“Spiritual Gifts and Peace”

Romans 12:1-21

Last week, in our journey through the land of peacemaking, we reflected on where peace begins; our faith teaching us that peace begins in what God has done for us. Peace begins not with us, but in God’s love for us expressed in Jesus Christ. This week we enter what can be much more difficult territory in our search for peace. To aid us, we turn to a very profound theological moment in the film, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, with Will Ferrell. (I confess, I watched it!)¹

The movie, for those of you who haven’t sampled this glass of cinematic fine wine, is about the trials and testing of #1 NASCAR Driver Ricky Bobby, who is all about immature self indulgence. In the scene that, when I first saw it I knew I was going to preach it, Ricky gathers around the table with his family for dinner, and he says grace. Throughout his grace, he prays to the “Lord Baby Jesus…” and to the “Dear tiny infant Jesus...” Finally, he is interrupted by his wife and father-in-law, “You know, Jesus did grow up!” To which Ricky responds, “I like the Christmas Jesus best. When you say grace, you can pray to grown up

Jesus, or teenage Jesus, or bearded Jesus, whoever you want. I like the baby version the best!”

I think there is truth here. If we are honest, there are parts of us that like the Christmas Jesus the best too: the vulnerable baby, all full of possibility and hope, accompanied by angel choirs singing and he himself quiet in that silent night. We find there the beginning of peace, and we want to stop.

We don't want Jesus to grow up because then he begins to speak...and talk to us...and make demands of us. We don’t want him to grow up because we have a sneaking suspicion that he will ask us to change. Part of us doesn’t want Jesus to grow up because then our faith has to grow up too.

But Jesus does grow up. As an adult, he walks along the lake shore and, with special calling in mind, he says, “Follow me…” He begins to show those who follow that yes, peace begins with God. Yes, fundamental peace is made possible with God. But this is only the beginning.

We who gather here, we who have decided to follow up on the promise of the “Lord Baby Jesus,” have discovered something more. Peace has begun, but conflict remains. Peace, we learn as our faith grows, unfolds according to God’s mysterious plan, and God, for some reason (perhaps cherishing human freedom) has decided to enlist partners in bringing it about.

Those partners are you and me.

And this is the secret of peace: it is enabled by God, empowered by God, but it is not just discovered. Peace is also something that is made, forged, created, carefully nurtured. It requires risk, courage, strength, and vulnerability on the part of those who desire it. This is why, at the beginning of his ministry, when he is telling his disciples what he and his ministry is all about, he says, “Blessed are the peacemakers.”

This is where spiritual gifts come in. We, you and I, are cherished children of God. We are set free, but we are created for a purpose.

The Apostle Paul knows this. In the community that Paul describes each individual is part of a whole. Each individual is made whole by living in community, in harmonious relationship with others. Each has a role to play. One is not more important than another. Each is a treasured gift of God, and each has gifts to share. When we find our place, when we discover our role, when we celebrate and exercise our gifts, and respect and celebrate the gifts of others, then we will nurture peace with each other. You are treasured. You are free. You are gifted Paul says in Romans. Now live as God created you to live. In that living, we find peace.

This is what this inventory is all about. Yes, it is about supporting the ministry of this church. Yes, the church needs people to volunteer and things need to get done. But more fundamentally, this church is here for you to explore your faith, to discover God’s purpose for your life, and in service of that purpose to exercise the spiritual gifts that God has given to you. This is how we give God glory and honor. As you exercise your gifts, you will not only discover peace, but also nurture it. You will be a peace maker. I hope you fill this inventory out in that spirit.

Fred Buechner, in his book Telling Secrets, writes of the Tower of London, in particular the oldest part of it known as the White Tower built by William the conqueror in the eleventh century. On the second floor of the Tower is a small Norman Chapel called the Chapel of St. John. It is very bare and simple with 12 stone pillars and a vaulted ceiling. “There is a cool, silvery light that comes in through the arched windows. Knights of the Order of the Bath used to keep all-night vigil there over their armor before being anointed by the king on his coronation day. The chapel is silent, very still. It is almost a thousand years old. You cannot enter it without being struck by the feeling of purity and peace it gives. If there is any such thing in the world, it is a holy place.”

But that is not all there is in the White Tower. Directly below the chapel is the most terrible of all the Tower’s dungeons. It has a heavy oak door that locks out all light and ventilation. It measures only four feet square by four feet high so that a prisoner has no way either to stand upright in it or to lie down at full length. There is almost no air to breathe in it, almost no room to move. It is known as the Little Ease.

Buechner writes, “I am the white tower of course. To one degree or another all of us are.”

We spend our lives, we go through our days, we tackle responsibilities, we face challenges, we begin relationships and experience their ending, and, sometimes without realizing it until we have been there for a long time, we find ourselves inside, imprisoned in our own ‘Little Ease’, where there is hardly any air to breathe, hardly any room to move.

It is the grown up Jesus who opens the door to our ‘Little Ease’. But if we want to breathe the outside air, if we want peace in our relationships and in our communities, we need take his hand, step outside, and breathe, and stretch, and use the muscles (read, spiritual gifts) that God has given us. In this way do we grow up.

In this way we make our way up the steps from our Little Ease, back up to the chapel of St. John, to the place where the deepest truth of who we are keeps vigil. What do you

know? Your brothers and sisters are there too. And gathered together, working together, living together, peace begins to flow.

¹ Thanks to The Rev. Julie Pennington-Russell, who reminded me of this scene in her sermon, "Our First Calling", offered on the Day1 broadcast September 7, 2008 (http://www.day1.net)

September 14, 2008

Rev. Paul Heins

First Presbyterian Church

Logan, Utah