WELCOME THE GIFT
Author: Fr. Michael Byron
April 10, 2021
I’m willing
to bet that many or most of us are in possession of at least one gift that was
given by a loved one that we never used, either because it’s not a gift that we
have much interest in or because we just haven’t found the right occasion
yet. This week I was poking around my
collect of gift certificates that I’ve received over the course of time as an
expressions of care from friends. I
found a few books of coupons for free all-service car washes at a great place
near where I used to live in St. Paul…a wonderful and useful gift. Except the place closed a few years ago.
Those coupons are worthless now. And I found a gift certificate to the Theological
Book Store at Luther Seminary – undoubtedly the best place in the Twin Cities
to find great books on religious topics. Or at least it used to be. It also
hasn’t existed for at least 5 years. And another gift card for Border’s Books
& Records. Same story. I did find one for the Lexington restaurant
in St. Paul – an outstanding historic place. Only this card was issued before it closed, and changed owners, spent a
few years being renovated, and re-opened again. I’m thinking is not likely to be honored. What a waste of gifts…and they are all ones
that I truly would have used and enjoyed, if not for the fact that I thought I
had unlimited time to just sit on them. I’ve been richly blessed, and often enough I presume upon the blessings,
those gifts. They are given to be
savored and enjoyed, but whether that happens is up to me. And You and All of Us Together.
The greatest
gift that Jesus had to offer his disciples after his resurrection was and is
the gift of the Holy Spirit, and he was immediate offering.
Today’s
gospel of John tells us that it was on the very night of Easter that Jesus
appeared to his friends in that locked room, greeted them with his peace,
breathed on them and said, “receive the Holy Spirit who’s sins you forgive are
forgiven them and who’s sins you bind are held bound.” In other words, in bestowing the Gift of the
Spirit he was giving them the authority and power to do things that only God
can do. There is no greater gift than
that. But it is ours to accept – or not, or to delay until it becomes fairly
useless. Which is one of the reasons
that it’s curious to see what these first disciples did with their precious
gifts.
From all appearances
in the Gospel, they did nothing – at least for a while. John tells us that Jesus returned to the same
room a week later, found the same door still locked and the same apostles still
inside – plus one. Jesus may well have
wondered just what exactly they had been doing all week. There’s no evidence that they had taken him
up on his commission of being sent out to carry on the mission of God – at
least not yet. What were they waiting
for? And then we have this side bar story involving Thomas who will only
consent to receiving the gift on his own terms. Jesus is remarkably patient with his friends, but they sure don’t seem
to want to make it easy for him. It’s
the Greatest Gift in the World, and they are hesitant or even resistant to
receiving and using it. Fear and
confusion can be powerful obstacles that way.
All these
centuries later, the gift of the same Holy Spirit is still extended to all of us,
if we will only receive and welcome and use it. There is no greater gift than this – it’s what sustains and holds our
church together, it’s what renders Jesus Christ sacramentally present at very Eucharist,
it’s what empowers a Christian community to continuing doing in the very work
of Jesus in our own time and place, it’s what stirs us to acts of justice and
reconciliation and peacemaking. And that bestower of 1000 different personal
gifts to each one of us to help us to discover and engage our place and our
responsibility right here at Pax Christi. Not a one of us is without this Spirit Gift. IF we will receive it.
Here in our
parish community we take that invitation, that commission very seriously, and
we always have. One of the pillars on which
this place stands is the conviction that all of us are recipients of God’s Holy
Spirit for the purpose of sustaining our mission. We describe it as a “call” from God that is unique
to each person, and it extended most widely and variously to the 99.9% of us
her who are not ordained clergy.
Lay
Leadership is fundamental to who and how we are as a community of faith. That doesn’t look the same for every person,
and our gifts are not identical. But the
Spirits call, the Spirit’s gift embraces everybody here. Not to use it is to waste it, like those
stale gift cards that I have. But the
difference is that it is not only I who am diminished by that decision. It is
all of us.
Jesus never
gives gifts without in turn a summons to respond. “As the Father has sent me so
I send you.” Some of us here at Pax
Christi have been give the gifts – and therefore given the call – to assume a
role in Lay Leadership one of the nine Councils that oversee the vision and
mission of this place – of all of us together.
We depend
for our future on the outpouring and receiving and the using of the Spirit’s
gifts. In the light of Easter, this is
the time to consider prayerfully what exactly our gifts equip us to do for the
common good here, and whether this is our time to step forward. We hope you will, at least to discover more
information about the roles and expectations of council Leadership.
It's not too
late to become part of our discernment gathering on Zoom this coming Tuesday
evening. Please consult our parish
website or contact Maura Schnorbach in our parish office for more specifics.
A gift is a
terrible thing to waste. Especially when
it’s the Greatest Gift of all.
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