Spiritual Gifts

Spiritual gifts are a popular topic of discussion among Evangelicals. Identifying, using and encouraging one another to contribute to the Body through spiritual gifts is often stressed and mandated. Paul certainly stressed the importance of diversity and intentionality in regards to spiritual gifts.

There is the danger that spiritual gifts can be diluted and misidentified as personality traits. However, there must be a higher way, for personality traits are of the flesh, inhibited by circumstance and ultimately death. Spiritual gifts on the other hand are of the Spirit, all united in perfection in the Body. Each member remains individually vital to the livelihood of the Body.

And so it is that there remains a distinction between spiritual gifts and personality traits. Ultimately as the Spirit dwells in us, our spiritual gifts become a part of our personhood while removing more and more of the flesh, which are our sinful natural tendencies.

Therefore, while remaining individually significant, we lose more of ourselves in order to gain Christ so that we may more fully be a part of the Body through the means of our spiritual gifts. The magnitude of importance cannot be fully realized until final perfection is achieved where the Body is fully united in the coming of Christ.

Here I Am, Lord

"Here I Am, Lord" is my favorite hymn, arranged by Dan Schutte, a Roman Catholic composer. The hymn was first made known to me growing up in a United Methodist church, but have heard it recently in an American Baptist and an Evangelical Covenant congregation.

I, the Lord of sea and sky,
I have heard my people cry.
All who dwell in dark and sin,
my hand will save.

I who make the stars of night,
I will make their darkness bright.
Who will bear my light to them?
Whom shall I send?

Here I am, Lord. It is I Lord.
I have heard you calling in the night.
I will go, Lord, where you lead me.
I will hold your people in my heart.

I, the Lord of snow and rain,
I have borne my people's pain.
I have wept for love of them.
They turn away.

I will break their hearts of stone,
Give them hearts for love alone.
I will speak my words to them.
Whom shall I send?

Here I am, Lord. It is I Lord.
I have heard you calling in the night.
I will go, Lord, where you lead me.
I will hold your people in my heart.

I, the Lord of wind and flame,
I will tend the poor and lame.
I will set a feast for them.
My hand will save.

Finest bread I will provide.
Till their hearts be satisfied.
I will give my life to them.
Whom shall I send?

Here I am, Lord. It is I Lord.
I have heard you calling in the night.
I will go, Lord, where you lead me.
I will hold your people in my heart.

Interfaith Quoting

"If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I?" - First Century Palestinian rabbi Hillel

"To see the other side, to defend another people, not despite your tradition but because of it, is the heart of pluralism." - Eboo Patel

"[The dream of pluralism:] the idea of different communities retaining their uniqueness while relating in a way that recognizes they share universal values." - Eboo Patel

"Our challenge is to discover the ways in which we differ and learn to value the differences. Only then can we join with Krister Stendahl, Luterhan Bishop Emeritus, who asserts that if we truly live into our Christian calling we will experience 'more than tolerance, more than reluctant recognition of the actual pluralism that surrounds us relentlessly.' He goes on to say the Christian calling allows him to sing his song to Jesus 'with abandon...without speaking negatively about others." - Amanda Millay Hughes

"In order to be obedient to that commandment [to love one another as he has loved us], I understand myself to be required to participate in conversations in which I am not afforded the last word or the luxury of full agreement, compliance, or conversion.”-Amanda Millay Hughes

"Those of us who have been involved in interreligious dialogue know how exposure to people of other traditions deepens and challenges our understanding of our own traditions.”-Anantanand Rambachan

"We cannot ignore the fact that the United States is now the world’s most religiously diverse nation, and our teaching and learning here must be cognizant of the challenges of this fact. A college of the church seems to me to be a particularly appropriate place to identify and explore the many new questions that continue to be generated by our experience of religious diversity, and I welcome the opportunity to explore such issues…” -Anantanand Rambachan