Dear friends in Christ: We welcome back Margaret Ellsworth, Forward Movement’s Marketing Coordinator, as our guest author this week.
During the last few weeks of the Sunday lectionary, we’ve traveled through 1 Corinthians 12: Paul’s discussion of the Body of Christ, with its many members and their many gifts.
These verses are rattling around in my mind with my reflections for 2025. I often spend the first few days of January journaling about my hopes and intentions for the coming year. It might also be a good time to think about my own gifts— and where they’re needed. Where do I fit into the Body of Christ that Paul describes? What gifts has God activated in my life?
I tell my kids that everyone has things that are easier for them, and things that are harder. Maybe that’s one way to think about spiritual gifts: what comes easy to you? What actions feel natural or joyful to you, that might be needed for the Church’s mission?
There’s one word that keeps showing up in my New Year’s journal: stories. I am drawn to stories: reading, writing, enthusiastically telling. That doesn’t show up on any of the lists in Paul’s letters, but once I name it I notice it everywhere.
Some of the less publicized spiritual gifts might resonate with you. Another of Paul’s lists of spiritual gifts, in Romans 12, names “the compassionate” who has the grace of “cheerfulness.” A friend once nudged me in church when this passage was read. She saw compassion and cheerfulness as God’s gifts in my life. Ever since she pointed it out, I notice it too.
Paul’s words could well have inspired the first head of Forward Movement, who is reported to have said in 1934, “If we want our congregations to be strong, we need them to be filled not with habitual Christians, but with disciples of Jesus Christ.” The Body that is our church is only as strong as its members.
It’s easy, in our busy schedules and our chaotic world, to be habitual Christians—to treat church more like a nice hobby than a way of life. This goes double for those of us who aren’t “professional Christians.” Christian practice can come secondary to our Real Work, fitting in our faith to the shrinking empty spaces on our to-do list or our calendar. To be a disciple, in contrast, is to know this faith as an animating force that moves us forward in all parts of our lives —inside or outside the church.
Of course, one of the main ways I use my storytelling gifts is by sharing stories about Forward Movement’s ministry. But perhaps my bigger storytelling work is raising my children, helping them know who they are and where they fit into God’s great story. The compassion and cheerfulness that God has given me are needed here—in my parenting work—and also allow me to encourage the other tired, overwhelmed parents in my community.
Another lesson I try to teach my kids: that hard things can become easier with practice. If we keep practicing, our gifts can become stronger, our joyful tasks easier. I’m glad for the opportunity to practice being a disciple, alongside the other members of the Body each week. Thinking about my gifts only goes so far —but showing up alongside my fellow disciples gives me the chance to practice using my gifts, with others traveling the same way.
What about you? Where do you notice God’s particular gifts in your life? How can you use them to deepen your discipleship and strengthen your community?
Yours faithfully,
Margaret Ellsworth
Marketing Coordinator
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