Greetings to family and friends of the First Christian Church (DOC) here in Hiawatha! Blessings to each of you in His Most Holy Name especially as the season of Lent begins to fully manifest itself in our spiritual and personal journeys of faith. By the time you read this newsletter, the wonderfully exciting Winter Olympic games will be over, most of winter will be coming to a close, some of us will begin to worry about spring allergies. Ash Wednesday service will be a recent memory of beginning the journey of penitence, humility, and personal reflection, and Holy Week and Easter are soon to appear.

  Joyce has informed me that this
newsletter is already rather full and
has suggested that I limit my article
She was nice about it, but you can
imagine telling a preacher to be brief.
Oh well, I guess I can try that out from
time to time. So let us get to the article.

   We are continuing  our exploration of spiritual gifts and
the Holy Spirit. In early May I will be offering an evening class and also an opportunity to self-assess both spiritual gifts and temperament. A sign-up sheet is posted on the bulletin board.

   Let me pose some questions to help to further delineate this topic. Must a person be baptized in order to receive gifts? No is the simple answer. All believers are spiritual persons. A person receives the “gift of the Spirit” at their conversion. Paul tells us that every born again person who says Jesus is Lord has received the Spirit, or is “baptized in the Spirit.” For most people, this corresponds with the occasion of their believer’s water baptism.

   Are gifts really relevant today? Do they have less power than they did in the early church? Jesus expected that God’s spirit would powerfully and effectively work through all of his followers to continue his ministry. He said that his followers would achieve even greater works that what God had done through him. That is why Jesus asked God to empower his followers with the gift of the Holy Spirit to serve others in His name. That ministry is not finished. Furthermore, the writer of the book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus is the same yesterday and today and forever. Therefore the power of the gifts also remains the same. The gifts of the Spirit always produce the desired results when love is the guiding principle.

   Does a Christian possess all of the gifts? No. Paul stresses this. Each person receives at least one gift. Each person receives different gifts to serve the Body of Christ in a variety of ways for effective ministry according to God’s plan. Even if several people have the same “gift,” it will be expressed in different ways.

   What happens when people do not use their gifts? The church becomes weakened and powerless; Christianity becomes a form of religion without the power; the people of God become spectators only; worship becomes clubby and empty; the church ceases to be an effective witness; the ministries of the Holy Spirit are diminished. This creates an interesting problem, especially when people protest that they do not have any spiritual gifts at the very same time that they protest that they are Christians.

   Truth is, they just don’t want to be responsible Christians. No part (emphasis, “NO”) of the human body is irresponsible. Every part was wonderfully designed to serve the body. It is the same with Christ’s Body, the church. No one who is a believer is without gifts for ministry. NO ONE! What is required is faith and disciplined effort to discover and use them. What is needed is for Christians to relinquish their hubris and desire for self-control and denial of God’s sovereignty and rebellious nature in order to let God exercise through them what is good for them and others.

   Ooooh! Ooooh! Ooooh! I am on a roll. I am on the downhill slalom and gaining speed for the next curve! I am just ready to pounce on the issues of arrogance, pride and doubt………and obedience. But just this once….Da Duh, Da Duh, Da Duh, that’s all folks!

Until next time, shalom!                               Pastor Bill