What It's All About

American jazz musician Sonny Rollins once said, “I’ve got a gift, a musical gift, fine. But I want to be a human being, a good human being…. Everybody can have a gift. That’s a gift. But then we have to be good human beings. So that’s what it’s all about.”

Labor Day offers us the opportunity to be grateful for our gifts and consider how we are using them. Are we too scared or timid to move outside our intimate circle of family and friends and offer our talents to the wider world? Are we willing to follow the lead of Senator John Lewis and “Get in good trouble” by using our voices and our energy to advocate for those treated unjustly? What is keeping us from putting in the hard work to develop and refine our gifts so they can give light and hope to others?

Jesus, a gifted healer and preacher, moved in ever widening circles—even to the land of the despised Samaritans—to bring healing and God’s word to others. He got in “good trouble” by speaking the truth and befriending sinners. He moved tirelessly from community to community, learning how to speak a word to comfort people and heal  their troubled souls. He was endowed with many gifts and used them not for his own profit but to be a good human being.

More than 2000 years after Jesus’ death and resurrection, that’s still what it’s all about.