Listen

There are different spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; and there are different ministries and the same Lord; and there are different activities but the same God who produces all of them in everyone.

1 Corinthians 12:4-6

Think

This wide diversity that the Spirit breathes into being doesn’t mean that we are or should be divided. It is the same Spirit who breathes new life into different ministries, different activities. A hand has different gifts than an eye does. Its purpose, its reason for being is a different one. And yet both the hand and the eye are connected because they are part of the same body. They work together, in different functions, for the good of the whole body. They have the same purpose.

It is the same way with us. God loves our diverse gifts and doesn’t seek to erase them or pare them down into only one way of serving. But serving God should be our focus. We who have been animated by the same Spirit are united in purpose. We have the same goal.

Jordan Haynie Ware

Pray

Surprising God, who delights in distinctiveness and guides diverse gifts to achieve one common goal: bind us together, without competition or boast, that the story of the power of your love may be shared far and wide; through Jesus Christ our Lord, the image of that invisible love. Amen.

Go

Breathe upon us, breath of God, young and old alike.

Send us forth, gifted with your power, to serve your people.