Gifted for the Common Good January 20, 2019 Rev. Stephanie Ryder Psalm 36:5-10 Your steadfast love, O LORD, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds. Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your judgments are like the great deep; you save humans and animals alike, O LORD. How precious is your steadfast love, O God! All people may take refuge in the shadow of your wings. They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights. For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light. O continue your steadfast love to those who know you, and your salvation to the upright of heart! 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you were pagans, you were enticed and led astray to idols that could not speak. Therefore, I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says, Let Jesus be cursed! and no one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses. There was an article Monday in the Opinion section of the Wall Street Journal entitled, Women Don t Belong in Combat Units, by female author Heather Mac Donald. MacDonald contends that integrating women into combat units threatens military readiness and wastes resources in the service of a political agenda. She cites the 2015 Marine Corps study which compared the performance of genderintegrated and male-only infantry units in simulated combat. The all-male teams outperformed the integrated teams and female Marines were injured at more than six 1
times the rate of men during preliminary training. The study was, she claims, ignored, as the Defense Secretary in 2016 opened all combat roles to women, creating gender-neutral standards so that women did not have to meet the same physical standards as men. This means that during the infantry-officer training course, officers can hand their 80 lb. pack to a buddy if they become tired during the 10-mile course. MacDonald s view is that lowering these physical requirements reduces the military s effectiveness. (her word was lethality, or ability to kill). She also cites the occurrences of male-female relations in which liaisons, rivalries and breakups all undermine the bonding essential to a unified fighting force. She claims women pose a challenge to combat-unit cohesion because of the nature of attraction. MacDonald asserts that the argument for putting women into combat roles is to qualify them for high-ranking Pentagon jobs. In our Bible reading from 1 st Corinthians, Paul writes to the church at Corinth about the variety of spiritual gifts. The church at the time was struggling over a number of issues. They debated about leadership (they were following teachers instead of Christ), the view of marriage, the practice of eating meat sacrificed to idols, women s role in the church, proper observance of the Lord s Supper (the poor who had to work arrived late missed the meal), the resurrection of the dead, and the value of spiritual gifts. Some spiritual gifts were thought to be more valuable than others. We posed a list of spiritual gifts to our Compassionate Kids, and they reflected on whether the gift related to them all of the time, some of the time, or none of the time. It turns out these second graders have a very highly developed sense of self. They were able to give examples of the various gifts when they felt they possessed them. One stated she possessed the gift of wisdom, of knowing things without knowing how she came upon the answer. Indeed, just a matter of minutes later, she correctly guessed the meaning of a Hebrew word: Shalom, meaning peace. Paul s list of the variety of spiritual gifts are examples, not necessarily a complete list of the spiritual gifts from God. For example, one of the kids suggested that standing up for someone else be a gift, with which I completed agreed. This is the gift of working for justice. It is especially appropriate to consider given the celebration birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. tomorrow. He was a servant of the Lord who gave his life in service to others. Dr. King s motivation and goals were not to become famous nor to be considered great. His desire was to serve in a manner that would effect positive change in the world for the benefit of humanity, regardless of race or socioeconomic status. There are people who put their lives on the line on behalf of others. And this is, of course, what Jesus did. Paul, too, put his life on the line for the sake of the gospel. He was eventually arrested and martyred, dying in his mission of spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul says there are varieties of gifts from God who activates them. Spiritual gifts are given, he says, for the common good. Would we say that Jesus and Martin Luther King and Paul 2
used their spiritual gifts in service for the common good? I think we would agree that they did. I wonder, then, about MacDonald s article about women in combat. I spoke with my female friend who is a Colonel in the Army. I sent her the article for her feedback, and she said she had already been sent it about 80 times. From her students, other colleagues like me, and her colleagues in the Pentagon. Apparently, we all wanted to know her opinion. Rather than giving me hers, she asked first for my opinion. I told her about another article I had read in response to a presidential Tweet about the success of Israel s wall, entitled, What Real Border Security Looks Like: Republicans and Democrats should agree to build an Israeli-style smart fence. The New York Times article showed the wire fence that is most of the border between Israel and the neighbors that would like their country erased. The author said Israel maintains border security by close cooperation with neighbors where it is possible and the use of modern technology where it is not. On an Israeli military base on the Golan Heights, which borders Syria, currently there is a bunker-like structure where 20 women soldiers sit at screens watching Israel s border with Syria, to detect threats and relay the information to field operators. The Israeli military has determined that women have longer attention spans than men. The women soldiers were acknowledged as having prevented an infiltration of armed ISIS