We use
cute kittens for praising friends. Ask
anyone who got confirmed at Holy Cross grade school in South Bend, IN in 2014
or ’15 what the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are, and right before they tell
you wisdom, understanding, counsel, knowledge, fortitude, piety, fear of the
Lord, they’ll probably think to themselves: we use cute kittens for praising
friends. It taught the confirmation class
to our 7th and 8th graders, and made up that mnemonic
(where the first letter of each word matches) to make sure they remember the
seven gifts, because I knew that our bishop would base his confirmation homily
around asking them what the seven gifts were and preaching about each one. Only on one quiz did I ever get told that the
seven gives were wisdom, understanding, counsel, kittens, fortitude, piety and
fear of the Lord.
And my thoughts
are with those young people tonight, and with the reality of those gifts in our
lives and the life of the church, because the text we get that list from is the
first reading we heard tonight from Isaiah.
The language is slightly different, but that’s all a matter of
translation. And I would teach my
confirmation students the origin of this list of gifts; that it’s the prophet
Isaiah expressing his hopes for a future ideal king, on whom the Spirit of God
would rest so intimately and so powerfully, that he would show forth these
gifts in all he did. And the
breath-taking truth the church teaches us is that all the baptized receive
these gifts, not just one king, and these gifts are strengthened in
confirmation. In our baptism, we are
baptized into Christ’s kingship, as well as his prophecy and priesthood, are
gifted with wisdom, understanding, counsel, knowledge, fortitude, piety and
fear of the Lord. And these gifts are
strengthened in confirmation: that’s what the -firm- part of
confirmation means; making firmer, stronger.
People often think that confirmation is all about a Christian ‘confirming’
their commitment to Christ, like you might confirm a reservation at a hotel,
and while that might happen, what it’s really about is God confirming His
commitment to us, renewing and strengthening all that took place in
baptism. The sacrament are all about what
God is doing. And how do we say
thank you for these gifts? We use
them! And we can never use them up. In fact, we continue the work of making them
stronger by using them.
Wisdom,
understanding, knowledge: the world is worth knowing about – the natural world,
human history, divine realities. The
world is worth knowing about because God made it, and that means learning – any
kind of learning – is not disconnected from our faith. Counsel: for Isaiah, it probably referred to the
king having shrewd diplomatic advisors.
For us, it’s the gift of the humility to be able to take advise, to
recognize that we can never entirely row our own boats, and there is wisdom out
there for us to seek. Fortitude, or
strength: for Isaiah, probably military might for the king. For us, the courage to do the right thing
even when that’s hard. Piety, fear of
the Lord: wonder, love and awe at God, and all that he has made. Not a to-do list, but wonderful gifts.
I don’t
know how many of you have noticed, but the windows along the West wall of our
church depict the seven gifts. One thing
I love about these artistic representations is that many of them include a
cross. Any suggestion that these gifts
would let us evade human suffering, or overcome whatever we want by might is
shattered by that cross. What does
fortitude look like when it flies Christ’s cross as a flag? A fortitude, a strength, that is brave to let
itself be wounded out of love of enemy.
But, we
should continue through the Isaiah passage, and not just stop with the gifts,
for Isaiah also dreams of what the world will look like when ruled by someone exercising
those gifts. He dreams of a world of
peace and justice, where even the animals live in such peace that the most
vulnerable child can play with a cobra without fear. And you might shake your head at that. For us to be a bit more understanding, a bit
humbler, a bit braver… that won’t change the world that much! And it won’t, not right away. But Christ will. Christ’s living of God’s gifts changes
everything. And he gives us a part to
play in that. He invites to be baptized
into his kingship. He sent the Spirit
that we might receive these gifts! And
we thank him for them by using them.
Our
collect, the opening prayer, identified us as those that “set out in haste to
meet God’s son.” Might we start looking
at ourselves, at the gifts God has given us, and ask how Christ’s coming is
revealed there? Ask how they may be
exercised to help build this peaceable kingdom Isaiah dreamt of? Edward Hicks has a beautiful painting called
the Peaceable Kingdom, whose foreground depicts the children playing
with the beasts. In the background, is
William Penn meeting in friendship with Native Americans. If we want that foreground, how might we be
part of that background? Where might we
hasten to meet God’s son?
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