Reflections on “Giving Gifts: In the Particular” Philippians 2:5-11; Galatians 4: 4-7

when I laid out the preaching series, this was one I was looking forward to preaching.  it turned out quite differently than I had anticipated in the planning process, but it was a good week of sermon prep.  Actually, the sermon kept changing until the final draft was finished about 9:00am.  The MacFarland illustration and the Harpo Marx illustrations were Saturday additions. they both worked well.  I had two other illustrations (a story and an Emerson quote) that were in the rough draft but were dropped along the way.  they are both good illustrations, so they'll find their way into a sermon at some point.  I really like the MacFarland illustration, but had never used it previously.  Reading Cindy Rigby's chapter on incarnation in her book Holding Faith was really helpful.  It reminded me that I should reference some of my theological sources more often in my sermon preparation.

 “Giving Gifts: In the Particular”  SAPC, Denton; February 20, 2022;  Gift giving series

Philippians 2: 5-11  Let the same mind be in you that was[a] in Christ Jesus,

6 

who, though he was in the form of God,
    did not regard equality with God
    as something to be exploited,

7 

but emptied himself,
    taking the form of a slave,
    being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,

8 

    he humbled himself
    and became obedient to the point of death—
    even death on a cross.

9 

Therefore God also highly exalted him
    and gave him the name
    that is above every name,

10 

so that at the name of Jesus
    every knee should bend,
    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

11 

and every tongue should confess
    that Jesus Christ is Lord,
    to the glory of God the Father.

Introduction: Final week on gifts.  Next week is Youth Sunday and then we begin Lent.

As we reflect on frankincense, the questions arises - were the wise men concerned about Jesus getting arthritis?  Why that question, you ask?  Because according to the Biblical Archaeology Society, frankincense was often used as a treatment for ailments such as arthritis. (Why Did the Magi Bring Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh?: Medicinal uses of frankincense may help explain the gifts of the magi,” Biblical Archaeology Society Staff January 06, 2022https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/people-cultures-in-the-bible/jesus-historical-jesus/why-did-the-magi-bring-gold-frankincense-and-myrrh/)

If not arthritis, maybe the frankincense and myrrh were given to Jesus for his mother to use postpartum.  In the time Jesus was born,  “frankincense and myrrh were commonly used together to relieve post-partum pain and anxiety, lessen the probability of post-partum depression and reduce bleeding after delivery.” (Frankincense and Myrrh: Useful Spices for Women After Giving Birth: Plant extracts for the treatment of pain associated with giving birth. Psychology today, December 3, 2021, Gary Wenk, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/your-brain-food/202112/frankincense-and-myrrh-useful-spices-women-after-giving-birth)

We do not really know, but I like the idea that the wise men brought gifts that might have had specific uses for Jesus, or his mother, or his father.

Gift giving in the particularity, if you will.

move 1:  that is what God did through the gift of Jesus.

a.  Some refer to the passage we read in Galatians this morning as Paul’s birth narrative.

1. No getting lost in the images of birth or stars or mangers - just a description of what God chooses to do.

3. God choosing to join with us in the particularity of our humanity, as people under the law.

4.  Jesus “pouring himself out” to be found in human form, as Paul describes it in the letter to the Philippians.

b.  God joins with us in the particular to be with us and to move us to new places.

1.  Vs 5 begins with one Greek word - three letters; that is translated as three small words:  “in order to”

2. Three small, but powerful words that describe God’s intentions - to join with us to lead us to a new understanding of who we are and whose we are.

3.  Paul describes this action of God using the image of adoption.

4. “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children”

2.  God choosing us.

3.  Harpo Marx story about adoption:  Harpo and his wife Susan adopted four kids, Billy, Alex, Jimmy, and Minnie.

from the time they were old enough to hear bedtime stories, their parents told them was they called “The Story,” an elaborate story about finding all four of the children in different places across the country.   It became their favorite story, which they kept repeating through the years.  

when Minnie was about twelve, she came home from school and told her father Harpo that she felt bad because she had hurt the feelings of a girl in her class.

“How did she do that?” her father asked.

Minnie explained:  “Well, the other girl asked me what it felt like to be adopted, and I told her that I felt like the luckiest person in the world because my parents had chosen me out of lots of other kids.  My parents didn’t just have me like any ole’ baby.  They chose me.”

