Holy God,
Today, we remember Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s struggle for equality, justice, and dignity for African Americans that inspired so many other reform movements that seek to highlight the plight of the oppressed in society.
We pray that all of those in civil and religious authority be reminded that we all have been created in your image, and that there is an intrinsic dignity in each of us that calls for uplifting every man and woman, young and old.
We pray that your Holy Spirit remind us all that you show no partiality with regards to nationality, race, ethnicity, or gender, and to do so is to go against your great commandment of love toward one another.
We pray that the church will not be complicit of injustice by being silent, but that it can rise up with a prophetic voice that speaks truth to power and advances the values of your Kingdom.
We pray these things in the name of our blessed redeemer, Jesus Christ.
Amen.
From Bread for the World
1 Corinthians 12:1-13
1Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. 2You know that when you were pagans, you were enticed and led astray to idols that could not speak. 3Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says "Let Jesus be cursed!" and no one can say "Jesus is Lord" except by the Holy Spirit.
4Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; 6and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. 7To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
8To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.
12For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
Epiphany: the Season
We're in the season of Epiphany with its emphasis on light and revelation. In Advent we wait for, hope for, and expect Jesus' arrival as God-with-us. Advent begins as nights grew longer, days became shorter. We celebrate Jesus' nativity just after the Winter Solstice; increasing daylight, decreasing night promise spring's fresh new life soon will be on the way. Depending on which lectionary year we're in, Epiphany Sundays reveal (uncover and show us) a different aspect of Jesus. Lent happens next in the Christian year; the word "lent" refers to lengthening days and literally means Spring in old-fashioned parlance.
The church's year of grace follows Jesus' birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension, and then for about six months after the fifty-day long season of Easter, we count Sundays after the day of Pentecost. During the Pentecostal Season of the Spirit, the church year tracks ministries we accomplish in Jesus' name through the Holy Spirit.
Today's Epistle
Maybe surprisingly, today's second reading for this Second Sunday of Epiphany isn't about revelations of Jesus; instead it reveals characteristics and gifts of people who follow Jesus. That's us!
This week of Epiphany 2 happens not long after many of us engaged in gift-giving on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. For some cultures and church traditions, the Feast of Epiphany on January 6th is the day to give gifts because that's when Visitors from the East brought gifts to young Jesus. Writing to the Church at Corinth, apostle-pastor-theologian Paul discusses particular gifts within the church itself, gifts the Spirit grants the people of God for the well-being of everyone. Either Unity in Diversity or Unity and Diversity could be the buzz-phrase for this scripture. This passage follows instructions on worship and sacraments in chapter 11 and comes before the love chapter 13. In his Message translation of verse 7, the late pastor Eugene Peterson succinctly describes the purpose of all God's gifts—including the gifts of Jesus and of the Spirit: "everyone gets in on it; everyone benefits." Not only those who consider themselves God's people, but all humans everywhere. Because of these gifts, humanity flourishes, and so does all creation.
Gifts of the Spirit
One commentator clarified that verse 1, "Now concerning spiritual gifts," more accurately reads "matters related to the Spirit," with gifting a subset of that Spirit-related category. Every ability God graces us with is a gift in the Spirit and of the Spirit, so that would include skills like carpentry, cooking, music, accounting, caregiving, and farming. However, today's Pauline list (the apostle Paul LOVES to make lists!) is about ones that can't easily be measured or quantified. This is about more clearly spiritual rather than tangible, physical abilities. However, none of those gifts is free-floating; every one of these gifts of grace is embodied. This weekend we especially remember Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who used his amazing spiritual gifts for the good of the church and for the world.
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