Jeremiah 31:7-14
Ephesians 1:3-6,15-19a
or Matthew 2:1-12
Psalm 84 or 84:1-8
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It was the day after Christmas at a church in San Francisco.
The pastor of the church was looking over the creche
when he noticed that the baby Jesus was missing from among the figures.
He hurried outside and saw a little boy with a red wagon, and in the wagon was the figure of the little infant Jesus. So he walked up to the boy and said, "Well, where did you get your passenger, my fine friend?" The little boy replied, "I got Him at church." "And why did you take Him?" The boy said, "Well, about a week before Christmas I prayed to the little Lord Jesus and I told Him if He would bring me a red wagon for Christmas I would give Him a ride around the block in it."* |
Like that boy praying to the little Lord Jesus, we often come here to church to kneel before God, asking for something. We pray for peace or for health, for our family or our friends. We pray for our daily bread and love, and maybe even for little red wagons.
Do you suppose God is tired of hearing from me about a purple Mini Cooper? After all, a funky little car isn't a very holy thing for which to pray. Far better that I should ask for peace in Jerusalem or a cure for AIDS or healing for a friend in the hospital. And, yes, I offer those prayers too.
We ask for gifts because we believe, or at least hope, that God has the power to give them to us.
Jesus, God's greatest gift, has been given to us all. A God who came into this material world and loved it. Jesus knows about being hungry and tired . The little Lord Jesus knew about uncomfortable wet, soiled swaddling clothes. Jesus lived in our kind of world, a real world, a world that is both messy and beautiful – so he understands not only our longing for love, but also our very human desire for toys and comfortable homes, and maybe even for state of the art computers and very cool little cars.
On Christmas we are reminded that God became truly human. So God knows the depths of our desire from universal love to little red wagons. God knows what we really want. So we might as well be honest with ourselves and ask for it. And then let God decide whether what we ask for is really the gift we need in our lives.
Our readings today say a lot about the kind of gifts that God thinks we need. -- The Lord says, "My people shall be satisfied with my bounty." -- We're told that, God has "blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing." -- The Letter to the Ephesians asks that God "may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation."
We see gifts in the gospel story about the visit of the wisemen to Bethlehem. But notice that the Bible does not say that the wisemen came to give gifts the new king. It says that they came "to pay him homage." Before the gifts, they first kneel and pay homage. The word we have translated as "homage" means to fall down and worship, to prostrate oneself, to kiss feet or edges of clothing. It is a way of recognizing and showing that this person to whom we "pay homage" has far more to offer us than we have to offer him or her.
The baby in the animals' feeding trough had more wisdom than the scholarly wisemen from the glorious orient. The "little Lord Jesus" had more treasures and joy to offer than the child in San Francisco could ever dream of.
So wisemen and children fall to their knees before Someone greater. And yet, after this act of reverence or prayer, they each offer gifts to the One they know can give so much more – relatively small gifts – gold, spices, rides in wagons.
Relationship with God is not a one-way street. The wisemen have already received the gift of overwhelming joy at finding the newborn king, and the little boy, his red wagon, but they have a need to respond somehow with an "exchange of gifts." Having received a gift, they "return thanks" and offer a gift in return.
Relationship with God is not a one-way street. Oh sure, God's gonna love you no matter what you do. And there's not anything you can do to stop God from offering you that gift.
But if you are able to recognize and receive that love, then there is a longing to respond somehow. To say "thank you" – to "return thanks." To offer something, however small, in return.
God knows the desires of our hearts and God blesses us with many gifts (some greatly desired and some shocking surprises). But what gift do you suppose God desires from us. What can we offer?
Today we gather for worship and will offer and present some real treasures to God. (Culen Peter will be presented for Baptism.) We will offer bread and wine for the Eucharist. We will offer our money, a sign of our work and of our very lives.
Do you remember the words from the old Eucharistic service? "And we here offer ourselves, our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy, and living sacrifice unto thee."
How do we do that? How do we offer ourselves? Kneeling before God in prayer is a start. Yet the story of Jesus' birth hints that there is more.
Jesus, God's greatest gift, has been given to us all. God came into this material world and loved it. This is Jesus who is named "Emmanuel," which means "God with us" And God IS with us – in little red wagons or mini coopers, in hospitals and shopping malls, beside Christmas trees and in funeral homes.
So, what gift does God want from us? A ride in the wagon (or an old ford or maybe even a mini cooper). Like the little boy taking Jesus out of the church and into the world with him, I suspect that those wisemen left with a far greater gift than they had offered, and we would do well to follow the lead of children and of wisemen.
What gift does God want from us? I believe God wants to be allowed to be "Emmanuel" – really to be "God WITH us." God wants an invitation to travel with us in our daily lives, to be noticed as our companion, proclaimed to the world as our friend and Lord.
Prayer and worship and "paying homage" don't stop here on Sunday mornings. When we get up from our knees in this church today and walk out that door, Jesus does not want to be left behind here.
God has given you the gift of life. Go ahead now – return thanks – and take the Lord Jesus for a ride around the block and out into your life.
He might even provide a little red wagon if you really need it.
*Thanks to Mark English for the story.