As St Paul wrote in the already quoted 1 Corinthians 12:4-6, ‘There are many different gifts ... there are many different ways of serving ... there are many different forms of activity ...’; all are needed and all are of value in the building of God’s Kingdom and His Church, as well as in the advancing of individual sanctity and faith in both those who give and those who receive. ‘... it is always the same Spirit ... the same Lord ... the same God who is at work in them all.’
As I stepped out of our local shop yesterday, I recognized a lady getting into her car and was at once compelled to speak to her.
As I stepped out of our local shop yesterday, I recognized a lady getting into her car and was at once compelled to speak to her.
I know Nancy and her husband by sight and by name, being members of the same parish and having frequently seen them in church over the years, but I do not know them as people, as individual persons, as characters: in reality, I do not known them at all.
I am ashamed to say that I do not recall having ever spoken to either of them before.
It is a long time since I first became aware of just how many people there are whom I recognize, can put a name to, see regularly either as neighbours or as members of a congregation, and yet do not know even superficially. It has always been a slightly troubling awareness: an ongoing discomfort: a matter of conscience. Occasionally it has been more than that, reaching a level where it has almost become a hurt. When such a moment has arisen, it has always been coupled with regret and repentance for not having spoken earlier to whomever the person may be; that person always being someone for whom I have had something to say which has remained unsaid. I have had the thought but it has remained sterile because my voice has not been heard.
It is a long time since I first became aware of just how many people there are whom I recognize, can put a name to, see regularly either as neighbours or as members of a congregation, and yet do not know even superficially. It has always been a slightly troubling awareness: an ongoing discomfort: a matter of conscience. Occasionally it has been more than that, reaching a level where it has almost become a hurt. When such a moment has arisen, it has always been coupled with regret and repentance for not having spoken earlier to whomever the person may be; that person always being someone for whom I have had something to say which has remained unsaid. I have had the thought but it has remained sterile because my voice has not been heard.
I have held my tongue through a combination of reasons which seem to take their turn at surfacing into consciousness; a shyness at meeting new people; a reluctance to be the one to make the initial approach; a fear of opening a contact too far and generating an acquaintance I do not wish to maintain; a fear of being asked to do something, or of being asked to go further than I want to go; a fear of others getting to know me; a fear of others comparing what they find with what they had previously assumed or guessed at, and learning that I fail their expectations on almost all counts. Spread thinly but undeniably throughout this unexceptional and very human mix of hesitancy, insecurity and inadequacy, is another strand which I find less easy to accept.
For one who thinks himself (whatever other faults be admitted) neither proud nor arrogant, to have my instinctive inclination to hang back suddenly laid out before me as a form of pride is disturbing and potentially frightening. It presents the possibility of this being the other side of the flipped ‘humility’ coin, where, once it is in the air nobody quite knows how it is going to land, and even when it comes to rest those present will see different end results, leading to continued disagreement and argument. I recall someone’s immediate response to the word ‘humble’ being used in a discussion, not with reference to any person but simply as the relevant word: – “If you ever think you are humble then you are definitely not.” A misuse and inappropriate emphasis and understanding, as I interpreted it, of a valuable way of looking at humility readily found in books, talks and teachings. I can already hear her voice somewhere saying, “If you think you are not proud, then you definitely are.” For me, an unhelpful thought; and not a helpful voice.
But there are other voices speaking other words, and I thank God for them.
What compelled me to speak to Nancy was her voice: her exceptionally helpful voice. If I had not responded to the inner prompting, letting another opportunity slip away, or if I had done so but hesitated long enough to be just too late to catch her, this would have become another of those moments: a hurt that may have lingered for days. But it did not.
Nancy and her husband, although almost strangers to me – and themselves perhaps not even recognizing me as, unlike them, I have not done anything to make them aware of my presence – are memorable to me through the use of their gifts. Through utilizing their giftedness they are recognized and valued for something more than being naturally gifted in the sense of skilfully exercising a nurtured talent; they are valued as being gifted by God in a way that has enabled the natural talent to be directed towards a maturity expressed for the benefit of others: for edification rather than an empty uttering of words. They are both gifted lectionary readers.
When that word ‘edification’ comes to mind, I normally think of the hoped-for results of preaching and teaching; of words derived from the spiritual thoughts of the speaker. I may benefit spiritually from reading the Bible to myself, away from all sounds and distraction, but I do not usually find listening to others reading the epistles or the psalms edifying. The scriptures come to mind only because that is the one place where I know I have come across the word, and St Paul speaks of it at a time when none of the New Testament existed in the written form we so easily take for granted today. Every early advance of Christ’s Church was achieved through the spoken words of the apostles and their followers until such documents as Paul’s letters began to be read aloud.
In his letter to the church at Ephesus Paul says, ‘let your words be for the improvement of others, as occasion offers, and do good to your listeners;’ (4:29). Of this verse St John Chrysostom said, ‘That is to say, what edifies your neighbour, that only speak, not a word more. For to this end God gave you a mouth and a tongue, that you might give thanks to Him; that you might build up your neighbour.’ (Homily 14 on Ephesians.)
