"Be hospitable to one another without grumbling. As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen." 1 Peter 4:9-11One of the underlying themes of 1 Peter is the teaching about building a community, and the means to build up a community is love.
Perhaps, though, the idea of love being thrown around so many times in one letter gets to be too abstract. Indeed, as I learned in writing school, love is an abstraction. My idea of it might be very different than another's. But, fear not, for Peter has given us an example of how to show love.
The love that is used in this letter is the word agape, which gets translated into Latin as caritas, which is where our word charity comes from. In fact, in some older texts, charity comes closer to meaning a love that builds up a community, as opposed to our modern meaning of doing things for the less fortunate. And that concept is important to understand, because it helps us to imagine how we can accomplish building up a community of love, the Kingdom of God. Peter shows us that it comes about with using our unique gifts.
Think about how a church is run. There's a priest who teaches the congregation. There are lay ministers who also take on the role of teaching. There are musicians who lead the congregation. There are people who take to writing announcements in the bulletin or in social media platforms.
There are fellowships of people who devote their time to using their crafts for the less fortunate, such as knitting shawls for those who need them during the winter, or cooking and serving food for the homeless. There are many things that can serve the community all around.
So, this is where we all can come in. None of these things works without people actually giving their time and talent to these ministries. The only way to build an effective community is by using one's gifts for the common good. A community grows when each person grows individually. We have to figure out how we can provide for the bettering of our communities. If we have questions, there are plenty of people we can ask. We show our love for our community when we not only speak about the love we have for one another, but when we actually show it with our actions, putting all of our gifts to good use.
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