The Congregation at Duke University Chapel

First Corinthians 12 offers Paul’s wisdom on spiritual gifts. The frequently quoted passage declares that "There are a varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit." Then, in verse 7 the apostle writes, "To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good."

In the book, Rediscovering our Spiritual Gifts, the author Charles Bryant emphasizes this verse. Our spiritual gifts are not learned skills nor innate characteristics. They are not our day job nor our weekend activities. Spiritual gifts are the way the Holy Spirit works through us. It is God’s presence in our lives, showing forth in particular ways – that is, "manifestation of the Spirit."  This manifestation may certainly be related to our natural abilities or the activities to which we gravitate, but these gifts originate in God, not in us. Because they originate in God, they are empowering and life-giving. Because they originate in God, they are for God's glory, not ours. For this reason, the gifts are for the common good.

I recently told someone that I thought her cheerfulness was a spiritual gift. I named it as such because in her cheerfulness, I saw God’s presence. And I saw the impact of her gift on those around her.

Where do you see God's presence in your own life or in the lives of those near you? Can you name the gifts? The manifestations of the Spirit for the common good?

With gratitude for God’s presence among us,

Carol

Note: If you would like to explore the topic of spiritual gifts, please sign up for the Winter Retreat. More details are online.

As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:27-28

Labels are a useful way for humans to identify each other. When meeting someone who is unfamiliar to us, it is helpful to know if that person is male or female, tall or short, blonde or brunette.

Yet, labels can also set up an 'us vs. them' scenario that can be hurtful and even harmful. We watched this past week as our leaders in Washington D.C., labelled Democrats and Republicans, refused to cross party lines causing the government to actually shut down for a few days. And, the issues they were arguing about are still not resolved. Perhaps they are focusing too much on the 'us vs. them' instead of our shared humanity.

Underneath all the labels that define us, we are all made in God’s image. Paul’s words to the Galatians remind us that we all "are one in Christ Jesus." Let us live into the knowledge that we are all connected—all one—and leave the 'us vs. them' mentality behind.

Peace,
Phyllis

Donell Shaw is smiling because he has a job! It is employment you made possible. Thank you!

Donell, who is in the center of this photograph, was recently hired by Durham Habitat for Humanity as their Repairs Apprentice. It is a one-year position designed to provide training and experience that creates a pathway to a living wage job for someone who is un/underemployed. This new, full-time, position which was initiated by our Congregation Council and developed through a year of dialogue with Durham Habitat, is funded with your gifts to the Empowerment Ministries fund. Your gifts have enabled Donell to move out of the Urban Ministries shelter and into his own apartment. You have given him a job, which makes him smile, and yet he is not only thinking about himself. Donell says “God places our two feet right in front of us to show us the way to go.  I’m looking forward to contributing to the Habitat team’s values, helping them meeting their goals, and working towards a better job.

In October 2017, the Congregation Council announced the creation of the Empowerment Ministries Fund and challenged the congregation to contribute $50,000 above and beyond our sustained giving. This new fund was created to support the Repairs Apprentice position and an additional group of vulnerable children through ZOE. In this way, we could join together to empower neighbors both locally and globally, enabling individuals to become economically self-sufficient. This has already begun by hiring Donell. Next month, I will write about ZOE children.

As of this writing, we have raised $44,000 of the $50,000 goal for the Empowerment Fund. In a few short months, you have generously supported this new outreach initiate. Thank you. If you have not yet contributed to this fund and want to be part of Donell’s smile, I invite you to make a contribution above and beyond your typical giving. You may simply put a check in the offering plate noting that it is for the Empowerment Ministries or choose one of the other ways to contribute as listed on our Giving webpage .

The Holy Spirit has been and is at work among us. I am convinced God has guided us in developing and supporting these initiatives. Let’s rejoice in what God calls us to do together, both what we have already accomplished and what we will yet do.

I am grateful for your faithfulness.

Carol

I can’t remember the first time I saw this map on the left. From my earliest days, this was just the way the world looked. I never questioned it. Until the day I saw the map on the right of the pair in Mr. Temple’s 10th grade history class.
 

Called the Gall-Peters projection, the map on the right approaches the problem of putting a spherical Earth on a flat piece of paper in a different way, with a shockingly different result.

On my internal map, the one I had never questioned, Africa and Greenland were about the same size. But as Mr. Temple told us, in reality, Africa is 15 times larger Greenland, and this new map showed it.

