The ministry of the Church

[AI translation] It is a common experience that many people are confused about the feast of Pentecost, they don't know what to do with it. They think that it is something incomprehensible, extraordinary, special, when in fact it is a very simple and practical thing: that Jesus is now, with his Holy Spirit at work among us, mobilising those who believe in him, with his spiritual power. He makes what they believe practical, a lived practice. In other words, the Spirit of God encourages and motivates each one to do something for himself, to find his place where God wants to use him for the building of His Kingdom, for the benefit of others. That is why I have read the following passage from the Letter to the Romans, where the apostle speaks of the ministry of the Church.What we need to realise here is that each believer in Christ is part of a greater whole. This greater whole is the great family of God, the Christian church. And in this church we are not together as ants in an ant colony or as grains of sand in a sandpit, but as members, different parts of the same body. Thus the apostle says: "many are one body in Christ" (Rom 12,5), and individually we are members of one another. So we who are here now: we are not separate, independent people, solitary individuals, believing more or less in our own way, but you and you and you and you and I belong to one another as different members of the same body, living organism, organism. And this body is indeed a very special, mystical body, because according to the Bible it is the visible body of the invisible Jesus himself on this earth! This body is held together and animated by some mysterious heavenly power. In the same way that the life-principle, or soul, in man holds together and makes into a living organism the most diverse members and particles of matter that make up our bodies. This mysterious heavenly power is precisely the Spirit of Jesus, the Holy Spirit. So the church, or this congregation as we are here now, is also: an earthly organism of heavenly quality, and as such: we represent and project the invisible Jesus into the world through our own life and ministry.
And still further: just as in a living human organism each member, cell, particle of matter has its own special function, so in the body of Christ each member has its own vital function. This is explained in detail by the apostle in verses 6 to 8 of Romans 12. He is not giving a complete list of the works which the members do, but rather only a variety of practical possibilities, differentiated according to the charism and ability which He has given to each one through His Spirit. For one to preach the Word, for another to exercise the ministry of charity, for yet another to teach, or admonish, discipline, give, and so on - there is just no member of the body of Christ who has no ability to work for the good of others. This means that God, through His Spirit, wants and can use everyone in the church for some positive, edifying ministry. Not equally, of course - but in the human body the lungs have a different function from the eyes, and the tongue a different function from the blood cells... But they are all important because together they perform the function for which the whole body lives. So it is in the body of Christ, the church. God, through His Spirit, has given to each one of us some ability to make himself useful to others. Everyone has something to offer, because everyone has something that the other does not have, and with which he can make up for what he lacks. No one is so small and insignificant in a congregation that he is not needed, that he cannot help another.
What, for example, can you help with, you ask? Well, there is no precise rule. Each one should do some service, take some specific responsibility, according to the gift of grace he has received from God. There is no service that is useless or superfluous. One may not be gifted to stand up here in the pulpit and preach God's message to many, many people, but one may be gifted to tell a beautiful Bible story to a little grandchild in the quiet of the evening, or to hold the hand of a child and pray with him or her every day. One may not have the charism to heal the sick, but one may have the charism to visit and talk to a patient. Another may have been given a kind, serene nature by God, so that he could quiet a troubled, discontented soul with a few words; or perhaps a lucrative job so that he could help those in need as much as possible financially; or perhaps he has been given the gift of grace to be able to bear with a peaceful heart the hurt and injury that comes to him and thus minister to another. Oh, how much it serves! Or perhaps a student has been given the gift of quick wits, and so can help a weaker one to learn... or perhaps a young person has been given two strong or dexterous hands, and so can give much useful help to an elderly person. Or perhaps good powers of observation, which would enable him to see quickly the hidden miseries of others, which ought to be helped... And even if one is old or sick, he has a precious gift which many young and healthy people lack most: he has time, lots and lots of time, to bring other people's troubles and the burning problems of humanity to God in prayer, and thus become a channel of divine blessings between heaven and earth. (B.A.) - So God has given something to everyone through His Spirit who is a member of the body of Christ; something to help others. Just look for what you have been given to be a blessing to someone else. Where is the opportunity waiting for you to live out your gift of grace? Sometimes all it takes is a very small imagination, an obedience, to find brand new and previously unsuspected opportunities to use your gifts. For example, one of our brothers won a car with his savings account - he immediately understood that this gift was a task for him: he would seize any opportunity where he could use his car to serve others. We have an elderly, lonely sister who saves 10 forints of the small allowance she receives from her daughter living abroad every month and sends it to the Dunaalmási charity at the end of the year. With her two pennies, this poor widow has already contributed many hundreds of forints to bringing smiles of joy to the faces of crippled children. One's whole Christianity takes on almost a new meaning when one realizes that one has a part to play in the service of the whole body of Christ.
