Gifts of the Spirit - Pentecost

May the spirit of God infuse my words and carry them forth with God’s purpose. Amen.

Throughout the church year we have several seasons and days to which we give names. A couple of the seasons are Advent and Lent. Some of the days are Christmas, Easter, and the Ascension of Jesus. We just talked about that last one a week ago. Why do we name these days and seasons?

Do we do it to fill up our calendar? Or maybe to make our calendar more colourful? Maybe someone high in the church was just bored and started coming up with names to pass time?

No. We divide up the church year so that we can explore different parts of what it means to be Christian.

Advent and Lent are penitential seasons. This does not mean that they are times to remember everything that we’ve done wrong. They are times when we examine ourselves. When we look and see what we are doing wrong, what we could do better, and what we are doing right. They are times when we ask God to help us see ourselves more clearly.

Following Christmas and Easter we have seasons of celebration. Seasons when we rejoice in the grace of God; in the gifts of Jesus as the Son of God born in a human body and Jesus our resurrected saviour. We spend time talking and thinking about what those gifts mean to us.


Today is the day of Pentecost. This is another one of those named days where we change our focus.

Today is not about self examination. Today is not about specific gifts that God has given to all people.

Today is about God giving gifts all people.

Just a second … didn’t I just contradict myself?

Today is not about gifts that God has given to all people. Today is about God giving gifts to all people. These are subtly different. The first is about gifts like the resurrection. This is one gift given to all people. The second is all about Pentecost.


“For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.”

We have all received the Spirit of God. This is a gift of God, but that gift looks different in each of us. Each and every one of us has been given personal gifts by God: different gifts from everyone else. We call these Gifts of the Spirit.

In the first letter to the Corinthians, some of these gifts are listed. “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.” This list is a good place to start looking, but it is by no means complete.

During Advent and Lent, we spent several weeks looking inwardly. Part of what we were doing was trying to identify our own gifts; the talents given to us by God.


Today, on Pentecost, we try to be aware of those gifts in a different way. Today we look at the difference between work and calling.

We all know what we are good at and what we are not so good at. We also know what jobs to avoid because we truly suck at them. Knowing this can help us make good career choices, good choices about hobbies, good choices about many things we do. This is looking at things from the perspective of work.

When we look at things from the perspective of calling we have to look in a different way. We don’t say “is this easy” or “is this hard.” We say “how does it make me feel to accomplish this.” When we make choices in life based on calling the things that are hard for us seem just a little easier. Things which we though we could never do become possible. Things which were already easy become a joy to do.

Finding your talents is relatively easy. Finding your calling takes more work. To find your calling you have to try different things; some things which seem likely because they fit your talents and some which you would say “I’d never be good at that.” Your calling might become your job. Your calling might be something else you do. You might have more than one calling.

When you find your calling and follow it, your life will never be the same. It won’t necessarily be easy, but it will satisfy your soul. When you find your calling and follow it, you won’t have to look for your gifts … they will be bubbling up within you looking for a way to explode out into the world.

This is what Pentecost is about.

Thanks be to God.