I will leave to others to describe how maps are made and why this makes a difference in how we think about the world; for the moment, it is enough to say that questioning something I had always taken for granted turned my world upside down. At first, it was disorienting, but over time, I learned that I could never return to my simple, unquestioned assumptions about the world.

Starting on January 23, young adults and university students will gather to take a hard look at the maps we have been given, to question the ways we have been taught to read the Bible that so often lead to death and destruction. We'll use the book Manna and Mercy to read the Bible with fresh eyes. From Genesis to Revelation, we'll dive deep into the Scriptures, and discover a new, life-giving way to read the story of God.

Like trying to project a sphere on a flat piece of paper, capturing the story of God in just one perspective is an impossible task. Reading Scripture is always a conversation that begins with humility and takes place in Christian community.

If you would like to join us for this 6-week conversation about reading the Bible with fresh eyes, email me to sign up, or attend our information session after worship on Sunday, January 14 in the Chapel Kitchen.

I can’t wait to read alongside you!
Andrew+

In the days after Christmas, children and adults alike will ask “What did you get for Christmas?” The pious answer is “Jesus”. The secular answer enumerates the tangible gifts that were under the Christmas tree. Both answers may be true and honest.

As we enter this New Year, I invite you to think about another kind of gift – spiritual gifts. God has graciously given each of us a variety of gifts. Period. We are gifted, each of us and all of us. In addition, God calls us and gives us the privilege of using these gifts for God’s glory and the betterment of the world around us. That, too, is a gift – the gift which gives us meaning and purpose in our lives.

If you are curious about your own spiritual gifts, there are several ways you may explore them. Starting next week, two book groups will gather to discuss Rediscovering Our Spiritual Gifts by Charles Bryant. Details are below. On February 10, our half-day Winter Retreat will explore “Interior Movements and Holy Desires: Discerning What is Mine To Do”. Retreat details are online . And if you can’t wait a moment more to explore your gifts, this online assessment will give you an immediate answer!

I hope you will join me in exploring your own spiritual gifts and seeking new appreciation for the gifts of others, for indeed, we start this New Year as blessed and gifted by God.

May the peace of Christ be with you.

Carol

According to Luke, the shepherds were the first to know.  While minding their own business, that is sheep, some shepherds had a frightening vision of an angel. The heavenly messenger declared that the Messiah had been born in a nearby town. They would find the child wrapped and lying in a manger.

Unclean peasant shepherds would have had no reason to hope to see the Messiah. Surely, they longed for his arrival as did other Jews of their day, but as unclean, low-ranking citizens, they probably never imagined they would have the opportunity to actually see the Messiah, let alone be the first to do so. They had no reason to think they could witness such an event. The long-awaited One was expected to arrive in some sort of grand style to other people. And yet the angel declares that the shepherds would find the Messiah in circumstances similar to their own, in a peasant home, wrapped the way children were wrapped, looking very much like many babies they had seen. The child came not to unknown people in distant splendor; instead, the child came in a setting familiar to shepherds. Perhaps because it was familiar to them, they felt they could go take a look.

Do we sometimes wonder if Jesus comes for someone else? Maybe Jesus comes for those who are in some way better than us – maybe more pious or devout, maybe kinder or more loving, maybe more worthy or deserving? Or maybe Jesus comes for those who are in some way more in need than us – maybe those with more economic, health, or spiritual challenges than we. And maybe it is simply for reasons we cannot articulate, but we expect Jesus’ arrival is for anyone other than for us.

If the shepherds were invited to go and see Jesus, though they never could have imagined such an invitation, then perhaps that invitation is for us too. Perhaps we, too, should go and see what has taken place. The report is, "all who heard it were amazed." (Luke 2:18)

Jesus is born for us all, each one of us. Let us go, see, and celebrate.

May God bless you with deep joy this Christmas season.

Carol

This coming Sunday marks the third week of Advent. The candle lit on the Advent Wreath will be pink instead of purple, representing the much needed joy as we wait and prepare for Christ’s arrival.

In Out of Solitude, Henry Nouwen says, "Joy and sadness are born at the same time, both arising from such deep places in your heart that you can't find words to capture your complex emotions."

I have come to understand joy as actually containing an element of sadness. Unlike simple happiness, joy goes deeper—a kind of depth that is only reached through comparison with unhappiness, anxiety, uncertainty, and perhaps even despair. For me, these "complex emotions" as described by Nouwen blend together with happiness to form joy.

