Sunday, May 24, 2026: "The Church We Can Imagine"
The First United Presbyterian Church
“The Church We Can Imagine”
Rev. Amy Morgan
May 24, 2026
1 Corinthians 12:4-13
4 Now there are varieties of gifts but the same Spirit, 5 and there are varieties of services but the same Lord, 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. 7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8 To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another the working of powerful deeds, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.
12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
Who could’ve imagined a church with no windows or doors, no carpeting, no instruments, no choir? But when the Mexico Mission Team walked into Bethel Presbyterian Church in Kilometro Ochenta two weeks ago, the things that we found unimaginable were not the things the church lacked. Because who could imagine a church where the pastor spent the entire service sitting in the pew while folks from the congregation offered greetings and shared prayers, read scripture and sang songs, and gave powerful testimonies to their faith? Other folks listened to the service from the outdoor kitchen while they prepared tacos and hibiscus water for lunch. A couple of young people tended to the sound system and set up tables and chairs for the meal after church. It seemed like everyone we saw had a part, had something to do, some way to contribute. There were no spectators. And there was no hierarchy. Everyone’s work was essential. This wasn’t an unusual way of worship for them. Their pastor had suffered a stroke several months ago, shortly after the church had formed. So the church folks stepped in with all their gifts for praying, singing, teaching, and even preaching, to continue worshiping God together. Whatever their building lacked, they made up for in sharing all their gifts. They are beginning to take up a collection to add windows and doors to the sanctuary, but there was no call for volunteers to do the work of the church because everyone was already doing everything that needed to be done.
As I reflected on our experience at church, I realized our Mission Team had operated this way all week. All 12 members of the team had different gifts, and everyone used their gifts to ensure our experience went well. One woman taught sewing workshops while another photographed our experience to share with churches and the Presbytery back home. Our youngest team members used their physical strength and endurance to haul dozens of buckets of sand and gravel to the second floor of a building with a rope. Our eldest team member carried empty buckets and helped children with crafts at VBS in the evenings. One person led group devotions and reflections each day, and another handled medical care for dehydrated team members and children with boo boos. Some of us had strength of body and others had more strength of spirit. Some dreamed up creative activities for kids and others had the energy to run around and play tag with them. Still others had the patience to listen compassionately or walk more slowly. No one’s gifts were more important than any others. A man who used to command a fire department learned from the Mexican craftsmen how to lay brick and make cement. A woman who pastors two churches washed dishes and changed out trash bags. No work was elevated above any other. Everyone contributed their gifts to the common good throughout the week.
In our society, it’s hard to imagine a community that operates this way. We celebrate individual success and achievement. We elevate certain capabilities over others. We listen to the loudest, most constant voice in the room, not the wisest or kindest. We use the gifts we have to get ahead, to make our mark, to climb the ladder. Maybe, we feel like we have to meter out our gifts because we’re just trying to survive and we’re afraid that if we give too much, if we contribute to the common good, our good will suffer. We view our gifts with the same scarcity mindset that permeates our society, with the same hierarchy of social status that defines our culture.
These were all concerns that were front-of-mind for the church in Corinth Paul was writing to in the first century. They can’t imagine a church where everyone is gifted and valued. This was a diverse and divisive congregation, and in the two surviving letters we have from Paul to this church, we see his struggle to help them unite in Christ’s mission by the power of the Holy Spirit. They are arguing, probably like many modern churches, about certain people doing all the work and other people slacking off, about the value of different contributions, about the value of different people in their community.
The congregation possessed a diversity of gifts as well as every other kind of diversity. There were wealthy merchants and political authorities who were accustomed to being respected and obeyed. There were folks who were indebted into slavery who were accustomed to taking orders and being ignored. There were women and men, young and elderly, Jewish and non-Jewish, Roman, Greek, and likely a variety of other cultures. And interwoven into all this diversity, without regard to worldly status, were a variety of spiritual gifts: “quieter” gifts like wisdom, knowledge, faith, and healing; and “louder” gifts like performing miracles, casting out demons, speaking in tongues, and preaching. The church in Corinth wants to rank these gifts, figure out who is more important, which gifts should put someone on top or make them stand out. Gifts are seen as something that can be used for personal advancement, not as something that contributes to the common good.
