Peter speaks of gifts in the same spirit. Each has received a charisma, a grace-gift to be used for others. Some speak; some serve. But all are stewards, and all are to do their work in a way that returns praise to God. Creativity, then, is not simply self-expression. It is neighbour-love with texture and form.

This matters for public life. A society that loses its crafts and stories loses part of its moral memory. It becomes easier to flatten people into functions, and easier to treat places as disposable. But when culture is tended, people are helped to see again: the worth of a child, the weight of grief, the sweetness of joy, the dignity of labour.

Lord, thank you for gifts given freely. Teach us to use them without envy or vanity, and to receive the gifts of others without suspicion. Bless those who make, teach, and preserve. And let our creativity, however ordinary, become a modest offering: a way of serving one another, and of honouring you.