Sharing our Gifts

​To some of us, it feels like Christmas is long over. At my house, the decorations are down, the Christmas goodies are gone, and Carrie has returned all my gifts to get things she really wanted. Our son Benjamin has returned to Chicago. We celebrated the New Year. The last thing to go for us was our Christmas tree, which happened yesterday. No signs of Christmas are left.
 
But none of that changes the fact that it is still Christmas. Today is the twelfth day of Christmas.
 
After our service this morning, we’ll remove the decorations from the Church, and Christmas really will be over. But for now, merry Christmas, one final time for this year!
 
As we wrap up the Christmas season, we are invited to ponder again the meaning of Christmas, of Christ’s birth when the very Word of God takes flesh to dwell among us, and how we should respond to Christ’s birth.
 
The answer in today’s Gospel reading is to bring what gifts we have.
 
It’s the beloved story of the wise men bringing gifts to the Christ child. As we just heard, when the magi arrive at Bethlehem after a long journey, “they knelt down and paid Christ homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gold, frankincense, and myrrh.” They celebrated the birth of Christ by offering him gifts.
 
Two thousand years later, we, too, exchange gifts as part of our celebration of Christ’s birth.
 
My family used to go big for Christmas. In recent years, we have ramped down our gift-giving considerably. Santa still shows up for Benjamin and Nicholas, but Santa is less generous to Benjamin and Nicholas than he used to be when they were younger.
 
Carrie and I spend less on gifts for each other as well. But I still underperform.
 
My worst gift performance recently has actually been to my father. Last year I sent him two books for his birthday. He already had both, and one of them he gave right back to me. The same thing happened at Christmas. I’ll actually see my father tomorrow, and he will again return to me the gift that I gave him. I’m looking forward to reading it.
 
But when he called to thank me for giving him a book he already had, my father told me that he actually appreciated it. He told me that it showed I knew him well enough to choose books for him that he also chose for himself. The old excuse really is true at some level—it’s not the gift so much as the thought that counts. At least I am telling myself that!
 
I don’t give gifts to my father because he needs yet another book. I don’t give gifts to Carrie because she needs the stuff I buy for her. I give gifts as an expression of love. I told Carrie that, and she joked that I don’t love her very much! But she said that with love!
 
In theory, all that we do at Christmas is done out of love. I sometimes forget that during the height of the Christmas season, particularly when I am waiting in line at stores at the last minute. But at my best, when I am getting Christmas right, I give whatever gifts I give to Carrie as a way of telling her that I love her. It’s love that makes the gifts meaningful.
 
I presume that the magi were doing the same thing two thousand years ago.
 
The gifts of the wise men were valuable. I’m guessing Mary and Joseph were thrilled to see just how valuable.
 
But it’s also fun to imagine what a small child might have thought about them. I suspect the baby Jesus wasn’t particularly interested in gold, frankincense or myrrh. If my children on their first few Christmases are anything to go by, Jesus would have preferred wrapping paper and empty cardboard boxes!
 
But exactly what the gifts were doesn’t really matter. The magi travelled all that way, and then gave the gifts they had to the Christ child as their way of saying I love you to God incarnate. No matter what baby Jesus may have thought, God surely appreciated that.
 
How about us? What can we offer to God incarnate?
 
The answer to that question is our stewardship. We offer God our gifts of money, and also our gifts of time and talent. Time, talent, and treasure are our version of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
 
But as was true for the wise men, as is true for the gifts we give to the people we love, the particular gifts are not what matters. What matters is what they represent: our love, our gratitude, our commitment. Most of all, what matters is that we offer ourselves.
 
That is true for all of us, and it’s true all of the time.
 
But today Beth Kronlund is making a special offering, a special gift to God. In a few minutes, Beth will be admitted as the newest member of the Daughters of the King.
 
Beth herself, and the Daughters who are here to support her, can tell you more about their Order than I can. But in brief, the Daughters are a religious order for women committed to a life-long program of prayer, service, and evangelism, and to the mission of working “to know Jesus Christ, to make Him known to others, and to become reflections of God’s love throughout the world.”
 
This is a big step for Beth. And this is a big step for Saint David’s. I am thrilled that we’ll have a member of the Daughters in our congregation!
 
But I think of this as a little like a wedding ceremony. At weddings, the couple getting married make special vows to each other. And we also pray during the service that “all married persons who have witnessed these vows may find their lives strengthened and their loyalties confirmed” (BCP, 430).
 
Something similar is true for us this morning. As Beth commits to living her Christian life as a Daughter of the King, all of us who witness her vows should be strengthened in our commitment to our baptismal covenant.
 
Like the wise men, we all come to God, offering the gifts we have, not because God needs our gifts, but because we need to express our love for God.
 
And then, in service to God’s mission and in God’s name, we put those gifts to use. We proclaim by word and example the good news of God in Christ. We seek and serve Christ in all persons. We strive for justice and peace among all people. We respect the dignity of every human being. We cherish the wondrous works of God, and work to protect the beauty and integrity of all creation.
 
Those are the gifts that Christian people can offer to God as a sign of our love for Christ. That is our Christmas offering to God.
 
Today is the last day of Christmas. Today is also the first Sunday of the new year and here at Saint David’s of our centennial year.
 
My prayer, as we begin the new year and as we look forward to our second century as a parish, is that we can extend the Christmas spirit through this entire year, that we can offer God our gifts and our love, and that, with God’s help, we can share those gifts with our world.
 
In the name of Christ. Amen.