Reflections on the Theme

Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received
— 1 Peter 4:10

If you have children, know children, or simply have memories of being a child, you likely understand just how important birthday parties can be. Pin the tail on the donkey; birthday cake, candles and ice cream; balloons just waiting to be popped. And, most important of all — the gifts. What could replace that rush of joy upon ripping off the paper to discover just what you always wanted?

People whose lives have been irrevocably altered by war, natural disasters, or poverty experience a shift in desires. “Just what you always wanted” is no longer a doll or a bike or a pony — but seeds for a vegetable garden, clean drinking water, access to medical care, a safe place to live, a job, a chance to go to school. What gifts these can be! For people whose homes have been leveled, whether by floods in North Carolina or earthquakes in El Salvador, what extravagant gifts are bricks and mortar. In Senegal’s drought stricken climate, a food-giving tree that thrives with little moisture is a wild, wonderful present. For refugees fleeing war and violence in Afghanistan, a tent and blankets can seem like a five star hotel. In war-torn Somalia, a rebuilt school offers a refuge of knowledge and hope that seems like luxury.

The words of I Peter 4:10 offer assurance as well as pose a challenge: Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received. Our grace — and our gifts — are given by a generous God. Grace is dynamic, varied, infinitely-reaching; like grace, our gifts, too, as Paul so memorably wrote, are unique. Some are teachers; some are healers; some are pastors; some are prophets.

Likewise are people’s needs — needs we have been called to help meet however we find ourselves able. Our media too often fuses personal suffering into collective phenomena: Oh, those poor people in India. How awful what happened to those people in El Salvador. But Christ challenges us to accept one another in all the particularity of the incarnation. The people of Sierra Leone have suffered, yes. But a child named Thomas in Sierra Leone wants to grow up and be a doctor. He has very specific wishes: a safe place to learn, teachers to care for him, the rudiments of study — paper, pencils, books. What gifts those would be — just what he always wanted.

When we offer our distinctive gifts in service to God and to others, things happen. A little boy’s loaves and fishes become food for more than 5,000 hungry people — with some to spare. Such strange clothes miracles wear — a little boy’s bag lunch, offered willingly and gladly, is touched by God and, transfigured, touches many. But are our gifts any different, any less humble and, at same time, any less transforming? A few dollars given to Week of Compassion become vaccinations against disease for thousands in Central America. The offering from just one congregation becomes a new home for an earthquake stricken family in India. The gifts of Disciples from across the US and Canada enable us to share in a ministry of help and hope that reaches millions.

We have been given, through Christ, the marvelous gift of grace, which we receive, not once, but continuously, without fail. With such a gift in our hands and hearts, we are forever replenished, equipped to offer — joyfully, graciously, generously — who we are and what we have to others.