There is a song in the new Chalice Praise Hymnal entitled "One Spirit of Love." While I am not much of a praise music enthusiast, I admit that this song has become one of my favorites. Many are the wonders of God, many doors open wide... Many are the gifts that we share, many burdens we bear... The lyrics are based up 1 Corinthians 12 and Ephesians 4, two of the scriptures in which Paul describes the plethora of diverse gifts and callings within the Church as the body of Christ. Paul's refrain is also that of the song: Many gifts, one spirit of love.
In February of this year, and repeatedly since, I have had the amazing honor and privilege of seeing and celebrating the diversity of gifts within the body of Christ as it is manifested in the Open & Affirming Ministry Team. Though our team was saddened by Sharon Hart's decision not to continue as the leader of our team, we took this as an opportunity to develop something new, to embark upon a unique plan of leadership. What we ultimately arrived at was not all that new. Instead we heard the call to return to a biblical model of gifts-oriented leadership, where each member of the team shares her/his gifts and passions with the whole team in a spirit of love and care for one another.
We began to explore this model of ministry after asking Sharon to describe her ministry as chair of the O&A Team in great detail. She did so, and our team immediately realized that Sharon was doing the service of a full-time staff person for her volunteer ministry. We also saw that her ministry covered four primary areas: Administration, Leadership of the O&A Team, Representing O&A to the GLAD Council, and Representing GLAD and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) to the ecumenical Welcoming movement. Sharon performed myriad roles under the umbrellas of these four areas.
After detailing the duties Sharon has carried out in her leadership, we looked around the room at each other and began to see the gifts and skills we possessed. Among our team, we had the talents and passions to carry out the various functions. While officially Christy Newton and I are now co-leaders of the O&A Team, in reality every member of our team is working together, sharing the load of our ministry, and using our diverse gifts for the work of the body of Christ. Ann, Matthew, Gilbert, Casey, Pam, Kerry, James, Jeff, Job, Vaughn, Kathy, Ben, Sharon (yes, Sharon continues to work and serve with us), Christy and I and all of the team are the leaders of the Open & Affirming Ministry Team. All of our gifts and services are valued and necessary, and indeed, none is more important than another.
I am truly honored to be a part of this ministry as I feel that we, the O&A Team, in our striving to follow this gifts-oriented model of leadership, are coming closer to serving as Christ's body here on earth than perhaps any other ministry of which I have been a part. My prayer for our team is that we will continue to "grow up in every way into the one who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body's growth in building itself up in love" (Ephesians 4:15b-16).
The final verse of the praise hymn sings: Living as the body of Christ and the heart of the earth, and the hands that will break new ground. Celebrate the gifts from within; it's tie to begin. God's people can turn this world around now. To that, I can only say, "Amen!"
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