Don't Neglect Your Gifts

Picture this...

It's the night before Christmas, and everyone is soundly asleep in their beds, awaiting the arrival of the 25th day of December and the gifts that will be under the tree.  Tomorrow is the day that children have been waiting for all year.


In the morning, the family is up at 6 a.m., wishing they were still in bed but knowing that the kids would surely be up as early as possible to open their presents and play with their new gifts.  


But no one runs in screaming with joy...and they wait.  And they wait.  And they wait.


The kids finally get up, around noon, and walk into the family room to see all of the presents under the tree.  However, they just walk past them and sit down in front of the TV to watch their normal favorite show on Netflix.  Or maybe play a little bit of their current video game flavor.  


The gifts sit under the tree, with seemingly no interest from those whom they were given to.  Money, time, and love spent to find, wrap, and place each gift for each specific person...yet none of them accepted, utilized, or appreciated.

An unlikely story, right?!


Maybe.  Maybe not.

On Sunday evening, we read 1 Timothy 4:11-16, which has been a focus passage of scripture for us recently in our Faith and Leadership curriculum.

We focused specifically this week on 1 Timothy 4:13-14 -- discussing our gifts and our role in receiving them.

1 Timothy 4:14 says,
"Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you through prophecy with the laying on of hands by the council of elders."


Often, we're the children in the unlikely Christmas story when it comes to our spiritual gifts.

My question to you is this:

What gift(s) have you been neglecting?

For next week, we will continue the discussion of 1 Timothy 4:11-16, finishing with the last segment of verses 15-16.  If you're a high school student, join us in the Youth Suite at Second Presbyterian Church on Sunday evenings from 5:45-7:15 p.m. to be a part of our discussion on Faith and Leadership.

Sunday Preview: Q&A

Following up from last week during Thanksgiving weekend, we will continue this Sunday morning with a Question & Answer session!

The two questions we discussed last week were:

"Prove heaven and/or hell is real without involving the word faith."

"Why is it that when we pray most people look down?  Why not up?"

There are many more questions from last week that we will try to get to this Sunday morning, so come prepared for discussion and with any other questions you might like to add into the pile!

Leadership Team for Fall Retreat 2011

Last night we had a great meeting with the leadership team to discuss how they are going to be a part of our Fall Retreat this weekend (Nov. 5-6) at Camp Pyoca.  As a group, we decided to lead a 10-minute session at the beginning of each group curriculum time to talk about prayer.  Our discussion notes are as follows:

What is prayer?
What should it be?
Something that speaks to you (music, poetry, art, etc.)
Personal prayer, public prayer, nonverbal prayer

Writing our own prayers (S. Clark "on the track" likes this)
Group prayer
Guide on how to pray
Breaking mental blocks to prayer

**Kirsten apologizes for the smudges, she's a lefty**

So we decided that for each of our four teaching times, we will lead a discussion on:

1) What is Prayer?
2) Personal Prayer
3) Group Prayer (in small groups)
4) Reflection on Prayer

Think about these things throughout this week and add more ideas and details or volunteer to lead certain things in the comments of the blog!

Trek Preview: Romans Chapter 6

Tonight at Trek we continue our discussion series on Paul's letter to the Romans.  In preparation for tonight, please read chapter 6, and be prepared to answer these questions:


What’s the best gift you've ever received?

What’s the best gift you've ever given?

What is a gift? What makes it special?

Framing Leadership

As a part of our Sunday evening leadership team curriculum this semester, we have had a ton of great conversations about what it means to be a leader and to grow in your ability to lead.

This past Sunday evening, we ended our discussion with reading of a passage from
1 Timothy:

These are the things you must insist on and teach.  Let no one despise your youth, but set the believers an example in speech and conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.  Until I arrive, give attention to the public reading of scripture, to exhorting, to teaching.  Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you through prophecy with the laying on of hands by the council of elders.  Put these things into practice, devote yourselves to them, so that all may see your progress.  Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; continue in these things, for in doing this you will save both yourself and your hearers.

[4:12-16, NRSV]

As we continue in our discussions on leadership on Sunday evenings, we are going to use this passage to frame three areas in which we need to be continually mindful as leaders.

"...set the believers an example..."  

Growing as leaders, we must always be reminded that whether we realize it or not, we are setting an example for the people around us.  A lot of our discussion on leadership has mentioned the fact that if we are hypocritical or don't walk our talk, our effectiveness as leaders becomes nothing.  This doesn't mean we never make mistakes or have failings, but this does speak to how we handle those situations in our lives as leaders.

"...do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you..."

A significant part of being a leader is recognizing our own unique gifts and using those appropriately.  Likewise, effectively leading in a Christian setting means always living into the fact that our talents and abilities are exactly that--gifts.  Effective leadership plays to the strengths and weaknesses of the gifts that each of us have been given, and keeps the perspective of appreciating those as gifts rather than taking them for granted in self-credit.  

"...pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching..."

Self-reflection is an integral part of being a leader.  Not only does self-reflection allow us to see what example we're setting and how we are leading, but it allows us to always frame our leadership in something that is bigger than ourselves; something larger than simply what we are doing.  In this way, we can continually be a part of a wider picture and not be self absorbed in our own leadership.

Take some time this week to reflect on these areas and how they pertain to leadership.  While not comprehensive nor definitive, there is a rich learning opportunity in these words from 1 Timothy chapter 4 about being effective leaders.  

What else can we learn?

Trek Preview: Romans Chapter 5

This week in Trek we will dive into chapter 5 of the Letter to the Romans, continuing our study on Paul's writing.  As you read chapter 5 in preparation for our discussions tomorrow night, think about these questions:

What is love?  What does the word love mean to you?  

What are the ways in which you can tell someone loves you?

What ways do you try to show others that you love them?

Trek Preview: Romans Chapter 3

Tonight for Trek we continue with our study and discussions of Paul's letter to the Romans.  In preparation:

• Read chapter 3 of Romans (and possibly re-read chapter 2 -- if you feel like an overachiever)
• Read Genesis 2:15-17 and 3:1-7 (compare this to Romans 3)
• Write down any initial questions/thoughts you have so that we can jump right in tonight!