The Common Good
“To each person is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” — 1 Corinthians 12:7.
If you were at the service of worship here last Sunday, you know there was a guest preacher— the Rev. Mr. Kelly Shiflett. Thank you, Kelly. I was, obviously, not here. When Kelly got into the pulpit, I was on my way to Bangor, Maine— probably somewhere in East Central Massachusetts by that time.
And, yes— I go north to Bangor in January. However, I go north for a good reason— Convocation at Bangor Seminary— three days of lectures centered around a theme.
Having said Convocation centers around a theme, this year the theme was theology matters— theology matters. And, interestingly for me— writer of hymn and anthem lyrics that I am— several lectures focused on the topic of music and theology and how the theology we hear and assimilate with music, through music does matter.
One of these lectures was given by the Rev. Dr. Cheryl Townsend Gilkes, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Professor of African-American Studies and Sociology at Colby College in Waterville, Maine. Dr. Gilkes holds degrees in sociology from Northeastern University and specializes in tracing the history of Gospel music.
In tracing that history, one of her lectures brought to light the fact that 10% of African slaves brought to these shores were Moslem. Having made this point, she played a modern recording of a Moslem call to prayer.
We all listened as the chant hit notes running up and down a minor scale. She then played a modern recording of a nineteenth century arrangement of a Gospel song sung by a choir. And, lo and behold, there was the same sequence of notes and even the same tempos.
She then played a recording, probably from the 1930s, of the great contralto Marion Anderson. We listened to the same Gospel melody we heard the choir sing.
To be sure, in Anderson’s version you could hear the influence of European structure. And, to be blunt, in this rendition everything was much more staid, much more formal. On the other hand, if you listened carefully, you could still hear the basics of the melodies and rhythms found in the Moslem call to prayer.
Something else Dr. Gilkes pointed out in the course of her lectures was that at the root of all Spirituals you could find one common thread. What is that common thread? All Spirituals are about justice.
This premise, which insists Spirituals address justice is valid, in part, because Spirituals originate from an oppressed people. And Dr. Gilkes made one point clear about justice: justice, is not simply a theological position— a theological position being something like, oh, this is what I think. Justice, real justice, God’s justice, is never about what someone thinks.
Justice always needs to be an action. If justice is not something sought and acted out and acted on, it is simply an accouterment, an ornament, an accessory, a decoration. Put another way, if justice is an accouterment, an ornament, an accessory, a decoration it stops being a necessity as you strive to maintain a relationship with God
I have quoted my Hebrew Scriptures professor, Ann Johnston, here many times. Ann said for the Hebrews theology was not simply an intellectual position one takes. The Hebrews, she said, did not have a theology. The Hebrews did theology. Theology is an action done by a community— an action done by a community. (Slight pause.)
And these words are found in the work known as the First Letter to the Church in Corinth: “To each person is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” (Slight pause.)
So, what is justice? If it is an action, how does justice play out? (Slight pause.) Two things need to be noted in defining the act of justice. First, justice cannot be thought of in the singular as in ‘my justice’ or even ‘your justice.’
Justice can only be defined in the plural and not just the plural but the collective plural. Hence, justice— God’s justice— cannot be defined as “our justice” if the word “our” refers to a specific group. With the justice sought by God “our” means everyone is included when using the word “our.” In short, the justice we might seek is not the justice sought by God, unless the justice being sought encompasses inclusion.
The next point about justice should be obvious. But as far as I can tell, it is not. You see, great emphasis is often placed on equality. And rightfully so. Equality is important.
However, equality and justice are not the same thing. Strangely enough, the game of golf provides a good example of what I mean. It is called the handicap system. If one golfer has a handicap of ten and another golfer has a handicap of five and they go out on the course together, over 18 holes the golfer with the handicap of five needs to beat the golfer with a handicap of 10 by six strokes to win.
