Melissa Bane Sevier spoke about community and diversity during the Friday morning plenary Gathering plenary session. She said, “What you bring to the metaphorical table we spread for each other is essential. Without your gift—without you—this or any other gathering where you are supposed to be is lacking.” Photo by Michael Martin.
Pass the Biscuits
By Louise Van Poll
Melissa Bane Sevier will tell you she loves biscuits. She’ll also tell you that by many accounts her grandmother baked the best biscuits. But she’s not just professing a familial dedication to carbohydrates. She talks about biscuits to remind us that we are all different ingredients in one bowl, and that our different gifts unite us in the body of Christ.
Speaking to Friday’s theme of “Oneness in the Community of Faith,” Melissa said from the plenary stage, “Oneness is a beautiful word because it implies unity, but not sameness. I love large gatherings like this because they remind me how different we all are, how uniquely we’ve been created, how varied our life experiences and cultures.
“Even so,” she went on to say, “there are things that unite us. Often, those things that bring us together, or that keep us together, are our gifts.”
If we read 1 Corinthians 12, Melissa reminded us, we see a celebration—not a vilification—of our uniqueness and our differences. “The gifts that everyone brings include the gifts of who that person is, not just the things she does,” she continued. “Your singularity is a gift to those around you, and theirs is a gift to you. What you bring to the metaphorical table we spread for each other is essential. Without your gift—without you—this or any other gathering where you are supposed to be is lacking. You and your gifts fill the table and cause it to creak happily under their weight, and they create a welcome space for those who know you.”
In other words, we are all essential to God’s plan and God’s work.
The PW/Horizons Bible study she has been asked to write for 2017–2018 is based on the book of Hebrews. She said her favorite passage from that book is Hebrews 12:1–2, which comes after the author has delivered what some call “the honor roll of faith,” listing many people whose gifts of faith give future generations strength to carry on. Then the writer says, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus . . . .”
Melissa reflected, “This week we gather as Presbyterian Women. Maybe more than ever, we’re aware that no two people here have the same thoughts about everything, believe exactly the same doctrines, practice their faith in exactly the same way. But that is the gift of it. Truly. We open our arms in actual or metaphorical hugs, embracing all our differences and all we have in common. All those gifts. We join each other at the table set for us by our cloud of witnesses.
“Think of the traditions that have come down to you from your ancestors in life and your ancestors in faith. When we gather here that group of ancestors—that cloud of witnesses—gets larger. When I learn from you, I learn from all the people who helped form you into the person you are. Some of the things they taught you, you’ve discarded; some of them you’ve questioned; some of them have become etched onto your soul.
“The gifts from your own cloud of witnesses has followed you here, and this week you benefit from the offerings of even more witnesses, and those will follow you home. So that everywhere you go and in everything you do, you are more than the sum of all those people and their gifts.”
Always remember, she concluded, that you are God’s special gift. You are brought to the table for all those who cross your path, to give them nourishment and strength for their journey.
