Need Dat Gumbo
“Personal faith is never private. It only exists in a public body for the common good.” That’s a statement from the Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota Environmental Stewardship Committee, and I’ve been wrestling with it. All week I’ve been thinking about what to say about Paul’s words about gifts of the Spirit and the idea of personal faith. I was pretty sure that God’s word was coming from Minnesota, until I met a Cajun at the grocery store last night.He greeted me in the parking lot with a sincere, “How you?” I said, “Good, but cold.” He said, “Aw yeah. Need dat gumbo.” It didn’t hit me until later, but when it did I realized that it fit pretty nicely with what Paul had to say.
First, let me go back to Minnesota real quick and maybe just add some seasoning. “Personal faith is not simply private. It’s a gift that we share for everyone to enjoy.” I think that gets closer to the core meaning of what Paul had to say about gifts of the Spirit.
It’s important to say that these are gifts “of the Spirit.” Paul repeatedly tells the church in Corinth that these are all from the same Spirit, because they are used to hearing about a variety of Gods meeting a variety of needs. They had house gods. They had gods for fertility and harvest and safe passage through death.
Paul wanted them to know that there is only one God, and this very real and present God offers what no other false god can offer – intimacy. That’s right. God, the real and true God, is both universal and particular. God is involved the vastness of the cosmos and God is involved in your life and in mine. God is active and present, and the best expression of God’s presence was through Jesus.
Any other God that pretends otherwise is simply not real and true. More than that, this is the God who is the source of all gifts. Paul just happened to name a few. These gifts were not made for plaques on the wall like some certification of personal achievement. They were given to help the community understand how God was active and present in and through their community. These gifts were given to a people who lived well before scientific inquiry who needed to discern between things they could observe and forces they could not understand.
These gifts have also been given to you and to me to help us discern between the struggle for power and the will of God. These gifts are manifestations of the Spirit. They are the presence of God expressed in different ways through you and through me for the common good.
Some of us are given wisdom. Some poses greater knowledge. Some express a greater reliance on faith that God will do as God has promised to do. Some are called to heal and comfort. Some do, by God’s grace, what others find impossible. Some are given the passion to speak truth to power. Some are more understanding of the spiritual nature of all things. Some are more adept at languages and their interpretation, as in the event of Pentecost. Some traditions hold that “speaking in tongues” comes from an encounter with God. In scripture, Paul advises more than once that if there is no one to interpret it would be better to keep silent, because the whole point of these gifts is to benefit the common good.
The gifts of the Spirit are not party tricks or personal rewards for things we have done. They are actual manifestations of the presence of God! We know this because these gifts, when used for the common good, perform the services God has promised through the ministry of Jesus. They move us toward salvation! They move us toward redemption. They demonstrate the activity of God because they become the actions of God moving in and through you and me!
That may sound a bit presumptuous, but it’s truly not. In fact, it’s really not about me or you and the things we do. The gifts of the Spirit are all about God fulfilling the promises that God has made. That’s important for us to hear in this world that seems so precariously balanced between self-preservation and self-destruction. When we read the news and realize that there is an actual increase in hate crimes, the world seems a little colder. When we hear the fear behind arguments between walls and welcome and vulnerability and suffering, the world feels a little colder. When we consider the cost being paid by children at border crossings, and the deafening silence over the permanent impact of our actions on ecosystems in the name of progress and security, the world feels a little colder.
Dat’s when we need dat gumbo, yeah, because gumbo is not just food. It’s a cultural experience, and you don’t typically make it for just one person. Everybody knows that you start with the trinity, and then you make a roux. Some people may use the instant kind, but you can usually tell. It takes time to make a roux. It takes the blending of ingredients to make gumbo, and you make it to share.
Not only that, but it becomes its own kind of statement about who we are as a people, whether you like gumbo or not! It is so much so that a man can say to me in a parking lot, “Need dat gumbo,” and I know that he means warmth and community and presence.
