Theological Truth: We all have God-given gifts, and we are all called to use them for the good of God’s people.
Sixty years ago tomorrow, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech, the speech that changed a nation and continues to inspire the world. If you haven’t watched it in a while, I encourage you to take the opportunity to be inspired by it once more. But did you know that the most memorable part of the speech almost didn’t happen?
Dr. Clarence Jones, Dr. King’s adviser and speechwriter, recalls what happened that day. The scripted speech was falling flat. Sensing he was losing the crowd, Dr. King deviated slightly from the script. It was then that Mahalia Jackson, the gospel singer who was sitting close to Dr. King, called out, “Tell them about the dream, Martin! Tell them about the dream!” Jones recalls “that King looked over at Jackson briefly after she shouted. Then he takes the text of the written speech that’s been prepared, and he slides it to the left side of the lectern, grabs the lectern, looks out on more than 250,000 people there assembled… [and] starts speaking completely off the cuff. That ad-lib became “I Have a Dream.”[1]
Jones remembers, “It was as if some cosmic transcendental force came down and occupied his body. It was the same body, the same voice, but the voice had something I had never heard before.”
That inspired event wasn’t only about Dr. King. True, he offered his gift of oration, but he also received the help of Mahalia Jackson, the exhorter who offered her exhortation. The Spirit moved and the Kingdom of God came a little closer. It’s an important reminder that we all have a role to play in God’s ongoing, Spirit-led project of salvation.
This is what Paul is telling the church in Rome when he writes, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters…to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” (Romans 12:1) God’s work is our work, and it requires the contributions of each and every one of us. Paul teaches those Roman Christians and us 2,000 years later, how and why to do this work.
First, Paul encourages us to see the world differently. Rather than being conformed to see things through worldly eyes (focused on our own self-interests and seeking only to satisfy our individual needs), Paul reminds us to be transformed by the gospel of God’s grace and mercy. To Paul’s audience, the “renewing of [their] minds” meant a different way of seeing, as well as a different way of thinking. As New Testament scholar Doug Bratt puts it, “Christians whose minds the Spirit transforms seek to think about people and things the way God thinks about them.”[2] The words from Amazing Grace come to mind, “I once was lost, but now am found; was blind but now I see.” Grace opens our eyes to see the world—its people and places—as God sees them.
Paul then cautions us not to think of ourselves more highly than we ought, which would be to relapse into worldly views of religious superiority and self-centeredness. Neither are we to think of ourselves as inferior or unworthy. To think “with sober judgment”—to stand on firm ground—is to recognize that we are all in this together by God, through Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit. We are one body—with various parts, purposes, and assignments—but all sharing in God’s project of salvation. Or as Isaiah says it, “hewn from the same rock…dug from the same quarry.”
There are no second-class citizens in the kingdom of God. We are all one family, one body of Christ. And we all have a job in the family business. Just as a human body has many different parts all working together for the flourishing of the person, so too does the body of Christ have many different people, possessing many different gifts. And all are necessary for and integral to God’s work of salvation. Our bodies need hands as well as feet, eyes in addition to ears, both brains and bowels. Each has its unique and essential contribution to make. The same holds true for Christ’s body the Church. “So we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members of one another.” (Romans 12:5)
Now in a town with more churches per capita than any other city in the country (or so I’m told) and a congregation of a size where it’s difficult for everyone to know each other, it’s unfortunately rare to witness occasions when we act as one body and share as though we are members of one another. But every now and then we do see the body acting as one, and it is glorious. That happened the day before yesterday.
As you know, we celebrated Shirley Ruedy’s life with a funeral mass, her Committal in the Memorial Garden, and a reception in McCracken Hall. It was a glorious day made more glorious by the array and display of gifts offered—the choir in their singing, the thurifer in his censing, the readers in their reading, the crucifer/priest server in her serving, the altar guild in their organizing and beautifying, the administrative staff in their proofing and printing, the bakers in their baking, the hospitality team in their setting up and cleaning up, the congregation in their congregating, the givers in their generosity. We didn’t all offer the same gift, but by understanding that we are all part of this one body in Christ, people offered what they could, and the church became what it is—the body of Christ given for the life of the world.
We can’t all be Dr. King with his preaching, nor Mahalia Jackson with her singing and exhorting. But we can most definitely do something. In the coming months you’ll be hearing about ways to get involved at Trinity. We’ll be asking you to consider “Church+3” —committing to coming to Sunday worship, plus some participating in some form of Christian education, plus at least one ministry of Trinity’s ministries, plus a financial commitment. Some may do all (GREAT!); all can do some. And when we do, the body of Christ is equipped to bring another dream to life, the dream that Bishop Curry reminds us about—to turn the world from the nightmare it so often is into the dream that God intends.
— Fr. AJ Heine, Rector, Trinity Episcopal Church of Staunton
Thirteenth Sunday After Pentecost, August 27, 2023
Readings: Isaiah 51:1-6, Psalm 138, Romans 12:1-8, Matthew 16:13-20
[1] vox.com/2016/1/18/10785882/martin-luther-king-dream-mahalia-jackson
[2] cepreaching.org/commentary/2023-08-21/romans-121-8-3/
