The God’s Promise Fulfilled cohort spent a rich weekend over Memorial Day exploring the theme of “Gifts, Leadings and Ministries.” Diving more deeply into these concepts than most of us had before, we imagined what our Meetings could become if we were what author Elizabeth O’Connor, in Eighth Day of Creation calls a “gift-evoking community.” For starters, we’d need to move beyond exploring lists of spiritual gifts toward truly claiming and developing them as individuals and communities, both building our own capacity and supporting each other to do the same.
In Essays on the Quaker Vision of Gospel Order, Lloyd Lee Wilson gave us a framework for understanding more fully the stewardship of a spiritual gift:
- First comes Naming: noticing what gifts are present and explicitly acknowledging their presence, or absence growing from our unique personalities and experiences. We may begin this ourselves in prayer and reflection, but the naming comes from a seeing by the community. We must be assisted by others who recognize our gifts when they sense Spirit repeatedly moving through us in a particular way.
- Then, as a separate act of will, we must Claim the gift: owning its presence and becoming willing to speak of the work we are doing to grow into it takes real courage, especially in a culture which can see such claims as arrogant and egotistical. (Making our meetings more friendly to such conversations would help here). Failure to acknowledge our spiritual gifts may seem like humility, but as Emily Provance reminds us in “Spiritual Gifts, the Beloved Community and Covenant” (Pendle Hill Pamphlet 461), it is actually deeply unfaithful to decline to allow Spirit to move through us.
- A step that was new to many of us is what Lloyd Lee Wilson calls Consecrating: a worshipful search within ourselves, identifying the parts of our lives that might need to fall away to be faithful to the exercise of the gifts. Becoming willing to be changed to be an effective carrier of one’s gift requires recognizing that a commitment to living faithfully is a lifelong evolution that cuts to the heart of who we are and who we’re intended to become. Engaging in the Spiritual Companioning practice (which SotS has taught), is a particularly good opportunity to seek Guidance about what we need to lay down or pick up in order to be completely faithful.
- Developing gifts involves the intentional cultivation of the gifts, in ourselves and in each other, which don’t usually appear perfectly formed. Programs, courses, reading, contemplative retreats and spiritual companioning can all be sources of learning and skill development. Opportunities abound and a disciplined sense of responsibility to our emerging gifts helps to focus which ones we choose to open to.
- Then comes the time for Exercising the gifts: using spiritual gifts as opportunities arise. By this point, we will likely have developed “eyes to see and ears to hear” so that possible places where our gifts could be helpful will become apparent. There’s no need to force its use, but rather a willingness to feel our gift called for. And then to step into offering what we are able. Walter Wink, in Engaging the Powers, cautions us to do what we’re called to do and not one thing more. Part of faithfulness is trusting that God will give the rest of the work to someone else.
- And finally, our covenant community is responsible for Receiving the Fruits: being willing to receive the gifts as exercised. This is the part of the work that involves becoming collectively more articulate about how gifts work, more interested and less judgmental about seeing which ones are manifesting in each person. It is the work that makes Step 2 above (“claiming”) more possible.
We left the weekend with a new dimension of faithfulness available to us. We hope these resources, and the invitation they contain, might call to some of you as well.
– Joann Neuroth