The apostle says: "Let no man reason above himself - or, more correctly, let no man think more or less of himself - but let him measure soberly, as God hath given to every man the measure of faith." (Rom 12,3) That is, let no one overrate himself, thinking that he knows everything, nor let no one underrate himself, thinking that he is worth nothing. Let no man set too much or too little store by himself. Let him be neither more nor less than an instrument in the hands of God. No man can be more than this, and no man is worth less than this! As he is, he is an instrument, consciously and deliberately an instrument of God where he is. Unused instruments break down, rust: the Christian man who fails to fulfil his inter-essential task dies... If, however, I really place myself in God's hands as an instrument, I can leave the rest to Him, and He will use me as He wills, and will certainly work through me the best among men.
Thus we all together represent and project the invisible Christ by our own lives and ministries into this visible world. You too, a small part of Christ's love, I too; each of us in our own place according to the measure of faith given to us. For we are not called to pious piety, but to take an active part in all the work and endeavour that seeks the truth of the kingdom of God, that is, peace on this earth, mutual esteem, an atmosphere of mutual trust, brotherly love, a better living for men, a more just coexistence. Jesus did not work for a closed off afterlife, which he would have contrasted with our miserable lives in this world, but he truly lived for real people, for those who lived around him, regardless of what those people were like, good or bad. He healed their patients, fed them, shared in their suffering and joy, told them how to live among themselves so that they could be happy and at peace. But Jesus also told them that all this earthly life is only one way of looking at reality, that behind it is eternal life. Behind human order and justice is the kingdom of God and its justice. Behind human misery is the bliss of salvation.
This is the Christ we must proclaim to this world by our living word, by our obedient service in every good cause, by our practice of indiscriminate love, and, if necessary, by our suffering! The body of Christ is made up of people who have received in the Holy Spirit the pledge of the new world to come, for whom, therefore, the kingdom of God is not a pipe dream, not a mirage, but who already breathe its air and live in this world by its power. The members of the body of Christ live there among sinners as witnesses of forgiveness: among mortals as promises of resurrection; among the suffering, the weeping, as bearers of divine consolation and help; among men of good will who are building a happier future as God's co-workers; among the hopeless as those who have the great hope that Jesus' death is an atoning sacrifice for the whole world!
Well, this is what Jesus wants to activate us, to mobilize us with His Spirit. That is why God poured out the Spirit of Jesus, the Holy Spirit, on this earth, so that we who are sitting here might become the body of Christ in this world. So that we may live out our own church-ness not always in a receptive, accepting way, but in a productive, transmitting way. Can there be a more beautiful mission than to lovingly pass on the love of God that we live by, somewhere, to someone, in some concrete service of service - Paul once wrote to Timothy, "Spread the gift of God's grace that has been given to you..." (2Tim1,6) Well, in conclusion, I can only say that each one of us should stir up the fire of the Spirit of Jesus, asking him to stir up in himself the gift of grace that has been given to him, because something has been given to each one of us, so that each one may find his place where God wants to use him with blessing in this world! So let us ask together:
"Spirit of the living God, come and descend upon me with blessing,
Let your eternal flame pass through my heart and mouth.
Unbind me, send me away, fill me with fire!
Living Spirit of God, come and bless me!"
(Canto 463, verse 1)
Amen
Date: 17 May 1970 Pentecost