In both of our sons' birth announcements, Mel and I chose the word "joyfully" to describe their arrival. I didn’t understand the depth of this word at the time, but knew it just seemed appropriate.

As this time of waiting and preparation continues, let us embrace the joy of this third week of Advent and look forward to Christmas Day when we all can joyfully announce the birth of Jesus… Emmanuel …God with us.

Advent Blessings,
Phyllis

On Sunday, I caught myself telling a lie.

In reminding our Youth Group that Advent is a week shorter this year because Christmas Eve falls on a Sunday, I said it was a gift that Advent is only 3 weeks instead of 4.

What’s the lie you ask? My liturgical time-keeping was correct; the notion that having a shorter Advent is somehow a blessing or an escape from another week before Christmas is what I got wrong.

The season of Advent is a gift from God, and it is the gift of a season to slow down, to wait, and to watch. It is the gift of being able to stop. The impatience of wishing this season of patience would be over one week sooner—that says more about me, and perhaps about you, than it says about Advent.

It is hard for us to stop. It can be a terrifying thing to give up our doing in favor of our being, to consciously choose stillness over activity, to let ourselves be healed of the dis-ease of being busy long enough to see what God is doing.

To stop like this is rarely easy, and yet as Isaiah reminds us , we will miss the chance to meet the author of justice, to hear the voice of peace calling out to us if we do not do the hard work of stopping our work.

Like so much of our life in God, this radical season of stopping is something we cannot do alone. So take some time during this Advent season, and read this article from Duke’s Omid Safi, which Young Adults will be discussing at our Pub Theology gathering on December 14. Or take a few moments in the evening to pause and reflect on God’s presence in your day, using this prayer our Youth Group is using for the season of Advent. Or maybe make the prayer below yours this Advent season, offering yourself to what God will give during this season of stop.

However you decide to mark this Advent season, however you summon the strength to stop, know that you are not alone. We are in this together. And when you see me next, why not invite me to pause and talk a while. We can catch ourselves telling each other the truth: that Advent is a season for stopping.

Journeying with you,
Andrew+

An Advent prayer :
God, grant me the grace and space to slow myself, to wait and notice, that my heart and my hands would be ready to receive what you are offering. Amen.

The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra claims there are five things we may not know about George Frideric Handel’s Messiah.

One of the things we do know about Handel’s Messiah is that it will be performed at Duke Chapel three times this weekend. Many members and friends of the Congregation will be singing, while many other members and friends will be listening. The Messiah is a beloved annual tradition for both performers and audiences around the world. This year, here in Durham, the concerts will be particularly precious, as Director of Chapel Music Rodney Wynkoop has announced his retirement at the end of this academic year. This is the last season he will direct this masterpiece in his current role.

The text of Messiah is scripture. Early in the piece, we hear “Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” (Isaiah 40:3) The season of Advent, which begins on Sunday, calls us to a time of expectation and preparation as we wait for the coming of Christ. The Messiah can help us with this preparation. You may choose to meditate on the scripture, attend a concert, or listen online (in some locations). You may also choose to thank one of the many people who bring the concert to us.

May we each seek to prepare the way of the Lord.

Carol

Many years ago I was present with a group of children who were asked to name the things they were thankful for. Several of the children mentioned they were thankful for toys. Trying to get them to think more deeply, the leader responded something like this: “Yes, we are thankful for our toys and other belongings, but those are just things.” The leader then asked, “Is there something besides a ‘thing’ you are thankful for? Perhaps a special person?” One child responded, “I’m thankful for the people who make toys!”

One Thanksgiving Day, about 30 years ago, I thought I didn’t have anything to be thankful for because my beloved Dad was comatose in a nursing home. I forgot to be thankful for his life and the unconditional love he showered on me. I forgot to be thankful for the care he was receiving as he neared the end of his life. And frankly, I forgot to notice the beautifully colored fall leaves as they fluttered down from the trees on the breezy fall days. There was so much I forgot about being thankful.

As we give thanks this Thanksgiving Day, and all days of the year, can we set aside our “things” and current life circumstances? Think deeply about what you are thankful for at this point in time. It may not all be full of laughter and happiness, but I guarantee it will be full of joy. 
 
With Thanksgiving,
Phyllis