4.  God chooses us in the particular through the gift of Jesus Christ so that we might move from slavery to being children of God and heirs of God’s glory.

Move 2:  God’s gift of Jesus changes how we engage the world

a.   Cindy Rigby, a friend of this congregation, and professor of theology suggests that if we begin our conversation about God with the incarnation of Jesus Christ, it shapes our understanding of God’s power and how we serve god in the world. (Holding Faith: A Practical Introduction to Christian Doctrine, Chapter 3, “Where Does God Meet Us: the Doctrine of Incarnation, 72, Cynthia L. Rigby)

1.  The all-powerful God who we understand through the coming of Christ who lives among us, who pours himself out for us.

2.  The coming of Christ will lead to his death on the cross.

2. If we understand God’s power through christ’s sacrifice, it sends us into the world to serve, rather than as people acting out of power.  

3. Instead of seeing the world as the place where we need to show forth God’s power and demand others acknowledge God’s power, we pour ourselves out for those we meet.

4. We join people where they are and minister with them.

5. we do not engage everyone in the same way - when we meet them where they are we acknowledge who they are and their uniqueness.

b. then, in the particularity of where the people are, we may have opportunities to help them move to that new place God is calling them.

1.  One of the challenges that Our Daily Bread faces when trying to move people out of homelessness or Habitat for Humanity faces when moving people from not owning homes to homeownership is the challenge of helping people discover the new possibilities they have for who they can become.

2.  to no longer live as a homeless person, but to take on the identity of someone who rents an apartment and has those responsibilities; 

or to go from being someone who identifies as not having property to being a homeowner and all the responsibilities that come with owning a home.

c. it is hard work to redefine a person’s self-understanding, but it begins by joining the person where they are and working with them to see new possibilities.

1.  If you have never seen the movie “MacFarland, USA,”  I commend it to you.  

2. Based on the true story of Jim White, not our Jim White, a coach in MacFarland, CA, who take a cross country team of migrant workers and develops them into state champions and creates an ongoing legacy of cross-country that invites high schoolers to not only run, but to discover new possibilities for their lives.

3.  in the movies, the migrant worker high schoolers resist their new coach.

4.  They call him  “Blanco,” which is not only a play on his last name, “White,” but points to the barrier that exits between the coach, who does not understand his runners, most of whom are sons of migrant workers who work the fields themselves.

5.  One Saturday, Coach White gets yup early and goes out into the fields with his runners and picks the crop with them.  

he is not very good at it, and discovers who hard it is to pick crops and what his runners do when not at practice.

After that day, his runner begin to call him “Coach.”  When he chose to join with them in their lives, they saw him differently.  not a coach who would command them to run, but someone who was connected to them, whose coaching was with them and for them. 

Later, after they win the state championship, Coach White decides to stay at MacFarland instead of taking a better-paying job in a rich school district.  

He stays, and then we discover at the end of the movie that many of his runners come back to be teachers, police officers, etc. in MacFarland.

As he joins with them, he is able to help them discover new possibilities.

c. that is what Christ modeled for us.

1.  He joined us in our humanity and showed us the possibilities for who we could be.

2. He poured himself out for us so that we might discover our lives as children of God.

Conclusion:   the wise arrived with treasure chests of gifts - gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

We do not know exactly why they brought those gifts, but we can imagine they brought them for particular reasons specific to the baby born, the Christ-child, and his parents Mary and Joseph.

Like the God who sent the Christ-child into the particularity of our humanity for the purpose of moving us to new life.

Like we are sent by God into the particularity of the lives of those to whom we are called to engage and lead to the new possibilities God has for them.

Reflections on “Giving Gifts: Dying to Self” Colossians 3: 1-11; Luke 12: 13-21

I found the Colossians passage because it fit the theme.  the Luke passage is one of the lectionary partners to the Colossians passage, so I used it as well.  It fit better than I hoped when I first planned the series.  In some ways,  I am ready for this preaching series to end.  in other ways, it has pushed me to some new insights and preaching some texts/topics I might not have gravitated to on my own, which has stretched me.   I loved the C.S. Lewis qoute, although I still find it hard to make concrete the death of self!

