How obnoxious of me, to not choose love.

Well, don’t tell my mother, but I think she was wrong. Recently in our Covenant Discipleship group someone was speaking about how compassion was an easy thing for them and she looked at me and said, “Justice is so clearly your strength, Michelle.” Yup. Compassion isn’t the easiest part for me. Now I’m not saying your pastor isn’t compassionate, because I am, and I do care about you, and I will work towards being more loving my whole life. In fact, we clergy promise to strive to be perfect in love in this life when we are ordained, and I will keep trying.

But it isn’t my best gift. My best gift is vision and leadership. I can see where we can go and how to get there.

So, even though I am terribly nearsighted, in the body of Christ, I am an eye.

I won’t name names here, but you may know who I mean, or know I am thinking of you: let’s consider the parts of the body of Christ known as Hope UMC.

The hearts, and there are more than one of you -- those who love and seek out ways to bring love to those in congregation.

Ears – those who listen to what is happening and hear people’s hurt.

Hands – those who keep the building running, who cook for us, who tend our gardens.

Feet – those who go into the community to carry hope to those around us.

Knees – those who help us bend and turn and be flexible.

Voices – those who sing and give us music.

The right brain –those who give us art and beauty.

The left brain – those who ask questions, solve problems, and teach us.

The lungs – those who to breathe in the spirit for us.

Our facia – those who work to connect us.

The stomach – those who keep supplies coming to all of us and our ministry.

Tear ducts –those who cry our joy and pain.

This body is a wonderful metaphor for the church. But perhaps we have more than one gift. The clergy of the Minnesota Annual Conference have done Discover Your Strengths by the Gallup organization. It tells us our top five strengths, the five body parts we play best.

The metaphor also breaks down when we think of the body as a closed system – because in the church we can have 3 eyes, and 6 arms, or 60; we welcome more people and they don’t have to have an exact gift or fit – we may not know we need what they have and they may not know what it is they will bring

But this is an important metaphor in many ways. Paul asks us, do we boast about our part? Well, tell me, which one part of your body would you like to keep?

Or do we think our part isn’t good enough? Again, tell me, which one part of your body would you like to do without? Even your toenails, humble as they are, are critical to your mobility and comfort.

Or do you think you should really be working on another gift?

I will have to continue to learn about compassion, and my Covenant Discipleship group will teach me, but I think I will be of better service as I embrace what God really made me for. And you – God created each of us with purpose and hope and a dream. Is this a place you can live that out? Is this a place you can offer the gift of your life? Is this a place you can feel you are an essential part of the body of Christ?

And as the body of Christ, working together, what will we do? What is this body’s gift for the community? You have named it hope, we have described it for all generations, and we are still continuing to discover what gift this body has for the world.

May we delight in this body, dance, celebrate, experience and feel the incarnation of Christ that is known as Hope United Methodist Church.