Welcome to Bloomingdale Mennonite Church

The Season of Pentecost

The Gifts of God Given to Each, for the Common Good

Fresco of the Pentecostal dove (representing the Holy Spirit) at the Karlskirche in Vienna, Austria (Artist: Johann Michael Rottmayr; Photo by Manfreeed; released into the Public Domain)

The goal of this series is to spend more time as a congregation discerning the gifts that God gives us as we seek to be faithful disciples of Jesus. The topic may be more expansive than first imagined! “Gifts” is, of course, a very general category. Often, Christians speak of “spiritual gifts” after the model of this language used by the Apostle Paul in the New Testament (Rom 1:11, 1 Cor. 1:7, 12:1-11). Paul’s intention in speaking of “spiritual” gifts is not meant to be a contrast between other gifts considered “physical.” Rather, Paul is wanting to indicate the role of the Holy Spirit in giving each a gift “for the common good” (1 Cor. 12:7)

Of course, talents that seem to come “naturally” to people are also rightly called “gifts” of God. That said, scripture calls spiritual gifts those Spirit-empowered abilities discovered, desired, and practiced in the context of discipleship that contribute to the common good of the whole people of God. So-called “natural” talents can rightly be called spiritual gifts, you might say, when they are used and directed by the Spirit for the common good.

In both the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament, gifts and abilities given to people for the purpose of serving God were often described as coming from the Spirit of God that, “rested upon,” “moved in,” was “poured out upon,” “put in,” or “filled” a person. After Jesus’ ascension, the Spirit was poured out for the new purpose of proclaiming the Gospel (cf. Acts 2). The church sought the gifts of the Spirit with new fervor as it sought to achieve the purpose to which it was called. The Apostle Paul also encouraged the church to “be zealous for” or “eagerly desire” spiritual gifts (1 Cor. 14:1), which implies that gifts are not given once and for all but can be desired for particular occasions or seasons of life.

1 Cor. 12 lists several specific spiritual gifts: wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment of spirits, tongues, interpretation of tongues. Romans 12:6 lists, in addition, gifts of: service, teaching, exhortation, giving, leadership, and compassion. These gifts, however, are just some of the many gifts described throughout the stories of scripture as gifts given through the Spirit’s power to the people of God.

This leaves our congregation at BMC with a question to ponder: what gifts has God given us for the common good? This question could be answered in many ways. We could reflect on the past, noting what gifts God has previously given us to use to live out our discipleship. We could reflect on the present, acknowledging what gifts God has given us that we are using right now. Finally, we could reflect on the future, discerning how God might be calling us to the use of certain spiritual gifts in the present/future as we seek to be faithful disciples of Jesus in our different ages and stages of life.

Over the course of 12 weeks (counting our AGM), we will focus on these and other questions by introducing the topic of “Gifts” in the context of the people of God. We will look at stories from the bible, from history, from the lives of others, and from our own lives as examples that teach us about the gifts God gives to each for the common good.