Paul offers four correctives to this mindset.
First, he says, God is the source of all gifts. Whatever gifts we have, whatever activities we do, God is the one behind it all. We can’t take credit for it. It is not for our glory.
Second, all gifts, of whatever type and in whatever measure, possess the same essential worth. Making tacos and singing a solo, cleaning the bathrooms and putting on a band-aid, preaching and playing with children – all of these gifts are of equal and infinite value.
Third, our gifts are meant to uplift the whole community, to serve the good of all. Instead of singing for recognition and fame, church folk sing to lift our spirits to God together. Instead of cooking to make money or enjoy a private meal, church folks cook to nourish the community. Instead of conserving energy so they would have plenty for fun on our day off, mission team members expended every ounce of energy they had on pouring cement columns and acting out bible stories for kids. Sharing our gifts with the community is God’s design for humanity.
Finally, diversity is God’s intention. We aren’t all meant to be preachers and singers and missionaries. We aren’t all meant to be organizers and teachers and prophets. We are meant to do the thing that is ours to do, and not to do the thing that is not ours to do. We are meant to rely on others to do those things. We are designed to need each other’s gifts. Because that is what creates unity. Not uniformity. Diversity of gifts, where everyone has something different but essential to contribute, draws us toward each other, unifies us in our common sharing of gifts.
Can we imagine this church? Can we imagine a church where God is praised as the giver of all gifts, where all gifts are given equal honor, where all gifts are used for the common good, where diversity is celebrated and binds us to one another in unity?
I think we can. I think we do.
Because we are that unimaginable community. We have a Gratitude Ministry for the sole purpose of expressing gratitude for all kinds of gifts. We gather around the font each Sunday, recognizing the multitude of gifts God has given each of us in baptism. We value the diverse ways folks use their gifts for the common good – from organizing community bike rides to maintaining day-to-day operations of finance and building maintenance; baking bread for visitors and bringing Communion to folks at home; planting new gardens and getting grants to help restore our aging roof structure; connecting with new visitors and checking in on long-time members we haven’t seen in a while; singing in the choir and serving snacks after worship. We have an amazing diversity of gifts in this congregation, and they draw us together. We rely on each other’s gifts so that we can be the “Heart of Christ in the Heart of Loveland.” Your pastor didn’t just sit in pew during worship, I left the country for three weeks, and y’all kept things sailing smoothly along. There were even several noticeable improvements when I returned.
The church that we can be is limited only by the church we can imagine. Paul helped the church in Corinth imagine a community so different from the surrounding culture it almost felt diametrically opposed. And that’s how we may feel at times, too. The pull of the world around us to discount our gifts, to preserve them and use them for our own good, to view them as something that we’ve earned and deserve, is so strong that it can subdue our beautiful imagination. It can cause us to question the abundance we’ve been gifted, to hold back on what we give, to seek uniformity instead of unity, to undervalue certain gifts and elevate others.
Church, God has given us so much. We have windows and doors, for one thing. You have a pastor who preaches on occasion. We have nurses and teachers and writers and musicians and artists. We have caring listeners and skilled bakers and energetic movers. All we have to do is keep our imagination healthy and strong, and all of these gifts will unify into one body, one church, one community that does what no one else could imagine.
On the day of Pentecost, which we celebrate as the birthday of the church, we remember that the Spirit fell on all the disciples. We remember that the Spirit is still at work, still gifting each of us with gifts to use for the common good. May we give praise to God for those gifts as we continue to become the church we can imagine.
To God be all glory forever and ever. Amen.
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