Ken’s e-Pistle

May 23, 2023

I was checking out at our neighborhood convenience store and noticed a new display case near the register.  It was filled with a remarkable display of knives which looked as if they were rejects from an episode of Conan the Barbarian.  They were the stuff of nightmares, seemingly designed to inspire fear and wreak all manner of carnage on human flesh.  I mentioned to the manager that it must have been deranged minds which thought up these designs.  He replied that I would be surprised at the number of sales these implements brought in.

Sadly, I wouldn’t be surprised.  Dismayed, perhaps, but not surprised.  Now, I quickly add that I usually carry a knife.  It is a 30 year old Case Pocket Knife which I purchased at an Ace Hardware Store in Clayton, GA.  When fully opened, it measures about 3 ½ inches and shows the unmistakable signs of wear.  When something more substantial is called for, I have a World War Two USMC Kay-bar which is useful in the garden when hacking kudsu or in the event of an attack by a platoon of rabid bears.  I used to also have a machete, but one of my boys confiscated it, murmuring something about my being on blood thinners.

This Sunday is the celebration of the Day of Pentecost; the day on which God gave us the gifts we need to be the Church.  Most folk think about the gift of speaking in tongues on Pentecost; surely a useful gift in that day and place.  Somehow, though, we tend to discount or even discourage the other gifts which make our lives together meaningful and miraculous.  I think of the gifts of compassion, wisdom, administration, music, arts, composition, public speaking and so many others which are on daily display around the church house. Most of them are not flashy or frightening, unlike the knives in the display case.  They are, however, the stuff of the everyday life of faith.

Consider this week which gifts of the Spirit are tucked away in your pocket and think on how many times you use them, oft unawares.  It may surprise you!

I bid you peace!