January 1st, 2012:
Call: Isaiah 60: 1-6
Text: Matthew 2: 1-12
Read: Psalm 72 (795)
Bringing Gifts
New Year's Day is the one holiday that is a holiday
Simply because it is a date
And not because of anything that happened on the date.
It is not like nothing ever happened on January 1
In 1963, President Lincoln - as promised the previous Sept.
Signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
On a more personal level
One year ago today, Bill Eldridge died
Six years ago today, Marge's mother died
In our household
we have already remembered both in our prayers
But today is Epiphany
Which we celebrate on the first Sunday in January every year
And because it is Epiphany, my mind was drawn to other dates
Dates of importance
For what took place on those dates
In the lives of this congregation.
The first date was quite recent
November 27, 2011 - The first Sunday in Advent
Four people (Greg, Jenny, Stacey, and Vivian)
stood right here in front of you
And promised to serve Christ through this congregation
By participating in its ministries
by their Prayers, by their presence,
by their gifts, and by their service.
The second date was also recent: June 12, 2011 - Pentecost
Eight people
(Dan, Rachel, Leah and Leah)
(Samie, Lucas, Garrett, and Taylor) (our confirmation class)
stood right here in front of you
And promised to serve Christ through this congregation
By participating in its ministries
by their Prayers, by their presence,
by their gifts, and by their service.
For others, the dates are different,
but the promises made while people stood right up here
were the same
For Dale and Julie Petry The date was March 9, 2003
They stood right up here and made that same promise
For Effa Sullivan The date was January 17, 1999
For both Steve and Christine Thomas
And Ken and Carol Willmert
The date was December 15, 1985
The date was October 15, 1967 for Betsy Baker
The date was April 21, 1957 for Grace Smith
The date was
March 29, 1942 for Dorotha Van Ness,
April 18, 1943 for Vi Cook
And March 25, 1945 for Walt Theobald
They all stood right up here
And they all made the same promise.
And over the nearly 200 years this congregation has gathered for worship and service,
Hundreds of others joined them by
Standing right here in front of you or your predecessors
And promising to serve Christ through this congregation
By participating in its ministries
by their Prayers, by their presence,
by their gifts, and by their service.
Long before Greg and Jenny and Stacie and Vivian
Long before even Dorotha, Vi, and Walt
Some men from the east
Promised themselves that they would respond to Christ
By their presence and by their gifts
Those men - those Magi - traveled westerly
Following a star,
seeking advice,
and finally finding the Baby and his mother.
Those magi stood in the presence of the new born king
And they gave him gifts
Fit for someone of his stature
King and god, and sacrifice.
And now, on Epiphany
When we remember those men
When we recall their trip
When we observe and reflect upon their gifts
You and I ask
What gift can we bring?
Well, What gift can we bring?
What present? What token?
As we come here to the very spot where five weeks ago
Greg, Jenny, Stacie, and Vivian promised
Like this year's eight confirmands had promised
Like Dale, Julie, and Effa had promised
Like Steve and Chris and Carol and Ken had promised
Like Betsy and Grace had promised
Like Dorotha, Vi, and Walt had promised
And like hundreds of others in the past had promised
To worship and follow Christ
Not only by prayers, presence, and service,
But also by their gifts
We ask ourselves the question, "What gift can we bring?"
Or perhaps more accurately
"What gifts can we bring?"
For the people in this congregation
May not bring him gold, frankincense, and myrrh
But we do have a multitude of gifts.
Some write well, some sing well, some speak well.
Some sew well, some knit well, some paint well,
Some smile well Some listen well Some empathize well
Some know things that can help
Some know people with resources to help
Some have time Some have energy.
All these are gifts
All these gifts are from God.
And all are gifts that we want to use and bring to Christian service
And so, we, a group of diverse people
come together to praise
and give thanks to God for all those gifts,
Recognizing as the writer of a hymn which we probably should have sung today
describes us as:
Many gifts, One spirit
One love in many ways
In our differences is blessing
From diversity we praise
One Giver, one Lord,
One Spirit, one word
Known in many ways (and) hallowing our days
For the Giver we praise, praise, praise.
Using our God given gifts
Is how we praise
Using those gifts together
Is how we proclaim the good news
And how we keep our promises we made right up here
Not only to participate with our gifts
But also to participate with our service.
If the magi could bring their gifts,
You and I can certainly bring ours
For it is so much easier for us than it was for the magi
The magi rode mile after mile and day after day
To take their gifts to the Christ child
For most of us we ride just a few miles
and we do so for less than twenty minutes
to bring our gifts to the risen Christ
The magi had to go home a different way
So that Herod would not catch them
You and I can linger all we want
We can go out to eat and/or attend a public concert
We can return home at our leisure
Unafraid of being caught by anyone
who might do harm to us or to the king to whom we bring the gifts
This king was and is a gift to us
first by his coming into this world
second by his life, his death, and his resurrection
and third by continuing to be with us even unto today.
As we simultaneously
celebrate Epiphany and begin a fresh calendar year
You and I need to resolve
To follow the examples of both the Christ and the Magi
By constantly, consistently and continually
using the gifts he has given us
Not just for our own good
But for the good of this king
And for the good of all his/ours brothers and sisters.
Just as we promised - right up here!
If do we keep that resolution
we will bring to life one of the lessons
That make Epiphany so wonderful and so important.