Find Your Greatness

I enjoy going to church, but when I heard that Rev. Lauren Stanley was going to be a guest preacher last weekend, I was excited about going to church.

I have been blessed to hear her preach a few times, and every time I come away feeling like I have indeed been filled with the Holy Spirit. Her message always focuses on God’s love for each of us and our mission to share that love with others.

Last weekend, she did not disappoint.

First, she shared her excitement and enjoyment of the Olympics–from the gold medalists to the underdogs who know they have no chance of placing, and may even need some help to finish out their events.

Then, she walked us through this Nike commercial. (Please watch it–it’s awesome and important to the rest of this post!)

If you can’t click through to YouTube, this sums it up:

Rev. Stanley seamlessly tied Nike’s “Find Your Greatness” message to our reading from Ephesians (chapter 4, verses 1-6):

I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.  . . .
But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. …
So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

The Apostle Paul, she said, is telling us to find our greatness.

The Apostle Paul, she said, is calling us–every ordinary one of us–to live a life worthy of the great gifts that God has given us.

The Apostle Paul, she said, is urging us–every last one of us–to be the great person who God created us to be.

The Apostle Paul, she said, advises us that this greatness must be grounded in love and used to lift up God’s people (everyone) in the service of God’s love.

She then urged us to get up off our sofas, to be like Nathan (the boy in the Nike commercial), and to live another Nike slogan:

Find your greatness. Use your gifts to spread God’s love.