RCL Proper 21A
27 August 2023
Holy Trinity Anglican Cathedral
New Westminster BC
Shortly after Paula became Rector of Saint Faith’s in Vancouver in 1998, our older son, David, then an early teen, expressed an interest in becoming a reader. So he was trained and began his public duties.
On one of his first Sundays David rose and went to the lectern to read today’s passage from Romans 12. As is the case with many Anglican parishes in the Diocese, Saint Faith’s uses the New Revised Standard Version of the Scriptures in worship. In his best and most formal voice, David began to read and then came to the list of gifts of the Spirit that Paul describes. When he came to verse 8, David misread ‘exhorter’ and declared to the gathered congregation that ‘the extorter’ should excel ‘in extortion’.
No one flinched or twitched a muscle. No one was going to do anything to discourage this young person who had chosen to exercise this very public liturgical ministry. Perhaps David wasn’t the only reader to trip over this word because in the recent updated edition of the New Revised Standard Version, ‘exhorter’ and ‘exhortation’ have been replaced with ‘encourager’ and ‘encouragement’.
During coffee hour no one made mention of David’s slip of the tongue. In speaking to one of the older members of the congregation, I expressed my gratitude at everyone’s restraint and that no one had laughed. “Well,” she said, “Paul was, after all, telling us to do well at what we do best!”
Doing well at what we do best is what I think Paul is saying in this portion of his Letter to the Christians in Rome. He begins this exhortation with words I remember from my younger days that introduced the offertory in the American eucharistic liturgy: “I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable act of worship." [1]
Is it not reasonable that the God who is the Giver of all good gifts, who is the Source of all that is, seen and unseen, known and unknown, should ask us, the beneficiaries of this abundance, to strive to do well what we do best? Is it not reasonable that we who proclaim that in Jesus we have found the Messiah, the gateway to life in this abundance of God’s generosity, should use our diverse gifts of time, of talent, of treasure to give witness to our vision of world where ‘we and all God’s children shall be free, and the whole earth live to praise (God’s) name,” [2] a world that is life-giving rather than death-dealing?
Paul is quite clear in Romans and elsewhere in his writings that we can best achieve this when we acknowledge that Christian discipleship is corporate not individualistic, a way of living that requires each member of the Body to strive to do well what they do best, to respect the gifts of others and to nurture others as they explore their roles in the drama of salvation, God’s on-going act of reconciliation, renewal and re-creation. Friends, we here at Holy Trinity Cathedral and all our friends in Christian communities throughout the world will only thrive and grow and serve by acknowledging our own gifts, respecting the gifts of others and nurturing those who are growing in their discipleship. So here is some homework for all of us to do in the week to come, in the months ahead, in the years before us.
What do I do well? I remember my Grade 8 and 9 algebra teacher, Mrs Lucardi. She reminded us from time to time that we weren’t boasting if what we said we could do was true. What am I doing when I feel most myself, most capable, most engaged? Those are indications of what I do well.
What do I not do well? It is very hard to acknowledge that I am out of my depth. From time to time I remember what my mentor, the late Louis Weil, said in his sermon at my ordination to the presbyterate: ‘Remember, Richard, that you have many gifts – but not all of them!’ Asking for help, seeking advice, acknowledging a ‘growing edge’ as we used to call it at Vancouver School of Theology are not signs of weakness but of wisdom, of humility, of grace-filled self-awareness.
How can I use my gifts to build up others? There is hardly a week that goes by when I do not remember how my life and work today have come through the generosity of others in giving me their time, their talents and their treasure. Gratitude is an attitude that leads to generosity in our own giving of our resources, tangible and intangible, to building up others. Then ask where my greatest joy meets the world’s greatest need in this place and in this time.
So, my friends, spend some time this week asking these three questions of yourselves. How we answer these questions matters in the shaping of the present and future ministry of our congregation. As Paul says,
Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind, so that you may discern what is the will of God — what is good and acceptable and perfect.
For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think but to think with sober judgement, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. [3]
And then, with God’s grace, we will do well what we do best – to God’s glory and to the building up of the Church and all God’s people.
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