Reflections on "The Gift" Genesis 33: 1-11; Luke 22: 14-23

I am leaving town this afternoon for a few days, so I must post the sermon now or it will get lost with next week's preparations.

The sermon did not work well for me.  After the chapel service, I reorganized and changed the sermon a bit (on the fly after confirmation class).  I believe the Sanctuary service got the better of the two sermons.  Probably should have just stuck with the Jacob story and played with it, but not in connection with the Luke story of the Last Supper.

“the Gift” November 6, 2011; Genesis 33: 4-11; Luke 22: 14-23; capital campaign

Introduction: Next Sunday is commitment Sunday, the day we bring back our pledge cards for our “Shining Our Light” capital campaign and our our operating budget for 2012.

We have been spending the last few weeks reflecting on giving, and this week I want to finish with two stories about giving.

Move 1: First story of giving centers on our Lord's Table.

a. It was not planned to have the last Sunday before Commitment Sunday be communion Sunday.

1. But what a wonderful visual reminder of God's gift that forms the foundation for our understanding of giving.
2. I am not suggesting that our “Shining the Light” capital campaign and our operating budget are on the same level as God saving the world.
3. But when we reflect on God's gift of God's very own self, we see what it means to give a gift for no other reason than to give love.
   b. In fact, God when God gives the gift of of coming in Christ, God knows that the gift will be rejected and betrayed.

1. yet God still gives the gift.
2. In doing says, God reminds us that the reason we give is about who we are, not about what we can get in return.

As we spend this week prayerfully considering what God is calling us to give, we are reminded the giving is about who are and whose we are.

Move 2: Second story of giving comes to us from Jacob.

a. I love Jacob.

1. If you want to discover the good and bad of humanity, read Jacob.
2. You can usually get a dose of both in anything Jacob does.
3. There's a reason that Jacob has been referred to as the biggest scoundrel in the Bible.
   b. In this story, Jacob is giving a gift to his brother Esau.

1. . remember the context in which Jacob offers the gift.

1. he had stolen his brother's birthright.
2. Moved away for many years.
3. He is about to meet Esau for the first time in a long time.
4. I suspect Jacob was feeling rather vulnerable. I say that because if we read a few verses before our passage we discover that Jacob has sent the women and children ahead to meet Esau.
5. Sort of creating a buffer. If Esau is going to be mad, Jacob will know it and perhaps have a chance to escape.
6. Jacob's manipulation always seem to be just below the surface.
7. Since he's not sure how Esau might act toward him, he sends lavish presents to Esau.
8. The text does not tell us, but it feels like Jacob is trying to buy his brother off.
9. As if Jacob is saying, “if I give you these gifts, will you please not harm me for all the harm I did to you?"

b. Of course, Jacob does not say that.

1. When his brother says he does not need the gift, Jacob glowingly tells him that God has looked so graciously on him he wants to share with Esau.
2. IN those words, Jacob gets it right.
3. He ought to give out of graciousness.
4. We may suspect otherwise, but Jacob at least has the right words for why he is giving.
   Move 3: Okay, so maybe you're saying to yourself about now, “Richard, couldn't you have picked a better couple of stories for us on the last Sunday before me make our commitment?”
   a. After all, one story is the perfect gift, and we are not perfect; and the other story is Jacob, and we're probably better than Jacob.
   b. There are probably better stories to tell.
   1. many of them we have heard before.
   2. Some we have remembered the past few weeks.
   c. But here's why I picked these two stories.
   1. Because we are each asked to prayerfully consider our commitment.
   2. that means we turn to the one who gave the perfect gift and ask God to help us figure out what the right gift is for us at this time in our lives.
   3. Secondly, we have Jacob, with whom we share the common human bond of getting it right and messing it up, sometimes at the same time.
   4. Jacob who gets it right when he says that his giving is because of God's graciousness. Reflect on how you have discovered God's graciousness in your life.
   5. But we also have Jacob with lots of different motives for giving.
   6. We have a mix of motives – a part of the project we like; obligation; recognize the importance;
   7. I suspect that our motives are mostly better than Jacob's motives; we know that bribing God or the church won't work.
   So somewhere in those parameters between the perfect gift of God and the imperfect gift of Jacob we find ourselves.

Conclusion: the third story of gift giving will be lived out by us.
Each of us is being asked to prayerfully consider what God is calling us give at this time
We do so knowing what it is like to be Jacob, who has mixed motives for giving.
We do so in the assurance that God has given to us the gift of Christ.

Amen.