Why? It has been established the golfer with the handicap of five normally plays 18 holes five strokes better than the golfer with a handicap of ten. So, to make the match fair, the golfer with the lower handicap has to give away five strokes. That’s fairness.
Now, I know the golf example may sound a little abstract to some of you, so I’ve got a visual to help out.
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PLEASE NOTE: FOR THOSE READING THIS ON THE BLOG, IF YOU GO TO THE TEXT VERSION ON THE WEBSITE OF THE UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST, FIRST CONGREGATIONAL OF NORWICH, NY, YOU CAN SEE THE CARTOON REFERRED TO BELOW.
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(The pastor leaves the pulpit and hands out a piece of paper to each person present with cartoon which has two panels. In one three people, a short person, a taller person and a person still taller are trying to look over a fence. They are all standing on a box of the same height. Therefore, only the 2 tallest people can see over the fence. The same three people appear in the second panel, but the tallest person stands on no box, a shorter person stands on one box and the shortest person stand on two boxes. Each of them can still see over the fence. The first panel, where the boxes are of equal size, is labeled “equality.” The second panel, where the boxes enable each person to see over the fence because the boxes are of unequal size, is labeled “justice.”)
It is, I hope, clear equality is not the same as justice. Fairness is what justice is about. If the point of justice, if the point of a just result, is that everyone should be able see over the fence, then the boxes on which they stand cannot be the same height. They need to be of different heights.
Justice, you see, is not decided by equality. It is determined by fairness of result— fairness of result, not a fairness of competition. Justice is not about competition.
Another way to say this is that justice is not even decided by asking ‘how do we give everyone an equal opportunity?’ Again, equality is good. But equality does not always mean fair. Justice is decided by asking a simple question: ‘how do we empower everyone?’
So, justice is about fairness, about the empowerment of everyone. Since everyone is different, the question becomes how do we empower each individual. And the answer for each individual is, by definition, different. We need to act accordingly.
And that— in a society— is the hard part: to treat each individual differently. That means a whole lot of work, a whole lot of effort and yes, maybe even a whole lot of money.
All that brings us back to the text from Corinthians. We are all different. There is no doubt about that. We are all given gifts, different gifts. There is no doubt about that.
But the gifts are not only for our individual betterment. The gifts are meant for the community. And who is the community? (Slight pause.) Well, who is our neighbor? (Slight pause.)
It seems to me we live in an age when self-interests have taken precedence over true justice, justice as God would see it. We seem to talk about rights as if they were something which can be distributed or as if they only belonged to certain groups. If that were the case, they would not be rights. They would be temporary privileges.
Part of the point Thomas Jefferson was making in saying that people (quote): “are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,...” is that rights are immutable, fixed, changeless, invariable. In addressing the fact that we all have gifts and those gifts are for the common good, I believe Paul is expressing an understanding about God.
That understanding makes the claim that God sees us as individuals and also sees is as one people. That is not an easy concept for we mere mortals to understand. (Slight pause.)
This weekend we celebrate the memory of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In the work Letter from a Birmingham Jail Dr. King said this (quote): “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” I want to suggest that not only was Dr. King right, but the struggle for justice, the struggle for fairness continues on many fronts.
I also want to suggest that, at the core of the Gospel, we find a singular message: unless we support one another in love, the justice of God will remain an illusive destination.
And so, our call is to love. Our call is to freedom. Our call is to justice for all. Our call is to try to understand and to work toward the just will of God. And the just will of God makes this claim (quote): “To each person is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” Amen.
ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Congregational Response and Benediction. This is an précis of what was said: “The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said: ‘Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable... Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.’ But Dr. King also said: ‘The moral arc of the universe bends at the elbow of justice.’ We need to understand the truth of both those statements.”
BENEDICTION: The love of God must be lived and shared. So, let us go forth with the praise of God on our lips for the steadfast love of God will light our paths as God keeps us open to new ways of doing and learning. And may the love of God guide us, the word of the Christ empower us and the gifts of the Spirit dwell in us, this day and forever more. Amen.
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