For one who thinks himself (whatever other faults be admitted) neither proud nor arrogant, to have my instinctive inclination to hang back suddenly laid out before me as a form of pride is disturbing and potentially frightening. It presents the possibility of this being the other side of the flipped ‘humility’ coin, where, once it is in the air nobody quite knows how it is going to land, and even when it comes to rest those present will see different end results, leading to continued disagreement and argument. I recall someone’s immediate response to the word ‘humble’ being used in a discussion, not with reference to any person but simply as the relevant word: – “If you ever think you are humble then you are definitely not.” A misuse and inappropriate emphasis and understanding, as I interpreted it, of a valuable way of looking at humility readily found in books, talks and teachings. I can already hear her voice somewhere saying, “If you think you are not proud, then you definitely are.” For me, an unhelpful thought; and not a helpful voice.
But there are other voices speaking other words, and I thank God for them.
What compelled me to speak to Nancy was her voice: her exceptionally helpful voice. If I had not responded to the inner prompting, letting another opportunity slip away, or if I had done so but hesitated long enough to be just too late to catch her, this would have become another of those moments: a hurt that may have lingered for days. But it did not.
Nancy and her husband, although almost strangers to me – and themselves perhaps not even recognizing me as, unlike them, I have not done anything to make them aware of my presence – are memorable to me through the use of their gifts. Through utilizing their giftedness they are recognized and valued for something more than being naturally gifted in the sense of skilfully exercising a nurtured talent; they are valued as being gifted by God in a way that has enabled the natural talent to be directed towards a maturity expressed for the benefit of others: for edification rather than an empty uttering of words. They are both gifted lectionary readers.
When that word ‘edification’ comes to mind, I normally think of the hoped-for results of preaching and teaching; of words derived from the spiritual thoughts of the speaker. I may benefit spiritually from reading the Bible to myself, away from all sounds and distraction, but I do not usually find listening to others reading the epistles or the psalms edifying. The scriptures come to mind only because that is the one place where I know I have come across the word, and St Paul speaks of it at a time when none of the New Testament existed in the written form we so easily take for granted today. Every early advance of Christ’s Church was achieved through the spoken words of the apostles and their followers until such documents as Paul’s letters began to be read aloud.
In his letter to the church at Ephesus Paul says, ‘let your words be for the improvement of others, as occasion offers, and do good to your listeners;’ (4:29). Of this verse St John Chrysostom said, ‘That is to say, what edifies your neighbour, that only speak, not a word more. For to this end God gave you a mouth and a tongue, that you might give thanks to Him; that you might build up your neighbour.’ (Homily 14 on Ephesians.)
Every verse of the Bible has the power to edify us; the limitations are in ourselves, not in the Word of God.
We must search and listen for the words that will bring us to life; they are in there somewhere, but it takes more than our coming across them to make us recognize them as the ones we need. We may not know them when they are first found, but with God’s blessing in the form of the right person crossing our path, we can have them brought to life, not simply in themselves through skilful presentation, but within ourselves through a gifted interpretation.
This is what Nancy and her husband have done for me, and though I have thought it frequently, the years have passed without my uttering a word to either of them – until yesterday. In touching me anew with the meaning of the words they have read, they have blessed me and lead me deeper into that meaning; they have drawn me further into my relationship with the Word behind, beneath and between the words.
Hearing and listening attentively to what we hear, begins an absorption into the Presence that underlies the words on the page. The Holy Spirit, through the gifted reader, lifts the words from the page and lays them before our understanding as a gift: as pearls that are not to be idly cast before those without the ears to hear. We are the ones for whom that gift is given; we are the ones for whom the reader has been blessed with the gift of turning God’s Word in scripture into edification rather than words of merely superficial worth. Such ability is the fruit of two natural gifts combining to become a spiritual gift given for the benefit of all who hear; the ability to interpret the written word, and to convey the interpretation without loss and without distraction through an inspired utterance of the words.
My thanks to Nancy and her husband: yes. But more than this; thank you Lord for them: for bringing them to us; for Your gift to them, and for our ability to hear Your Word more clearly through them.
Nancy’s path crossed mine yesterday, as mine crossed hers, and I have at last said what should have been said long ago: the words I needed to utter have been spoken. Perhaps, unknown to me, Nancy also needed to hear me speak.
We must search and listen for the words that will bring us to life; they are in there somewhere, but it takes more than our coming across them to make us recognize them as the ones we need. We may not know them when they are first found, but with God’s blessing in the form of the right person crossing our path, we can have them brought to life, not simply in themselves through skilful presentation, but within ourselves through a gifted interpretation.
This is what Nancy and her husband have done for me, and though I have thought it frequently, the years have passed without my uttering a word to either of them – until yesterday. In touching me anew with the meaning of the words they have read, they have blessed me and lead me deeper into that meaning; they have drawn me further into my relationship with the Word behind, beneath and between the words.
Hearing and listening attentively to what we hear, begins an absorption into the Presence that underlies the words on the page. The Holy Spirit, through the gifted reader, lifts the words from the page and lays them before our understanding as a gift: as pearls that are not to be idly cast before those without the ears to hear. We are the ones for whom that gift is given; we are the ones for whom the reader has been blessed with the gift of turning God’s Word in scripture into edification rather than words of merely superficial worth. Such ability is the fruit of two natural gifts combining to become a spiritual gift given for the benefit of all who hear; the ability to interpret the written word, and to convey the interpretation without loss and without distraction through an inspired utterance of the words.
My thanks to Nancy and her husband: yes. But more than this; thank you Lord for them: for bringing them to us; for Your gift to them, and for our ability to hear Your Word more clearly through them.
Nancy’s path crossed mine yesterday, as mine crossed hers, and I have at last said what should have been said long ago: the words I needed to utter have been spoken. Perhaps, unknown to me, Nancy also needed to hear me speak.
For that also, dear Lord, I thank you.
Amen