 “Giving Gifts: Dying to Self”  SAPC, Denton; February 6, 2022; Colossians 3: 1-11; Luke 12: 13-21 Gift giving series

Colossians 3: 1 So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, 3 for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your[a] life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.

5 Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry). 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming on those who are disobedient.[b] 7 These are the ways you also once followed, when you were living that life.[c] 8 But now you must get rid of all such things—anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive[d] language from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its practices 10 and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. 11 In that renewal[e] there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all!

Introduction: We are still in the gift-giving mode.  If you have the wise men and their gift-giving in your rearview mirror and are ready to move on, just a couple of more weeks on gifts!

This week, we recycle one of the gifts - that is, the gift of myrrh.  We previously noted how it could be used for anointing, but this week reflect on how my myrrh was often used in Jesus’ time as part of the embalming process for dead bodies.

The wise men bringing to the chiidl, this king of the Jews myrrh might have been  prefiguring of the death of Christ.  Not just a reminder at his birth that one day like all humans he will die, but attaching some significance to his death (Why Did the Magi Bring Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh?: Medicinal uses of frankincense may help explain the gifts of the magi,” Biblical Archaeology Society Staff January 06, 2022https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/people-cultures-in-the-bible/jesus-historical-jesus/why-did-the-magi-bring-gold-frankincense-and-myrrh/)

Christ’s death that comes to us as gift; 

Christ’s death that stands before as we seek to follow Christ.

let’s reflect a few minutes this morning on how Christ’s death speak to our call to discipleship.

Move 1: We begin with the reminder that as disciples we are called to focus on Jesus.

a.  We read Paul’s letter to the Colossians this morning.

1.  In the NRSV that I read, 3:1 “if you have been raised from the dead…”

2. sounds like a it is open to negotiation.

2. I think the NIV has a better translation when it reads, “Since you have been raised wiht Christ, seek the things that are above.”

3.  Or perhaps better yet, Eugene Peterson in  The Message translates it as:  “So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it.”

4. Reminder that the early church struggled with what it meant to people of the resurrection.

5.  they wanted to know - how do we live our lives now that Christ has been raised from the dead.

6. As an aside, they did not ask what do I believe about Jesus or about resurrection, but how do I act because Christ has been raised.

b. Paul begins his answer with the call to focus n Christ.

1.  “Seek the things that are above, where Christ is….”

2.  If they want to know how to live, look to Christ.

3.    seeking the things that are above is not a “negation of earthly and material existence.”

4.  paul does not say that what is happening in their real lives does not matter.

5.  But, what happens in their daily lives is impacted by the God who “has already rescued us from destructive powers” and the God who calls us to pay attention to the Messiah, “through whom God reconciles all things and raises them to new life.” (Lois Malcolm, Professor and Olin and Amanda Fjelstad Registad Chair for Systematic Theology, Luther Seminary Saint Paul, Minn.; https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-18-3/commentary-on-colossians-31-11-4)

5. Paul acknowledges that there is hiddenness - we cannot see completely or clearly in the moment; the time for full revelation is yet to come.

6. But, the meantime, look to Christ.

how do you live as people of the resurrection? Focus on Christ.

move 2:  Looking to Christ leads to this image of death.

a.  As Paul uses this dramatic image:  Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly:  

1.  Death.

2.  not change like a little different, but dramatic change.

3.  not just transform one little bit of your life, but be transformed in a big way.

4.   C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity:  “Christ says, ‘Give me all.  I don’t want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work:  I want you.  I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it.  No half-measures are any good.  I don’t want to cut off a branch here and a branch there, I want to have the whole tree down.  I don’t want to drill the tooth, or crown it, or stop it, but to have it out.  Hand over the whole natural self, all the desires which you thing innocent as well as the ones you think wicked – the whole outfit.  I will give you a new self instead.  In fact, I will give you Myself:  my own will shall become yours” (167).

4.  since you have been raised with Christ, means you have already died with Christ.

5.  the old life is gone; the new life begun.

b.  that story Jesus tells in the Gospel of Luke is about someone who is not ready to die to self and embrace the new life.

