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Mr. Wesley Autrey is a 50-year-old construction worker and a Navy veteran. Last week, he leapt in front of a Manhattan subway train to rescue a stranger, 20 year old Cameron Hollopeter, who had suffered a seizure and had fallen onto the tracks. Mr. Autrey jumped down onto the tracks when he realized a train was coming and there was no time to get the young man out. He jumped down onto the tracks and covered the stranger’s body with his own as the train passed overhead. Both men survived. Mr. Autrey, who left two young daughters on the platform when he jumped, later chalked up his actions to a simple desire to help another in distress. A number of columnists have argued this week that there may be some people who are more hard-wired for giving aid to others. Now, people all over the country are being interviewed by reporters asking if people themselves could have done what he did? “Do you think you have the character to act as he did?” Very often the answer has been no.
Not the weighty medal from Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, the all-expense-paid trip to Disney World, the year's worth of free subway rides, the $10,000 waiting for him from Donald Trump -- not even the popping flashbulbs and the barrage of questions from a throng of reporters at City Hall could sway Wesley Autrey, now known as the Subway Hero, from his central message: If you see something, do something. We are all in this together and no one is more gifted than the next person. “Good things happen when you do good,” Mr. Autrey says, so act with kindness and compassion. This said to our world that often forgets to act with intuition, spontaneity and courage for the good of the other.

Now, the church in Corinth finds itself forgetting to act with intuition, spontaneity and courage for the good of the other. Paul finds himself faced with a beloved church that has forgotten who they are called to be: the courageous and spirit-gifted people of God. For the church in Corinth, worship has become self-centered and disorderly. There=s no end to the fighting; fighting over who can wear the badge of true spirituality; who has a right to be in leadership; who=s in control of the hierarchy of spiritual gifts; fighting over who=s in and who=s out; who controls the decision making; who=s threatening descent order with spontaneity; and most often fighting over who are the “real” Christians.
The people of the church of Corinth believe that the fighting would cease if Paul would just list, in order of importance, the gifts of the Spirit and therefore the positions of authority; if Paul would just itemize:

if Paul would just jot down and hand-over an inventory then the church would be back in business and all would be calm.

But Paul is sneaky. Paul is shrewd.
There are no entitled positions of authority. For Paul, spiritual gifts are not toys with which to tinker, but tools of the Spirit with which to do the Lord=s work. Spiritual gifts have nothing to do with ambitions or careers. They are not given by God to build prestige, to secure status, to establish a reputation.
Nor are spiritual gifts mysterious or exotic. No special holy achievement or accomplishment is required. Spiritual gifts may be amazing and the results beyond expectations, but they are not magical-super natural gifts. They are the natural part of God=s plan, true to the nature of God=s people.

For many of us, it=s difficult to acknowledge our spiritual gifts -- sometimes it=s confusion. Many of us can’t really pinpoint what gifts we’ve been gifted with. We have a vague sense of God’s varieties of gifts, of services, of activities, but we still believe that real spiritual gifts are only given to seemingly spiritual people, worthy people, impeccable people.
For some of us, it=s difficult to acknowledge our spiritual gifts because of disobedience. We openly deny, refuse, and reject the gifts given to us. We covertly withhold the gifts entrusted to us. We pretend that what the Spirit has activated in us is not really present and therefore does not really exist.
Sometimes it’s passivity. We stand on the beach, our eyes searching the night sky, praying for a sign, and we wait for God to speak to us through a shooting star. No shooting star, no sign from God, no gifts to make use of.
And sometimes it=s just plain fear: fear of what others will think, fear of seeming too pious, fear of failure, fear of success, fear of not measuring up, fear of what it will take to draw on our gifts for the common good.
Many times we just believe that gifts of the Spirit are optional rather than essential in the service of God, optional rather than essential for living a full and meaningful Christian life.
But for Paul, there’s no confusion or disobedience, or passivity or fear because to each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. Paul jumps down onto the tracks and brings us back up for a purpose; God’s purpose. Each person, Paul says, is given something to do that shows who God is. Everyone gets in on it. Everyone benefits. No one is left behind. All kinds of things are handed out by the Spirit and to all kinds of people. And the variety, the variety is wonderful.
Identifying spiritual gifts is not necessarily dramatic or difficult, but it is in the recognizing of God’s gifts and utilizing those gifts for the common good, that we find meaning and purpose as God’s beloved. We find that spiritual gifts are not prizes but tools B tools of grace, given by God for service to humankind; given by God so that we will act with intuition, spontaneity and courage for the good of the other.

        As we celebrate the birthday of the reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. this weekend, we remember that he once said nothing is more tragic than for people to let the gifts of the Spirit gather dust on the shelf. Nothing is more tragic, he said, than for people to sleep through a revolution; because the ultimate measure of humankind is not where we stand in moments of comfort and convenience, but where we stand in times of challenge and controversy.
In 1963, in his letter from a Birmingham jail, Dr. King wrote “We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people. In the end,” he said, “we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”     King bore witness that we are gifted in Spirit by the very gift of Jesus Christ – the One who came to transform our stillness into action, our fear into courage.
        In accepting the Nobel Peace Prize, he said that the gifts of “unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. Right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.” And in the end, on the very day before he died, Dr. King described his spiritual gifts this way “I just want to do God’s will.” “I just want to do God’s will.”

Paul spoke and Paul speaks still to the church of Jesus Christ here and at present: Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. There is no gift above another B only varieties of gifts.
And each of you is given gifts of the Spirit for the common good; gifts to serve Christ Jesus.
Gifts of tending, encouraging, listening;
Gifts of wisdom, faith, and knowledge;
Gifts of miracles, prophesy, and discernment;
Gifts of teaching, healing and shepherding;
Gifts of courage, intuition and spontaneity.
.....And all these are given by the Spirit, who gives them to each of you, just as the Spirit chooses: tools of grace, given for the benefit of all.

Cara Buckley, “Why Our Hero Leapt Onto the Tracks and We Might Not.” The New York Times. January 7, 2007, Week in Review News, 3.

Diane Cardwell, “Subway Rescuer Receives the City's Highest Award.” The New York Times. January 5, 2007, New York and Regional News.

. William J. Carter. Each One a Minister: Using God=s Gifts for Ministry (Revised and Expanded). Nashville, TN: Discipleship Resources, 2002, 43-44.

. John I. Penn. Rediscovering Our Spiritual Gifts: A Workbook. Nashville: Upper Room Books, 1996, 72.

Eugene H. Peterson. The Message: The New Testament in Contemporary English. Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress Publishing Group, 1993, 357.

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