Warmth and community and intimacy are what we all crave. Something inside of us leaps for joy when we feel it. Maybe only the extroverts in the crowd want that moment to shout, “I’m in love, and I don’t care who knows!” but the scriptures proclaim a God that wants to do that for us. That’s what Isaiah was shouting when he said, “I will not keep silent!”
Isaiah claims that God will vindicate God’s people. That’s a public act. Everyone needs to see what faith in God has done for God’s people! Further, God will save God’s people in a way that is so public that others will talk about changes. It’s no different with you and I. No matter how long or how short we have been together as God’s people, there should be points along the way where other people say, “Somethings different with you. What’s going on?”
My hope is that you will be able to answer in a way that recognizes God’s presence, and that this may be the stew pot where it soaks in. You see, in recognizing together that God claims us as God’s own, we become like the servants in the wedding in Cana.
Our obedience to God, even when it seems ridiculous, is what allows us to be a part of the transformation God has in mind for the world around us. Sometimes we have to recognize that all we have to offer is water, and that God can still do amazing things in spite of our limitations. In fact, it is often our limitations that open us to the miraculous hospitality of God!
That may be hard to see when you’re by a hospital bed (or in one). It may be hard to believe when your finances don’t line up. It may seem totally irrelevant when you read the news and think about how messed up this world can be. In fact it may seem ridiculous to you to talk about the gifts of the Spirit when what we need are real solutions to real problems.
That’s when we have to remember that these gifts are not intended to be given for you or me to solve our own problems as individuals. In fact it may help us to go back to that idea from Minnesota.
Their idea about faith and public witness is not actually all that new. I’ve heard the same thing said another way in the past. Faith is personal, but it is not private. My personal faith and devotion mean nothing if they don’t move me into deeper relationships with others. So, the question these passages raise is not about when and how we get our gifts. The question is, “How far do we extend the common good?”
Is our faith given to us for our benefit as individuals? Sure. Is it given to us for our common union as a congregation? Yes. Is it given to us for the benefit of our community? Of course. Is it given to us to help guide our nation? Absolutely. Is it given to us to see the humanity in others? Yes. Is it given to us to see the presence of God in each other, in our enemies, in creation itself? Yes.
It starts right here, in this place, in this proving ground of faith. Maybe we can’t turn water into wine, but we can make a roux. We can pay attention to the Trinity, and we can make a gumbo. Each of us have a little something to add, and each of us take home a little of what we have together.
Be careful though; what you have been given to take home from here is not only for you. Only by faithfully sharing do we come to full belief, for God is active and present even in and through you and even in and through me. Hopefully, that’s what others will taste and see, and to God be the glory for that, now and always, amen.
Paul wanted them to know that there is only one God, and this very real and present God offers what no other false god can offer – intimacy. That’s right. God, the real and true God, is both universal and particular. God is involved the vastness of the cosmos and God is involved in your life and in mine. God is active and present, and the best expression of God’s presence was through Jesus.
Any other God that pretends otherwise is simply not real and true. More than that, this is the God who is the source of all gifts. Paul just happened to name a few. These gifts were not made for plaques on the wall like some certification of personal achievement. They were given to help the community understand how God was active and present in and through their community. These gifts were given to a people who lived well before scientific inquiry who needed to discern between things they could observe and forces they could not understand.
These gifts have also been given to you and to me to help us discern between the struggle for power and the will of God. These gifts are manifestations of the Spirit. They are the presence of God expressed in different ways through you and through me for the common good.
Some of us are given wisdom. Some poses greater knowledge. Some express a greater reliance on faith that God will do as God has promised to do. Some are called to heal and comfort. Some do, by God’s grace, what others find impossible. Some are given the passion to speak truth to power. Some are more understanding of the spiritual nature of all things. Some are more adept at languages and their interpretation, as in the event of Pentecost. Some traditions hold that “speaking in tongues” comes from an encounter with God. In scripture, Paul advises more than once that if there is no one to interpret it would be better to keep silent, because the whole point of these gifts is to benefit the common good.
