Sermon Tone Analysis

The gift you didn’t want

I think we’d all admit that at one point or another in life we received a gift we didn’t want.

Either it was the wrong colour, or the wrong size, or the wrong brand — or even worse a gift that seemed to have no real redeeming qualities to it.

You know the type — the one that makes you shake your head and wonder what the giver was thinking of when they bought it for you.

If truth be told actually, we’ve probably also given those gifts.

Ones where what we were thinking would be helpful for the recipient weren’t quite as helpful as we had originally thought.

Sometimes it hurts when people identify that our gifts didn’t quite make the mark.

Normally, if you’re like me, you’ve put some thought into the gift, and it wasn’t something that you just grabbed off the shelf because you had to grab something.

When we receive those gifts though, it is hard to know what to do with them.

Do we look for the gift receipt right away?

Do we wait until the giver has left the party, and then voice to those closest to us that we think the giver was not quite thinking right?

Do we chalk it up to a momentary lapse in judgement by the giver and move on?

Do we think — hmmm … I wonder if I could use this?

Or do we think — how do I re-gift this without the giver knowing that I gave it away?

Honestly, none of us would want to hurt the feelings of someone who gave us a gift, but there are moments when the gift just doesn’t seem to fit.

Then we’re left with a quandary — how to respond in a grace-filled way.

The gifts of the Spirit

Anyone remember the gifts of the Spirit?

I’m sure we all knew them at one point.

You might know them from this passage:

To that we could add:

++Administration (1 Cor 12:28)

++Apostleship (1 Cor 12:28-29)

++Encouragement (1 Cor 14:26)

++Evangelism (Eph 4:11)

++Giving Aid (1 Cor 13:3)

++Helping (1 Cor 12:28)

++Leadership (Rom 12:8)

++Service (Rom 12:7)

++Teaching (Rom 12:7)

++Pastoring (Rom 12:7)

Some would could the list of gifts as being 19 items long.

And yet today — when we celebrate Pentecost, the disciples — and us today — are stuck on just one gift of the Spirit

Certainly since the Tower of Babel, we’ve been trying to understand each other — and misunderstandings have resulted in wars, broken relationships, and broken hearts.

Honestly, even when we speak the same language, we still might not understand each other.

I took a course years ago, that spent a lot of time helping clergy get their congregations to speak the same language — so when we talked about something, it was known in the congregation what what meant — and this wasn’t for multi-lingual congregations — this was for congregations like us as we operate only in English, yet at times misunderstand each other.

What is God trying to give us?

Some would say that today is the birth day of the church — since we receive gifts on our birthdays, and the disciples are receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit, it might not be a bad comparison.

But what is it that we’re about to unwrap?

Which one of the 19 gifts of the Spirit are we about to open?

Given today’s reading, you might think that speaking in tongues — or the interpretation of tongues would be the gift that we should be hoping to open.

Well, honestly, that’s not a gift I want.

There are times that I wish hadn’t have forgotten as much French as I have — or that my studies in German had gone further — or that I remembered more of my Biblical Greek or Hebrew.

However, most days I’m quite comfortable working in English and I don’t feel a need to either speak another language or understand one.

Paul might have some direction for us though:

1 Co 12:27–31

Strive for the greater gifts

With such a vast array of gifts — all 19 of them — how can there be an even greater one?

It seems like Paul and Luke might be in a bit of a contradiction here.

But maybe not.

If we read on in 1 Corinthians:

So that the church may be built up

And now we come back full circle — that little word “church” means so much to each of us.

For some, the “church” is this place — Holy Cross (on this land, in this building).

For some, the “church” is this gathering of people — this family / community.

For some, the “church” is our Eastern Synod, or our ELCIC, or certain denominations we get along with, or … Now do you see why it is important for us to have a common language?

We don’t even agree on the meaning of the word that in some ways describes who we are, and what we do.

And honestly, there are times that we want to define “church” as narrowly as possible.

I like what we do here on Sundays — and this building — this location — you (the people of Holy Cross) and I don’t want that to disappear.

And if receiving the gifts of the Spirit might interrupt that, I might be tempted to find the gift receipt and see what I can exchange it for.

But I do know this:

Love never ends

That’s ultimately the teaching of this season of Easter that culminates in today.

Pentecost isn’t the start of a new season, as much as it is a culmination of Easter — that love that God showed in the Resurrection of Jesus continues on with the gift of the Spirit.

Love never ends — and if we strive for that neither will the church — and in this case I don’t mean anything here — I mean the church — universal — that gift from God to help us discern our way as God’s people — loved by our Creator.