If the Riverside congregation is anything like the general population, a significant percentage of us have engaged in a practice that was deemed socially unforgivable just a few years ago. It’s the practice of re-gifting. Of course, today re-gifting is so wide spread it has its own rules of etiquette.
It’s anyone’s guess what the Apostle Paul would think about re-gifting Christmas or wedding or birthday gifts. But our scripture passage for today from 1 Cor. 12 suggests that Paul would have approved of re-gifting spiritual gifts. In fact there’s a sense in which this text is Paul’s advice to the early church at Corinth on the topic of appropriate spiritual re-gifting.
That we are expected to re-gift our spiritual gifts isn’t to encourage the kind of bad habits that we’ve fallen into when we re-gift something because we’re too busy or lazy or cheap to go shopping for ourselves. Rather it’s to encourage the kind of re-gifting that is done out of love for one another and glorifies the original “Giver.”
There are any number of ways for you to re-gift your spiritual gifts for the sake of others in the church and community. Whether you are a long-term member of the church or you are here for a season, all are welcome to serve! Be praying about how you can get more involved in the mission and ministries of the Riverside family of faith.
A re-gifter of spiritual gifts,
Pastor Melanie