Our gifts become fruit

Sermon given at Sydenstricker UMC on December 22nd, 2019

^NRS Galatians 5:22 By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things.

Webster, yes it is still in use, defines Epiphany as: an appearance or manifestation especially of a divine being, a usually sudden manifestation or perception of the essential nature or meaning of something, an intuitive grasp of reality through something (such as an event) usually simple and striking, an illuminating discovery, realization, or disclosure or a revealing scene or moment. Today we celebrate Epiphany in the church, as the celebration of the arrival of the Magi to see Jesus in Bethlehem. More on that in a moment.

I want to share a candid personal moment with you because I believe that friends do that with one another. It has been an interesting and ponderful week (not sure that last one is a word but I will use it anyway). As a pastor I am often confronted with unusual and delicate situations and I have to reaction in ways that are hopefully loving, nurturing and compassionate. So having had to deal with such a moment, I responded and asked Susan our communications Associate to share it with you through e-mail and social media. I have received both affirmation and critical complaint concerning my response. Then I was confronted this week by a member of the LGBT community that basically called me out to leave the denomination and if I did not leave the church I grew up in and love beyond measure then I was the enemy and not supportive of people of other preferences. Yesterday I read and shared the denominations protocol for separation which I have to say I support greatly and hope that it succeeds where our conversations have not. Meanwhile we live in a world bombarded by terrorism, impeachment and polarization. We seem unable to have conversations and if we are not in exact step with one side or the other then we become the enemy of one or both. I spent the last week pondering whether this is my last full year struggling to grow a church more bent on “what is in it for me” than what can I do for Jesus. Fortunately God has plans for me that are not finished yet and I am not planning on retiring any time soon. But this week it seemed closer than ever before.

Today is the day we celebrate Epiphany in the church even though the actual day is Monday this year. It is the twelfth day of Christmas, the day when in some countries gifts are given as a celebration of the Magi and their gifts to God. It is the day when we ponder the gifts that the Magi brought to the baby in the manger. In all likelihood, Jesus at that moment could well have been an infant or could have been two years old. We do not know how long it took the Magi to leave their homes and travel to Bethlehem to see Jesus. What we do know is that there was a much going on in the heavens in 2-6 BC with Jupiter in conjunction with Regulus in 3 BC, called the King Star, then with Venus in June of 2 BC and then as planets do, stopped in its place in December of that same year. Astrologers of that day would have pointed to these signs as the birth of a new King in Judea and followed Jupiter in hopes to meet this new King.

The Magi were the wise men of Daniel’s day and likely a remnant of those famous sages who predicted the future, anointed Kings and interpreted prophecy. They prepared for this event maybe hundreds of years. But what to bring? When we prepare to travel, we make our list of things to do and things to pack so that we are prepared for our trip. So too, the wise men. They would have been well versed in all the prophecies of the coming of the Messiah, including the ones that we ponder around Lent and Easter. So they brought gifts appropriate for the life that Jesus would lead. They brought gold, a currency then and now that would allow Jesus and His family to live. As it would be, they would be in exile in Egypt and the gold likely sustained them there. They brought Myrrh, a spice that is used to embalm bodies and as a perfume to reduce the smell of death. They brought Frankincense, a healing a balm that is used often with Myrrh to bring healing to wounds, sores and even gum illness. We should as Christians, rejoice that the Magi thought long and hard about what appropriate gifts would be for Jesus. He is the healer of wounds both superficial and spiritual. He came to heal the world and the gifts of Myrrh and Frankincense help us to see that. He came to heal the world through His death and resurrection and the sweet perfume of Myrrh reminds us of the stench of death that is no more. I believe that the Magi spend a great deal of time thinking about what to bring as they came to worship this new King.

I love the song, the Little Drummer Boy. The song is meant to touch our hearts about the gifts we bring to the Jesus child. Here are some of the words to that song, you can do the pa rum pum pum’s in your head: Little Baby, I am a poor boy too, I have no gift to bring that’s fit to give a king, Shall I play for you, on my drum…Then He smiled at me, me and my drum.

This song reminds us that we bring gifts fit for Jesus within us or within our own abilities and talents. Each of us in unique in what God gives us to share with the world as a gift to Jesus. What do you bring to the table? What do you offer to Jesus like the Magi offered to the baby in the manger.

So all of this makes me ponder, what are the fruits of our gifts to Jesus? We all come to this place poor in the sense that we don’t have perfection within us. We cannot be Jesus so what can we possibly give to Jesus to make up for our imperfections, our inadequacies and our failures? Bonnie and I attended a movie about Mr. Rogers this week. If you have not seen it please make the time. It could be life changing. It was not what I expected since it is more about the life of the journalist than about Mr. Rogers. And yet, is isn’t that either. It is about a man who cared so deeply for humanity that he sought out those who are broken, especially among the children to try and bring healing into the world. After seeing it, my sermon, which at that point was still not written, remember I was in a ponderful mood, became a little clearer.

What gifts do we bring? God gives each of us gifts that we can bring to the world around us. Those gifts of teaching, nurturing, loving and caring are meant not as gifts for us, but for fruitful service in the world around us. As long as we continue to come to church to be nurtured and cared for, we will fail at being the kind of persons God wants of us. Paul reminds us of this in the scripture today. We are called to be loving, patient and kind, generous and gentle. We are called to bring joy and peace into the neighborhoods we live and to be faithful to the God who loves us uncodntiinally by loving each other in the same way.

So how are you using the gifts that God has given you? I am asking because I want you to ponder these things today, tomorrow and the throughout the year. We are here in this place not to be uplifted for personal gain but to be recharged for fruitful ministry. Truthfully, if we are not, then we are like an apple that fell from the tree and lay on the ground. It begins to rot from the outside in and soon is wasted. Well not entirely, for you see even an apple not picked off the ground spills its seeds into the ground and God will use that to create new opportunities for fruitfulness. So again, I ask you, how are you using the gifts that God has given you.

I heard a story once about two men,

Jim Smith went to church on Sunday morning. He heard the organist miss a note during the prelude, and he winced. He saw a teenage talking when everybody was supposed to "bow in prayer." He felt like the usher was watching to see what he put in the offering plate, and it made him boil. He caught the preacher making a slip of the tongue five times during the sermon by actual count. As he slipped out through the side door during the closing hymn, he muttered to himself, "Never again! What a bunch of clods and hypocrites!"

Ron Jones went to church on Sunday morning. He heard the organist play an arrangement of "A Mighty Fortress", and he was thrilled by the majesty of it. He heard a young girl take a moment in the service to speak her simple moving message of the difference her faith makes in her life. He was glad to see that the church was sharing in a special offering for the hungry children of Nigeria. He especially appreciated the sermon that Sunday – it answered a question that had bothered him for a long time. He thought, as he walked out the doors of the church, "How can a man come here and not feel the presence of God?"

Both men went to the same church on the same Sunday morning.

I am convinced that more than anything else, our attitudes drive how we use our gifts. If we come to an event, like worship, expecting to see God at work and feel the Holy Spirit we will experience it that way. If we come expecting to be disappointed, disillusioned or somehow singled out, then we will find what we expect.

Little baby
Pa rum pum pum-pum
I am a poor boy too
Pa rum pum pum-pum
I have no gift to bring
Pa rum pum pum-pum
That's fit to give our King
Pa rum pum pum-pum
Rum pum pum-pum
Rum pum pum-pum
Shall I play for you
Pa rum pum pum-pum
On my drum