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STILLSPEAKING DAILY DEVOTIONAL
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Excerpt from 1 Corinthians 2:12-16

"Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God."

Reflection by Donna Schaper

Remember the prayer? "Come Lord Jesus be our Guest and let thy gifts to us be blessed." Who is the host here and who the guest? Paul doesn't help when he talks about needing the Spirit to understand the gifts God gives us. Instead he hints that we may be missing something.

Hosts are often more powerful than guests. In many congregations the old timers host the newcomers. We host immigrant guests or "native" Americans and tell them what language to speak and how to behave at our table. My congregation used to give cooking lessons to Italian immigrants in the 1890's! Instead, Jesus has donkey ways, he enters our city as a guest, alerting us that we are each hosts and guests, givers and receivers, in the Spirit. The route to ending racism is here: it is receiving the gifts of the ones we imagine are only impoverished. We will need the full Spirit to fully understand who is who and who is really the "Hostess with the Mostest."

Prayer

Holy Spirit, You are beyond our understanding. Come be our Host and help us learn how to be grateful guests. Amen.



 
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