In the modern West, we value a gift with no strings attached because it preserves our autonomy—we aren’t beholden to anyone.

But we do not refuse a talent based on the response of other people to it. God bestows and we go with the flow.

The lectionary readings for Epiphany 3 in this Year C are 1 Cor 12.12–31a, and Luke 4.14–21, where Jesus returns from the ...

Paul wrote this passage in response to the misuse of spiritual gifts that occurred in the church in Corinth. The Corinthian believers used their spiritual gifts, not for the edification of the body of ...