Like the ancient church in Corinth, the Holy Spirit has blessed each of us with a variety of gifts. Each of us has received an equal portion of the gifts of the spirit, but inevitably our gifts differ from one another. In the first congregation I served, all of us on staff were given the Myers-Briggs personality inventory. We discovered that I was the only person on staff who measured high on the scale that rated how driven we are to meet deadlines. I was the only person who scored high on the need to complete tasks, tie up loose ends, and stick to schedule. My fellow staff members ranked on the other end of the scale. They tended to like tinkering on things, keeping all their options open, and not worrying about completing one job before moving on to the next. Once we learned this about one another, it helped explained a lot. It explained why I felt frustrated when others didn’t take deadlines seriously. It explained why we seemed motivated by different things in our work together. And we learned that one way of doing things wasn’t better than the other. Both gifts were important. The others on staff tended to bring more spontaneity and flexibility to our work, and I tended to keep us moving toward getting things done. Our differing strengths complimented each other. Although our different way of doing things frustrated us at times, we learned that together we could accomplish more than if we all thought and felt and worked the same way. The Spirit has granted each of us skills and aptitudes and gifts that make us different from one another, and in our differences we make each other stronger. In the 1989 comedy “See No Evil, Hear No Evil,” Richard Pryor played a blind man and Gene Wilder played a deaf man. Together they witnessed a murder, but no one believed them. Because of their disabilities, they were discounted and disrespected. But they discovered that working together, they fit. Their respective disabilities added up to super abilities. Their gifts complimented one another. Where one was weaker, the other was stronger. Together they made their way through the world with more confidence and skill than either of them could do alone. Differences among us can create tension. Our differences can be frustrating at times. But the Holy Spirit grants us different gifts and differing abilities in order for us to do more together. Our differences aren’t good or bad in themselves. But the Holy Spirit, working through the variety of gifts we share in community, can make amazing things happen in service to God.

Though we possess different gifts, we’re united in one Spirit. We may not always work alike, but the Holy Spirit unites us in the love of God. As John Wesley said, “though we may not think alike, may we not love alike?” Though we’ll never all be just the same, we’re united by the same Spirit of God working among us. In the United Methodist Church, we hold a denominational gathering once every four years. Our next General Conference will be held this spring, when United Methodists from around the world will gather to worship and pray as they set the policies for our denomination. United Methodists have been sending petitions to General Conference for over a year now, appealing to the conference to adopt new policies and pass new legislation about all sorts of concerns. This General Conference will consider a whole host of petitions calling upon the United Methodist Church to define what United Methodists believe more precisely than we already do. There’s a concerted effort to pass new policies to root out unorthodox faith from the church. Some petitions presented to General Conference hope to close our communion table, so that those who’ve not been baptized would be turned away from receiving communion. Similar petitions would require all professors teaching at United Methodist seminaries to sign a statement of faith, confessing their belief in specific doctrines such as the virgin birth of Jesus, his physical resurrection, and the literal interpretation of the Bible. The same folks who’ve presented those petitions will also try to pass new policies to limit the freedom of pastors to preach what they feel the Spirit leading them to preach, and instead preach only words approved and condoned by the majority of voters at General Conference. This movement to eliminate dissension and disagreement, to enforce unanimity and conformity stands in direct opposition to Paul’s teaching to the Corinthians. Paul never argued that diversity was a sign of weakness in the community of faith. Paul never wrote that difference among Christians was evidence of brokenness. Quite to the contrary, Paul taught that the diversity we can see within the church is evidence of the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, granting us collectively all the gifts necessary for the work of God. The Holy Spirit united us not in conformity of opinions, but in our faith in Jesus Christ. Paul explained that all who say that Jesus is Lord are united by the work of the Holy Spirit. Whatever differences we face in our lives - in the local church, in our workplaces, in our homes, we are equally important in the sight of God. Rather than rush to prove one opinion right and all others wrong, the presence of the Holy Spirit reminds us that the work of God happens only when our differences are united in faith.

When it comes to faith, Paul explained that we all belong. We may have different understandings and different abilities, be we’re all united by the same spirit. All who profess faith in Jesus Christ are on equal footing in the life of the church. None of us is better because of our abilities. No one is of less importance because of their perceived disabilities. Differences are good. Disagreements are evidence of the Holy Spirit at work differently in each of us. In the mix of all that we can do as individuals, there’s a greater good that we can accomplish as a community. Though we bring different gifts, we’re united in one Spirit. Though we may not think alike, we’re united in the love of God. Amen.