The Church Together

 

Scripture

 Acts 6:1-7

Now during those days, when the disciples were increasing in number, the Hellenists complained against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food. ² And the twelve called together the whole community of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should neglect the word of God in order to wait on tables. ³ Therefore, friends, select from among yourselves seven men of good standing, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint to this task, ⁴ while we, for our part, will devote ourselves to prayer and to serving the word.” ⁵ What they said pleased the whole community, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, together with Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. ⁶ They had these men stand before the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.

⁷ The word of God continued to spread; the number of the disciples increased greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.  (NRSV)

 

Devotion

One of the things that I love about the church is that there is room for everyone to share their gifts and talents. As pastor, I may be our congregation's official representative in the community, but my ministry can only be successful when it is interwoven with the ministry of others.  This truth has been made particularly clear to over the past few days as people have come in and out of the building to help deal with everything from youth group plans and mission requests to leaking roofs and investment strategies.  Then there are those who pop onto Zoom to lead Bible study, shoot me a text about a prayer request or member care plan, email in corrections to the bulletin, run choir practices, etc.  It take as a village to run a congregation's ministry, and First Presbyterian's village has some great people.

 The tradition of shared leadership based on people's particular gifts, talents, and perceived callings is as old as the Church itself.  The Book of Acts records states that as the early Church grew and its mission expanded, the original apostles needed help managing daily tasks.  This included appropriately distributing food and money to both Hebrew and Hellenist widows.  If they had been left to do that work on their own, the apostles would have failed .  But when Spirit led Stephen, Phillip, and 5 others to devote their gifts and talents overseeing the food distribution and similar work, then the apostles were freer to do the work Christ had assigned to for them.  And because everyone worked together and did their part at the Spirit's direction, the early Church began growing beyond their wildest dreams.

I frequently hear people downplay their contributions to Christ's church.  They act as if they have nothing useful to offer or no part to play in spreading the Gospel.  This simply isn't true. God has given each of us gifts to share, talents to use, and passions to pursue.  Whether we are gifted writers or wonderful landscapers...whether we sing or crunch numbers or teach or find a way to be there for someone having a bad day, we are all important.  We are all called to do some form of ministry And it is by each doing as we are able and weaving our God-given ministries together that we help Christ's church grow.

And so, I ask: What ministry has been placed in your path?  What can you, as one of God's Easter People, do to spread the Good News not just in your personal life, but in you congregation and community?  And how can you encourage others to do the same with their God-given gifts, talents, and passions?

You may feel like you aren't up to the task of doing much.  Your contribution to Christ's Church may feel small.  But I promise you that whatever you are capable of doing is important.  Other people's ministries from the way your work weaves into theirs.  And we can remain thankful that instead of asking one of us to do it all on their own, the Holy Spirit ensures that each of oru small contributions fits with those of others in order to spread God's word further than we ever expected.. 

Prayer

 Jesus, thank you for weaving together the gifts and talents of your people to do great things.  May my personal ministry meld with that of others so that, together, we can build your Church around the world.  Amen.