The gifts of the Spirit are not party tricks or personal rewards for things we have done. They are actual manifestations of the presence of God! We know this because these gifts, when used for the common good, perform the services God has promised through the ministry of Jesus. They move us toward salvation! They move us toward redemption. They demonstrate the activity of God because they become the actions of God moving in and through you and me!
That may sound a bit presumptuous, but it’s truly not. In fact, it’s really not about me or you and the things we do. The gifts of the Spirit are all about God fulfilling the promises that God has made. That’s important for us to hear in this world that seems so precariously balanced between self-preservation and self-destruction. When we read the news and realize that there is an actual increase in hate crimes, the world seems a little colder. When we hear the fear behind arguments between walls and welcome and vulnerability and suffering, the world feels a little colder. When we consider the cost being paid by children at border crossings, and the deafening silence over the permanent impact of our actions on ecosystems in the name of progress and security, the world feels a little colder.
Dat’s when we need dat gumbo, yeah, because gumbo is not just food. It’s a cultural experience, and you don’t typically make it for just one person. Everybody knows that you start with the trinity, and then you make a roux. Some people may use the instant kind, but you can usually tell. It takes time to make a roux. It takes the blending of ingredients to make gumbo, and you make it to share.
Not only that, but it becomes its own kind of statement about who we are as a people, whether you like gumbo or not! It is so much so that a man can say to me in a parking lot, “Need dat gumbo,” and I know that he means warmth and community and presence.
Warmth and community and intimacy are what we all crave. Something inside of us leaps for joy when we feel it. Maybe only the extroverts in the crowd want that moment to shout, “I’m in love, and I don’t care who knows!” but the scriptures proclaim a God that wants to do that for us. That’s what Isaiah was shouting when he said, “I will not keep silent!”
Isaiah claims that God will vindicate God’s people. That’s a public act. Everyone needs to see what faith in God has done for God’s people! Further, God will save God’s people in a way that is so public that others will talk about changes. It’s no different with you and I. No matter how long or how short we have been together as God’s people, there should be points along the way where other people say, “Somethings different with you. What’s going on?”
My hope is that you will be able to answer in a way that recognizes God’s presence, and that this may be the stew pot where it soaks in. You see, in recognizing together that God claims us as God’s own, we become like the servants in the wedding in Cana.
Our obedience to God, even when it seems ridiculous, is what allows us to be a part of the transformation God has in mind for the world around us. Sometimes we have to recognize that all we have to offer is water, and that God can still do amazing things in spite of our limitations. In fact, it is often our limitations that open us to the miraculous hospitality of God!
That may be hard to see when you’re by a hospital bed (or in one). It may be hard to believe when your finances don’t line up. It may seem totally irrelevant when you read the news and think about how messed up this world can be. In fact it may seem ridiculous to you to talk about the gifts of the Spirit when what we need are real solutions to real problems.
That’s when we have to remember that these gifts are not intended to be given for you or me to solve our own problems as individuals. In fact it may help us to go back to that idea from Minnesota.
Their idea about faith and public witness is not actually all that new. I’ve heard the same thing said another way in the past. Faith is personal, but it is not private. My personal faith and devotion mean nothing if they don’t move me into deeper relationships with others. So, the question these passages raise is not about when and how we get our gifts. The question is, “How far do we extend the common good?”
Is our faith given to us for our benefit as individuals? Sure. Is it given to us for our common union as a congregation? Yes. Is it given to us for the benefit of our community? Of course. Is it given to us to help guide our nation? Absolutely. Is it given to us to see the humanity in others? Yes. Is it given to us to see the presence of God in each other, in our enemies, in creation itself? Yes.
It starts right here, in this place, in this proving ground of faith. Maybe we can’t turn water into wine, but we can make a roux. We can pay attention to the Trinity, and we can make a gumbo. Each of us have a little something to add, and each of us take home a little of what we have together.
Be careful though; what you have been given to take home from here is not only for you. Only by faithfully sharing do we come to full belief, for God is active and present even in and through you and even in and through me. Hopefully, that’s what others will taste and see, and to God be the glory for that, now and always, amen.
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