Varied Grace by the Rev. Robin Hinkle
"Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen." –1 Peter 4:8–11
Construction has begun and there is so much excitement at our church about what the future will hold. Have you ever deeply thought about what a gift it is that we have such amazing options for our future, both individually and as a church? We can decide what work we want to do and on what we would rather take a pass on. As I have been thinking about our work together, the phrase “God’s varied grace” has really touched my heart as I consider how we are blessed with a massive span of gifts in our congregation. We are like the glass of a kaleidoscope with the potential to form an infinite variety of light and color.
God has in fact graced every single person he created with varied gifts. We all have particular things about us that uniquely qualify us to accomplish God’s work in the world. I am therefore wondering this season about how we can discern for ourselves, and help others discern as well, how we can use our gifts in the world. In particular, I believe that we are being called to mentor one another within our church and in our communities of service, to help one another see our/their giftedness and to help one another to achieve our potential.
I am therefore entering into a time of discernment and planning as to ways we can serve beyond simply providing for basic needs. We are exploring additional ways we can help our neighbors discern and achieve their potential. For instance, we are looking at how we could help youth and their families navigate the FAFSA forms, so the youth can receive financial aid for community college, tech school or university, funds they absolutely qualify for based upon their circumstances. We are looking at more and better ways to tutor and mentor kindergarten through high school students so that they can achieve the full necessary education needed to become financially independent adults. We are considering programs where we can help neighbors file their income taxes so that they can receive their refund for free, instead of having to pay a huge percentage using other means. And we are exploring new opportunities to aid the poorest and neediest of our world, homeless men and women who are plagued with severe mental illness or are in need of end-of-life hospice care.
As we build our grounds for our new church home, we will therefore also be building upon the foundation of our work in outreach. We invite you to commit this year to explore the many service opportunities we will have this fall and spring. Specifically, we ask everyone to commit to serve in at least one. Additionally, come join us in conversation as we consider how we can build up our neighbors and neighborhoods, so that like our church, they too will become even brighter spots of new potential. I look forward to hearing your ideas!
**This article was written by the Rev. Robin Hinkle and was featured in the 2024 Fall Archangel.