Do not be conformed to this world,
but be transformed by the renewing of your minds,
so that you may discern what is the will of God
—what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Rom 12:2 (NRSV)
“The man has a real gift for meanness...” overheard conversation
People often confuse attitudes with faith. There are the do-gooders who believe the Gospel commands us to protect people from the consequences of their own actions. They believe that as a society we have the potential for evolving into the kind of people God would have us be. They often believe that it is wrong to do or stand for anything that may offend some people. They work hard at making everything democratic and end up with totalinarianism. Then there are the those who hold the opposite view. These are the prophets of a gilded concept of individualism.
I remember hearing Pastor Swigart mumbling about it in his study at Pourtney United Methodist Church. Pourtney is just a small town. It is about 40 miles from the interstate and about 12 miles from the county seat. No major roads run through the town so it tends to be on the quiet side.
Pastor Swigart was considering how he had all of these people at church that so often missed the point of the Christian Life. Although he would emphasize that the Holy Spirit has provided gifts for all Christians, he sometimes wondered if the people of Pourtney UMC were aware of their gifts and used them.
Later, Pastor Swigart was telling me at Annual Conference that he realized his people did often exhibit gifts in the church but he would not necessarily call them “spiritual gifts” except in a most unspiritual sense. He thought of the remark of St. Paul when he said “...you are still of the flesh. For as long as there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving according to human inclinations?” (1 Corinthians 3.3 nrsv) He also refered to a text in Galatians:
Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Galatians 5:19-21 (nrsv)
Over the several days of conference he proceeded to tell me of some of the people of Pourtney who displayed these most unspiritual gifts. He lumped them all together and called them the gifts of grumpiness and negativity. I don’t have the time to tell you all that he shared with me —but do let me tell you about a few of these people of Pourtney.
Pastor Swigart told me about Pete Hopkins. Pete had the gift of idolatry. Pete worshiped his job. Pete was by no means alone with this gift. Many people share Pete’s gift. There was Sara Jane who worshiped her family and Robert who worshiped the nation. Your idolatry is simply the practice of putting anything above God. For Pete it was his job. Pete loved to work because he enjoyed the satisfaction he got in making a sell. He pretty much was his own boss and since he made commissions he worked all the harder. Pete honestly believed that God wanted him to make a lot of money. He believed that God wanted him to have the nicer things in life. But Pete confused enjoying the things in life for the worship of God.
Roger Mitchell loved to read his horoscope. He kept with all of the latest health fads that were meant to prolong youth. He even slept with a crystal under his pillow. Roger’s gift was sorcery. Roger looked for those ways to take control of life. There are others like Roger. Those who believe in fate, who use drugs, who rely on the appearance of magic—the altering of reality—in place of a life in the hands of Jesus Christ.
Lou Ann Tippett had a remarkable gift of jealousy. She was a very busy person who liked to be on top of things and when she wasn’t she became frustrated. The source of her jealously was that she couldn’t have everything she wanted. She was jealous of people in the church because of the things they did. The people of the church who had and used their talents in the life of the church. Lou Ann would spitefully refer to people who spent a lot of time at the church doing things. “Oh, look at so and so. See how she thinks she’s the stuff. She is a real apple-polisher with the pastor.” Of course what she was saying didn’t make any sense. The people she was jealous of were people who were working in the church—and there was a lot of work she could have done.
Lydia’s gift was anger. She had a lot of pent up anger. Anger at life. Anger at the way her former husband had left her. Anger at the fact that she didn’t like what was going on in the country. Anger that she just didn’t get her way. Lydia liked to think she was democratic about things. “More people needed to be involved in making decisions.” Unfortunately what people began to hear was “Things just don’t happen the way I think they should.”
St. Paul said that as a Christian we “have put off the old nature with its practices and have put on the new nature.” (Colossians 3.9b-10a, rsv)
Do you have gifts from God?