Gifts of the Spirit
God on Monday
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The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. (Isaiah 11: 2-3a).
Reflection
All Christians share that common calling to Christ, but we differ in the work to which he has called us. This means all spheres of work – unpaid work in the home included – have equal dignity.
Archbishop William Temple insisted that pursuing our livelihoods and serving Christ were not in conflict: ‘all Christian people should enter their profession in the spirit of those who regard it as their chief sphere of serving God’.
I have been involved in the training of church leaders for most of the past three decades. Consequently, I have attended countless ordinations.
Typically, in these services, large congregations of lay and ordained people gathered in Cathedrals sing the Gregorian chant Veni Creator Spiritus. In doing so, they invoke the Holy Spirit to light their inner fire with the seven gifts of the Spirit based on the words from Isaiah cited above: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord.
This communal invocation serves as a reminder that these gifts are not the preserve of the promised Messiah, nor of his ordained ministers, but are available to all, regardless of background, talent, or circumstance.
We may, like the Apostle Paul, be an urban intellectual who has learned to make tents, or a fisherman who, like the Apostle Peter, has learned to teach.
What matters in finding our life purpose is not so much what we do but how we do it. We need to be on fire with the gifts of God’s Spirit to find and fulfil what on earth we are here for.
Response
Which of the seven gifts of the Spirit do you exercise most in your work? Which ones do you want to see more of in your work?
Prayer
Loving Lord, thank you that in Jesus we find all seven gifts of the Spirit. By the power of that Spirit, help us to exercise these gifts more fully in our work. Amen.
This Week's Author
Peter S Heslam, Director of Faith in Business
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God on Monday is produced in partnership with the Church of England. The reflections are based on the scriptural readings designated for the coming Sunday in the Church's lectionary. You can sign up to Faith in Business here to receive each God on Monday instalment.
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