1.  We often use this story as a stewardship lesson, but it is much broader than about what to do wiht an abundant crop.

2.   The relentless use of the first person pronouns “I” and “my” betray a preoccupation with self. 

3. The conversation he has where he addresses: “Self” (sort of interesting to read this story in our time when people speak to themselves in conversation on a  regular basis!).

3.  There is no thought to using the abundance to help others.  others are outside of his view.

4.  no expression of gratitude for his good fortune, no recognition of God at all. 

5.  He is living for himself and everything is about himself.

5.  As David Lose comments, “The farmer has fallen prey to worshiping the most popular of gods: the Unholy Trinity of “me, myself, and I.”  (https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-18-3/commentary-on-luke-1213-21; David Lose, Senior Pastor, Mount Olivet Lutheran Church

Minneapolis, Minn.)

6. not the example Christ sets when he dies for us.

b.  Reminder that the gift of death of self grows out of gift of Christ.

1. Christ dies to self.

2. why else would the son of God, God’s very own self, submit to death at the hands of the authorities?

3. We see Jesus choosing to give himself top for us.

4. From the gift of death comes resurrection and new life.

5.  AS we follow Christ, we are called to die to self so that we can have the new life to which God calls us.

Move 3:  A final thought - there is a communal aspect to dying to self.

a. :communal in that sense that when we die to self we are able to connect in news ways as a community.Not just about me and my call to discipleship.

1.  Notice that Paul writes about how dying to self, taking on that new life, there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all!

2.  if we are looking outward without concern for who we are, the differences disappear and we see how we are connected in Christ.

b. Dying to self also speaks to how the church is called to live.

1.  church has experienced threat during the pandemic.

2. still a time of uncertainty.

2. As we think about what we want to the church to be, are we looking to preserving the church we knew or boldly stepping forward to the new creation God is calling us to be?

3.   If we choose to move boldly, it may mean letting some things die away. 

4.  To be the body of Christ means knowing death and resurrection. 

Conclusion:  Perhaps the wise men only meant the myrrh to the gift of perfume with no connection to death.

But the Christ-child becomes the one who gives the gift of his life to bring us the new life of being people of the resurrection.

Reflections on “Giving Gifts: Gold” I Chronicles 29: 1-9; Acts 3: 1-10

When I laid out the series based on the three gifts the wise men brought, I assumed the gift of gold would be a typical stewardship sermon, although in February, instead of in the fall.  As I studied the text and reflected on the gift of gold, it did not seem to meet the criteria for a typical stewardship sermon.  I also got a bit cross-wise when I was looking for texts that mentioned "gold," and found the story in Acts where they do not have gold to give.  Ended up with probably two sermon ideas that I tried to put together in one sermon.

I found the gold rush info late in the sermon preparation.  I think I could take that illustration in a future sermon and work with these ideas:  1. it took little capital investment to look for gold. 2. the news could not be kept secret  3. Everyone seemingly wanted to try and find gold.  4. lots of people went bankrupt in the process, including the owner of the place where the gold was first discovered.  Might be a good stewardship sermon or series.

“Giving Gifts: Gold”  SAPC, Denton; February 6, 2022; I Chronicles 29: 1-9; Acts 3: 1-10; Gift giving series

One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, at three o’clock in the afternoon. 2 And a man lame from birth was being carried in. People would lay him daily at the gate of the temple called the Beautiful Gate so that he could ask for alms from those entering the temple. 3 When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked them for alms. 4 Peter looked intently at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.” 5 And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. 6 But Peter said, “I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth,[a] stand up and walk.” 7 And he took him by the right hand and raised him up; and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. 8 Jumping up, he stood and began to walk, and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. 9 All the people saw him walking and praising God, 10 and they recognized him as the one who used to sit and ask for alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

Introduction:  We continue our preaching series on giving gifts that grows out of the story of the wise men bringing gifts to the Christ-child.

this morning, we reflect on their gift of gold.  the wise men brought gold.

Move 1: Giving for the sake of giving.

a.  The wise men giving their gifts do not fit into traditional stewardship sermon themes.

1.  their giving gold is not the foundation for a stewardship sermon about giving for a particular need.

2. As I have mentioned previously, one of the traditions associated with the wise men’s gifts suggest that Mary and Joseph used the gold to pay off their bill at the stable.

