All in one and one in all

The three musketeers almost got it right by saying "All for on and One for all". This is the automatic reaction of the physical and perhaps something that we want to continue rather than to look further. However, faith is the taking of a step that is somewhat more than the physical. In the Corinthians letter, prior to the bodily analogy we are familiar with, Paul speaks of the spiritual and the gifts of the Spirit (1 Cor. 12.1-11). In doing so Paul reiterates and reinforces the idea that no matter what the gift the giver is the same. This is something that we often fail to acknowledge simply because we are too competitive to notice the trajectory or rather that we categorise what has been give into better and best rather than an acceptance of the giver and honouring the gifts.

In allowing ourselves to dwell in the cycle of better and best we mislead ourselves in suggesting that some are better than others. Once we do that we begin to bring into our faith the structures of the world around us that judge each according to the hierarchy of best. All gifts are given by the Spirit of God to be used to the benefit of the world and God's children. Only when we can overcome our fear of being least in the hierarchy of the world will we begin to ind the true value of God's Spirit in the world. Our gifts are there so that we can demonstrate to the world that God is present to us and not for us to demonstrate to each other who is the better or best in a categorisation of how we should act.

Open the gift to those around us and see the joy that comes with the Spirit

In caring for the other we open ourselves up to abuse and hurt. We are also opening ourselves up to the praise of those around us. In both cases it is not just us that will suffer but the community which we serve. In allowing the hurts of the world to harm us we damage our relationship with the world and yet this is precisely what we are called to do. In allowing others praise we are allowing the possibility of envy and categorisation to occur and yet we still need to undertake the task of being present to the other and bringing God's Spirit close. This appears to be a bit of a situation where we are damned if we do and damned if we do not do. The key here is in allowing ourselves to be guided by that selfsame Spirit rather than turning away from and spurning the gifts that have been given. In our reluctance to use our gifts either as a result of possible hurt or as a result of over praise we wither and die.

Christ could have refused to turn the water into wine at the wedding feast (Jn 2.1-11). This would have kept him from the limelight and he would have been able to minister quietly on the edges. The possibility of creating a figure of notoriety was there in this sign. Just like the offer in the other Gospels of having the angles catch him as he drops from the pinnacle of the temple roof. Yet, this does not happen. Christ remains in the background and yet is enabled to assist those around him in the community by bringing good out of a possible joyless occasion. By acknowledging the possibilities that are present within our use of those gifts given to us we are able to circumvent the downside that is present. It is this acknowledgement that we are so poor at enabling in ourselves. We are too often lured by the praise or hurt by the openness that we abuse the gift that has been given to us. Either we make grandiose statements and plans or we become reclusive and hard to move from where we are comfortable. Our first step along the road of following God's path is acknowledging that we ourselves are vulnerable to these paths and need the closeness of God's Spirit in our hearts. Then we can minister with an open heart and the full use of our gifts without envy and without hurt being present in our mix. This seems to  be our attitude to God's calling and gifts rather than allowing the attitude of others to be foisted upon us.