In my office I have a number of drawings and other pieces of art which are the creative products of friends. I like to look at them and think about the people who gave them to me. I also enjoy telling other people about them and about the friends who created them. I do not hide them away in a drawer. I do not use them for scratch pads or coasters. I display them on the walls where they can be seen and appreciated. That is the function of such gifts. That is the purpose for which they were given.

God gives us gifts for exactly that same purpose. In the scripture which was read last Sunday, Isaiah declared that we are to "Arise and shine, for your light has come." The gift of God's light has come into our lives for the expressed purpose of being displayed to the world. God works in us and through us, giving us gifts and transforming our lives, so that we might be a living witness to the world concerning God.

The gifts of God are boundless. We could begin making a list now and not be finished even as we drew our last breath. Our lives are filled with examples of God's grace and goodness. Sometimes the scriptures talk about such gifts in general terms, as in the Psalm which was used in our Call To Worship this morning. "May God give us strength. May God bless us with peace!" Sometimes the scriptures talk about such gifts in more specific terms, as in the reading from Acts. "Then Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit." (Acts 8:17) In the reading from Luke's Gospel we also find the amazing gift of God's very spirit being poured out. Whether general or specific, however, the gifts which are spoken of in scripture take on particular meaning only when they become real in our lives. Only then can we put them on display for God's glory. Only then do they begin to fulfill the purpose for which they were given.

Our faith calls us to be heralds of the good news of God's grace. The prophet Isaiah spoke to each of us when he wrote, "The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news..." And the reason we can be bearers of good news is because we have been recipients of that very same good news. We are not called to share that which we do not know. We are not sent out to sell that which we cannot display and demonstrate. The word "evangelism" has sometimes taken on negative implications in recent times -- due in large part to some of the abusive ways in which it has been used. But at its heart it is really nothing more than show and tell -- putting God's gifts on display. It is not about bragging because we possess the gifts, but rather about sharing our excitement and our gratitude because we have been given the gifts.

So, then, we must ask ourselves -- what are the gifts of God which are being given to me? How is God acting in my life? We might begin with some of the suggestions we find in scripture and see how those suggestions have been translated into the specifics of our experience. Take the Psalm for example. Has God given you strength? In what ways? Under what circumstances? Has God blessed you with peace? What does that mean for you? Or we might turn to Isaiah for ideas. He speaks of liberty to captives and release to the prisoners. Not all prisons are made of bars and locks. Not all captives are held with chains. Have there been prisons in your life from which God has helped or is helping to set you free? It might be the prison of alcohol or drug addiction or the prison of abuse. It might be the prison of self-doubt or loneliness. It could be anything which prevents you from living the full and abundant life which God intends for us. If you have experienced such a release in your life then you are in a position to share that good news with others. It might not even be a matter of having to tell them about it. When you put God's gifts on display, when those gifts become evident in your life and in your living, then people will notice and they will ask.

And, of course, there is the ultimate gift -- the source from which all other gifts spring -- the gift of God's Spirit. Like the word evangelism, the Holy Spirit has sometimes been an uncomfortable subject for those of us who live out our faith within the context of mainstream protestant congregations. We find ourselves uncomfortable with some of the ways in which our more charismatic or Pentecostal brothers and sisters have understood the Holy Spirit. And rather than discover a different meaning for our own faith, we have often chosen instead to simply ignore the matter. But to the extent that we have done so, it has been our loss. The gift of God's Spirit -- God's very self present among and within us -- is as diverse and expansive as is God. No single understanding or approach is able to fully contain God's vastness. I have always appreciated the story which we heard this morning from Acts. It demonstrates that there is no one pattern for receiving the gift of God's Spirit. It is simply not possible to declare that everyone will experience God the way in which we have. Indeed, it is not even possible to say that we will continue to experience God in the same ways in which we have in the past. God continues to come among us in fresh new ways and our challenge is to be open and ready to receive the gifts of God whenever and wherever we might discover them.

We are a grace-filled people. God's many and varied gifts are in abundant supply among us. We receive the gift of God's Spirit in a variety of ways. In our living we receive the ongoing gift of God's presence. Each of us receives specific and particular gifts which help us to live and thrive and enjoy the life which we have received. The question is not whether such is true. The question is whether we will notice and whether we will share. All of us our God's gifted people. May we learn to display the gifts of God.