Paul wrote to the church in Corinth about the way God works: “Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit.”  He talks about gifts of healing, miraculous powers, discernment, and more.

In other words, this.

We are given messages to share with each other, messages that are given from God, through the Holy Spirit. Sometimes it’s a message of wisdom: a glimmer of insight for making the right decision, looking at two alternatives and seeing a third that reflects scripture in ways that have to be inspired. Sometimes it’s someone who at that moment simply believes with a resolve that carries everyone along. Sometimes it’s a word of healing of relationships or bodies. Sometimes it’s the capacity to understand medicine well enough to practice it. Sometimes it’s clarity about the thing that everyone had a bad feeling about but no one could quite figure out.

Those moments, those messages, those brief glimpse of some special power that one follower of Jesus offers to another, those are miracles. If a miracle is God acting.

Here’s what happens, I think. We get scared. We are afraid to speak to each other. We have a thought “I should tell them that they are doing a great job.” It’s a nudge. But we think, “That’s a little cheesy. That’s will sound odd.” And so we don’t.

And the words that we could have passed from God to someone else don’t get passed on. And that person continues to wait for a message from God.

Seriously.

You think all the messages from God come by the heavens tearing open? Most often, I have someone say just the right thing at just the right time.

If God’s only way of working was those moments when water turned into wine, then even in the earthly life of Jesus there wasn’t much working of God. But if God’s way of working includes inviting and commanding and gifting and speaking through us to others, then God is constantly working in big and small ways.

Even now. Even here. And we are participants.

Let’s pray.