Eau Claire, Wisconsin
The reading this morning at the First Lutheran Church here where Obama – totting his own bible – attended services may have just been coincidental, though the reader Don Etnier, did preface it with this:
Paul tells us that you shouldn’t be cocky just because you’re an excellent singer. Or musician. Or public speaker. He reminds us that we each have our separate gifts and to use these gifts for the good of God or for the benefit of the church.
The reading from Romans 12:1-8:
I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect. For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members of one another. We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.
Pastor John Kerr, the interim senior pastor, finished the service with this piece of advice: “Go in peace and know when to speak and when to be quiet.”
Kerr, who is originally from the Twin Cities, told to reporters on their way out that he hasn’t had “this much excitement since Jesse Ventura was elected.”