fighters who were seen approaching the Israel border last August when they spotted them on the screens. The author mentions that though the fence along the Egyptian border does prevent illegal immigrants, most illegal immigrants arrive in Israel legally by plane and then overstay their visas. Tunnels are also a way of entrance which the fence does not prevent. Walls thus provide only the illusion of security, the author asserts, and the best way to protect a border is to rely on the tools of the 21 st century, not the 12 th (I m guessing he may be referring to the Great Wall of China, though from my understanding it began in phases in the 7 th c. BCE, was connected in 2 nd BCE and the one that currently exists today from the Ming Dynasty in the 14 th -17 th centuries; interestingly, it has been reported that even this legendary wall did not successfully prevent intruders as the intruders skillfully and immediately developed ways to bribe the guards for entrance). In the case of the Golan Heights, the tools of the 21 st century include electronic screens monitored by female soldiers, who possess the gift of a long attention span. To answer my friend s question about my opinion about women in combat, in light of both articles, then, is that perhaps it requires strategy. There will be some missions for which women are better suited, and some for which men are better suited. My friend said that her job requires that she send people into combat zones. Her strategy is to look at the person, and match the individual s giftedness with the mission. (She used that word, giftedness!). And this is her gift. Identifying the proper person for each mission. I wonder if this is what God does. God identifies us and gifts us to be suited for particular missions. We are fortunate that the church provides a safe place for us to practice and 3
develop our gifts. At least in our church, I can use the word safe because our lives aren t on the line. I realize that not all churches are safe places, and that the churches during Paul s time were at great risk, and some churches in other parts of the world today are at risk. Just as our folks in the military, whether women or men, are at risk. My friend with whom I spoke about this is being deployed to Syria in a couple of weeks. She pastors a church in Fairfield, CA. So perhaps it is not about risk but about call. God s call does not guarantee the mission is going to be risk-free. Life is not risk-free. We are born into a life of risk. So maybe we take the word safe out of the equation, and just simply say, The church provides a place for us to practice and develop our spiritual gifts. A place to identify, examine, and put to use our gifts. The church is by nature mission oriented. Our website s homepage states that at Redwoods we value ministries and missions of peace and justice. God has equipped us to activate these missions over the past 122 years. Indeed, our mission statement, which is printed on the inside of the bulletin each week, directly relates to our readings today. It begins: The mission of Redwoods Presbyterian Church is to worship God, to love one another and to serve God by ministering to others locally and throughout the world. The Psalm today is a song of worship, proclaiming God s steadfast love which saves humans and animals and gives all people refuge, abundance and light. This is how we live into the first part our mission statement. The second reading speaks to the next part of our mission statement, which says, We seek to develop the individual gifts of our members and nourish the heart, mind, body and soul. We cannot do this alone and so we seek God s guidance, Jesus Christ s example, and the Holy Spirit s inspiration. What is God calling us into now? Is God calling us to be on the front lines of the battlefield or perhaps surveying from the watchtower? Just as each individual in the church is gifted for the common good, so is each church gifted for the common good. The NY Times author of the article on border security, Bret Stephens, who was previously editor in chief for The Jerusalem Post, ends the article acknowledging that the good news for the US is that we don t face Hezbollah or ISIS, only people who want to relieve their own plight and contribute their labor for everyone s betterment, in other words, for the common good. He suggests that if we really want to secure the border, our first priority should be to make it easier for the people to arrive through the front door rather than have to sneak in through the back. I have been on battlefields in combat, but not military ones where shots are being fired at me and missiles dropped on me like my friend, Joanne. God has not called me to this. But God did call Joanne to the military battlefield. She believes women do belong in combat zones, where their unique gifts can be used for the common good. Perhaps not ground combat units where 100- pound packs are required and a woman doesn t have the body type to carry it. This is where strategy about the mission comes into play. And what is best for the common good. 4
I know my friend s presence is a bright light, and that her presence in Syria will be welcomed by the troops there, for whatever mission it is to which she is being called. She has the gifts of wisdom, knowledge, healing, prophecy, discernment, communication and faith that Paul mentions, and many other gifts as well. She is the only female Chaplain Colonel in the US Army Reserve and will be celebrating 30 years as an ordained minister next month. I thank God for her gifts. And honestly, I thank God that it is her that is being sent to the military battlefields... and not me. Lastly, our mission statement concludes: We strive to make known to all people the transforming power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, including all, excluding none. This striving to make known the gospel s transforming power requires that we share our gifts. I invite you to consider your gifts today, what you love, what connects you and makes you come alive, and consider how you might develop and contribute your gifts to the church and world beyond. We are here to support one another in our mission. Thanks be to God. 5