“For just as the body is one and has many members,  and all the members of the body,  though many,  are one body,  so it is with Christ."  

   1 Cor. 12:12

Sometimes in life we have the opportunity to overhear a conversation that others are having and they don’t know you are listening in.  Maybe you pick up the phone and someone is on the other extension in your house,  or  you’re in a restaurant and you overhear a discussion at a neighbouring table talking too loudly.  .  Now, if you deliberately plan to do this it’s called eves-dropping – not nice!  But,  if it happens by accident,  well,  it’s not your fault,  right?  You can hardly get up and the restarant just because someone is talking too loudly, right?  So you get to overhear a conversation...and some of things you learn by overhearing are very interesting.

I overheard a conversation while getting my hair cut awhile ago.   I was sitting in the chair and the young lady in the chair next to me was talking to her hairdresser.   She said to her:   ‘I’m in a wedding party this weekend.  A friend of mine is getting married.’    The hairdresser said ‘Really,  what church?’   The lady in the chair mentioned a Presbyterian Church in our presbytery!  My ears perked up  -  I know that church and I know the pastor at that church!  The hairdresser said ‘Oh,  I don’t know that church.’   She said ‘Oh, it’s just a little white church down the way.’   And I smiled – and said to myself   ‘ouch !  That’s not the most complimentary description.  Who wants to be known as the little white church down the way.’   I’m sure you won’t find that on their road sign or letterhead anytime soon…but it is after all, how some people see them. 

  You can learn a lot by overhearing!   And I think one of the reasons we listen in -  not just because we’re snoopy,  but because we think those conversations might have something to say to us!  I walked into the hospital once to visit a member of my congregation.   When I got to the door I saw her there in bed.  I greeted her with a smile and said ‘Hi Marj’  and she put up her index finger as if to say ‘just a minute please’.   I didn’t know why – nobody else was visiting her,  but when I walked over to the bed I noticed that there was a pastor visiting another lady in the same room.  He was offering her encouraging words and then had a prayer with her.  After the prayer he walked out of the room and finally Marj looked at me and said ‘Did you hear that?’  I said ‘What?’  She said ‘What he was saying ’.   My first thought was that she shouldn’t have been listening in on their conversation.  My second thought was,  she obviously needed encouragement badly enough to accept it second hand.   

Now, before you get all judgmental about people listening in on conversations, let me remind you that that is exactly what we are doing today!  We’re listening in on a conversation between the Apostle Paul and the Corinthian congregation.  It’s no secret that the Corinthian church had some problems.   They were a divided congregation – divided over several big issues.  So they had some important questions they needed answered – questions about whether it was better to marry or stay single,  questions about spiritual gifts and which were the most important,  questions regarding the proper way to celebrate the Lord’s supper.  And thankfully they had the courage to ask their pastor,  Paul, to give them instruction on these things.  And that’s refreshing!  How rare it is to find a congregation that is willing to take instruction and discuss the big questions of the faith.   Oh, we’ll fight about the issues, take sides but rarely do you find people who will actually sit down and receive instruction and talk about the big issues. 

In today’s passage,  Paul is dealing with the issue of spiritual gifts.   Now, there are no shortage of spiritual gifts in the Corinthian congregation. …there are plenty.  Some people have the gift of teaching or preaching,  some have the gift of service,  some the gift of healing, others the gift of tongues.  The problem isn’t a shortage…the problem is each believes their gifts are supreme.  You see,  if speaking in tongues is the supreme then the person who does it is supreme …they’ve really got the Spirit!   So they were arguing over the supremecy of gifts.

And Paul writes to them and settles with these words:  ‘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.’   So Paul shifts their focus away from their many gifts onto their single purpose… to bring glory to God.  We have these gifts not for our own sake but for the sake of the gospel.

So Paul is hitting at the heart of the problem in the Corinthian Church – they are too individualistic… focussed on themselves rather than their common goal.   And any group that isn’t single-focussed will not be a strong team.   The Corinthians are a gifted congregation but it takes more than gifts to make a strong congregation…it requires focus too.   Consider today’s flower arrangement -   you might say that it’s a pretty arrangement because it’s composed of pretty flowers.  But I could rearrange those flowers in such a way that they are not pretty at all!   So a pretty bouquet is more than the sum of its parts.  Arrangement counts for something!  Same is true for a strong team -  arrangement counts for something. 
Last Monday the Florida Gators chewed up the Ohio Buckeyes 41-14 to win the NCAA  national football championship in Glendale Arizona.  A decisive victory of the Gators.   And what’s so surprising about this is that Ohio was favored to win the game.  They were expected to win by a full 7 points…they had the more talented members on their team.  But as we found out individual talent is no match for a team that is playing well together! 

I’m not a big lover of reality shows -  except for one – Extreme Makeover.  I love that show.  I love the sense of charity  - they always pick the most needy and deserving families to build a home for.  I love the lofty goals they set for themselves…they send the family off on a week’s vacation and in that time period they must tear down the old home and rebuild a new one.   I love the creativity of the decorators.  Each person’s bedroom is built uniquely for that person – to reflect their interests and desires.   I love the drama of the show – coming down to the wire and trying to complete the project.  I love the reactions of the family members when they get to see their new home for the first time.   But most of all,  I love the teamwork.  Extreme Makeover demonstrates the power of teamwork – what can be accomplished if we work together for a common purpose.  The Extreme Makeover team transforms lives!  They not only do great things but they have fun doing it at the same time!

So today we’re ordaining and installing 7 new elders and 7 new deacons into office.  Let me remind you that you’re not just another pretty face in the pew.  You’ve been hand-picked by this congregation because of your gifts of leadership, your commitment to God and your faith in Jesus Christ.  And you’ve been handpicked by God too – because God is part of this process too.

And like Extreme Makeover, I hope you’ll bring some of the same things to this team.   I hope you’ll bring some charity to the group…because you can never have enough love and care in your leadership.   I hope you bring some vision for this church and we set some lofty goals.  I hope you bring some drama to our meetings…not too much,  just enough to make it interesting.   But most of all,  I hope you bring a commitment to the team…you know,  individually we can do some good things,  but as a team we can do great things…we can move mountains!

Welcome to the team,  all of you.  Let’s do some great things together for God and let’s have fun doing it at the same time.  In the name of Jesus Christ,  welcome to team Hidenwood.

Amen