Are you a re-gifter?
Now: about things relating to the spirit’s work, my brothers and sisters, I don’t want you to remain uninformed… To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. ( 1 Cor 12:1, 7 ) We just finished the twelve days of Christmas, and I’m curious…did any of you re-gift anything? I did a Google search, and found several etiquette websites with articles like “Nine rules for regifting” and “The Seven Simple Rules of Regifting” and “Five Things that Are OK to Regift, and Five Things that Are Not.” All of this—and even the term re-gifting—thanks to a 1995 episode of Seinfeld. Paul in today’s reading from Corinthians is telling us that, where the works of the Spirit are concerned, a sort of holy regifting is not only OK, it’s what is actually required of us! So what is it that we are to be regifting? What is the spirit’s work? Paul’s teaching on the work of the spirit makes it clear he’s not just talking about simply “lip service” like speaking in tongues or evangelizin...