2.  I doubt the wise men chose to give gold to baby Jesus so they could pay a motel bill, so to speak

3.  when they gathered up the gold touring in their chests, it was not about a particular need, but about giving an extravagant gift.

b. the wise men giving gold does not lead to a stewardship sermon on tithing.

1.  they were not part of the Jewish tradition that taught giving 10%.

2. We have no idea how much gold they gave, nor how much of their wealth it was.

c.  Not even possible to make the story of giving the gold a stewardship sermon on giving back to God because of what  God has given to us.

1. the wise men did not know much about God.

2. they were outsiders to the faith.

3. The gift of gold was not in response to some appeal to give thanks to God

d. the wise men just gave a generous gift of gold because they wanted to give.

1.  Gave because they want to honor Jesus.

2. Because they wanted to show this child who was told to them to be the King of the Jews that they valued him.

d.  In some ways, their offering of gold is like king David’s offering of gold and a lot more.

4.  David does not have to give gold to build the temple.

5. as we remember, David had been told he would not be the one to build God’s house.

6.  But King David wants to participate.  

Even though it will not be his project.

Even though he is not responsible for building the Temple.

7. King David wants to give because he wants to give.

8.  Notice that David’s example of giving inspires others to make freewill offerings.

d.  So too, we remember the wise men bringing the gift of gold to give to Jesus and are inspired to give of our gold.

1.  Why?  Because we want to give to honor Jesus.

2. because giving our gold seems like the appropriate response to make when turning to God and approaching our Lord and Savior.

3.  We may not have a chest of gold to give to Jesus like the wise men, but we hear the call to give of our resources.

4.  If you want some creative ways you can give your gold, so to speak, pay special attention when Stefanie Marsden, our guest in worship from Texas Presbyterian Foundation, shares with us in a little bit about different ways we can give of our gold.

no obligation - just the opportunity to join with the wise men and give the gift of our gold.

Move 2:  But even as we give our gold, we recognize that God asks for even more from us. 

a.  Not instead of our gold, but more than our gold.

1. God calls us to use our gold so that ministry can be done and lives changed. 

God also sends us into the world to give Jesus Christ so that ministry can be done and lives changed.

3. Another reminder that even as the wise men give their gift of gold, they receive the gift of Jesus Christ.

As we learn again each week, the gifts we give to God are more than met by the gifts God gives to us.

4.  so we turn to the world with gifts of gold and the gift of Jesus Christ God has given to us.

b.  Peter knows this.  

1.  the man Peter and John meet outside the gates of the Temple asks for alms.

2. He, no doubt, would love to receive some gold from Peter and John.

3.  But Peter has something better than gold to offer.

4.  “I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you.  Stand and walk in the name of Jesus Christ.”

5.  Peter changes the man’s life by giving him the gift of Jesus Christ.

the power of Christ to transform lives.

6. We are sent  to a world where people are hurting and need healing;

we are sent to a world where people are feeling helpless and are in need of hope;

we are sent to a world where people need to have their lives changed;

we are sent into the world to bring this life-changing gift of Jesus Christ.

c.  Do you know much about the California gold rush?

Since I was preaching on gold this week, I did a little research about it.

1.  The CA gold rush started in 1848 at a water-powered sawmill built along the American River in Coloma, California, approximately 50 miles (80 km) east of present-day Sacramento and owned by John Sutter.  

On January 24 his carpenter, James W. Marshall, was inspecting a millrace and As he turned the water in his pan to clear the debris, he saw something glinting in the light. He later recalled that it made his heart thump, for he was certain he had found gold. 

Sutter and Marshall agreed to become partners and tried to keep their find a secret, but they were unable to do so and the California gold rush had begun. Gold was irresistible because of the high value for such a little amount ($20.66 per ounce) and it took very little capital investment to begin looking for gold. (https://www.britannica.com/topic/California-Gold-Rush) 

1.  the gold rush took off because it took so little capital to look for gold.

2.  As I read that story, I was reminded of Peter and John at the Temple.  

3. they had little capital to offer the man, but they had this incredible gift of Jesus Christ.  

Conclusion:   The wise men give the gift of gold and discover the gift of Christ.

We have been given the gift of Christ, so we give our gold and Christ to the world.  Amen.