SERMON, EPIPHANY 2C, 1 CORINTHIANS 12:1-11

Pop quiz: What was last week's sermon about?

Baptism. More specifically, it was about being baptized by the Holy Spirit with fire and how the Holy Spirit will equip us for ministry. And my closing challenge to you was to shine the light of Christ that is burning within you onto the world and to offer the warmth of this community. Today's collect picks up on that thought when it says, "Grant that your people . . . may shine with the radiance of Christ's glory."

We are baptized twice: once with water when we renounce Satan and are sealed as Christ's own forever, and once with fire in which the Holy Spirit is manifested in us and equips us for ministry. It is through the actions of the Holy Spirit that each one of us is given a gift to use for the work of proclaiming the gospel and reflecting the light of the kingdom of God in the world.

It takes a lot of people to make a kingdom function: everything from the king to give direction, to the knights, to the stable boys, to the cooks, to the lawyers. We can't all be king and we can't all be cooks, it takes a variety of gifts to work for the common good of the kingdom. We don't even need to think on as grand of a scale as a kingdom, we can think about something smaller such as a state or a city . . . or a parish.

We have a variety of gifts in this place, and that is a good thing. People who are willing to set up, clean up, read, decorate, organize, and the list goes on. There are a variety of gifts for the common good of our parish. I am very thankful for those gifts in this little corner of God's kingdom and all that happens here.

Sometimes, though, do you ever wonder why we are here? Why we do what we do? There's no doubt that ministry is hard work, mine and yours. But there is also no doubt that ministry is more fun when there are people to engage. The greening of the church, for example, is work if it's just a couple of us; but if the whole parish is involved, it becomes a fun way to be with our community.

As our annual meeting draws near, I would like you to consider a couple of things. First, think about your talents and interests. As we continue to strive to make this a viable and relevant parish in the valley, what would you like to do, or what can you do, for both the benefit of the parish and your own personal satisfaction? Ministry is work, sure, but there's no reason why we can't feel good, or have fun, doing it.

Second, are you willing to put your talents and interests to use? You may think about those gifts. You may say, "I really like to paint." But if you aren't willing to put that to use, nothing will get done. Or, worse yet, it will continually fall on the same handful of people to do the work of the parish.

We are a community, small as it is. We all have gifts and talents and interests that can be put to good use here. By using our talents in a visible way, people "out there" might begin to take an interest in what we are doing. And that might just lead to invitations that are answered.

Invitation is the first step. We invite people to be part of our community. We invite people to be part of our faith walk. We invite people to explore and struggle and celebrate with us.

From there we can include them in the life of the parish. We can help inform them about Christianity and the church. And we can all proclaim and rejoice in Christ our Savior.

As we move toward our annual meeting, think about those things. Pray about those things. How can you become more involved in the life of our community? Are you willing to become more involved? Is this a place worth working and struggling for?

Finally, what can we do to improve it? What can we do to show people we are alive? What can we do to include those people? And what can we do to grow our little community in the areas of participation, finances and spirituality? Think about those things and, together, let's see where they take us. No reasonable idea will be refused.

So, as we wrap up 2006 and begin to live into 2007, let's use our abundance and varieties of gifts and talents for the common good of God's kingdom in the Ruby Valley.