1 June 2006

In "Gravity and Grace" Joseph Sittler writes about what it is to equip.

We think of equipment as that which we need to do the thing we want or ought or are called to do. However, that is only half the use of the word. If we think of equipment that way, we're thinking of something added on to ourselves. Equipment - katarismos - in Greek - is also used to mean an internal nurture, an internal formation that matures one's competence for an appointed task. To equip the saints refers in part to certain things that God's followers must add to themselves, as in the great passage, "Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness" (Ephesians 6:14). These are equipments provided by the Lord of the church, by the faith. But the other meaning of the word says to nurture; that is, to cultivate.

Often I hear people talk about what they do not have or what they need in order to be a better this or a better that. I must admit I do the same thing. If only we had the right equipment, we could be so much better than now. In some cases that is quite true. We do need equipment to get some things done and done well. If we don't have it...well. Then on the other side, we are each equipped with skills and abilities but they need to be brought out...enhance...perfected...and simply used. I look at my own gifts and talents and wonder why I do not nurture them more than I do. Or maybe use them in a new way so that what I am able to do...I will do with great ability. Then again, there are plenty of areas in my life in which I have come to the resolve that I am not the one who will be called upon to do some specific tasks. I am not equipped and I don't want to be. In those cases, the equipment that is needed by me is another person. When we talk of equipping the saints, we are talking about helping people nurture their gifts and expand their equipment and then...put it all to use...share it...give it away...build up the body..."inwardly fulfill".

Connection: Too often I become a bit flustered when I am "found out." That is, when people notice what equipment I do not have and what little bit I have in a certain area of life...I do not use. I think the appropriate action in these cases would be to simply say yes and find how else it can be done...and done well. Unfortunately, I often take my deficit as a comment of how bad I am or worthless...and neither is true. I am not equipped. What equipment do you bring into this day? What needs to be nurtured and what needs to come in from outside?

Giver of All Gifts, too often we hinder the work that can be done because we do not understand that you gift the whole community of saints with the skills and equipment needed to be a powerful part of your coming Reign. Help us to see beyond our own abilities and lives and appreciate the many gifts that surround us and give us the wisdom to ask to be open to changing our lives in order to use more of the gifts of your grace. Amen.