The Gifts of God for the People of God

“O God, by the leading of a star you manifested your only Son to the peoples of the earth: Lead us, who know you now by faith, to your presence, where we may see your glory face to face; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.”

They started the journey some weeks ago. The appearance of the leading star has brought them thus far, but it has not been easy the entire time. They have had moments of uncertainty and of things looking pretty bleak. After all, it has been a journey, and no journey comes without unexpected twists and turns. They could not predict everything they would encounter when they undertook this journey to see the Christ child, but they have persevered until they reached the place in which Jesus was. (I hasten to add that Matthew’s narrative does not tell us that they visited Jesus in stable. It simply says that they entered a house.)

When the magi enter the house, they do so with joy. They enter the house, and they knelt down and paid Jesus homage. They entered the house to share their gifts not only with Jesus but also with his mother Mary who is also mentioned in the story about the magi. They bring out of their treasure chests things of great value in the time of Jesus: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The magi give to Jesus items that communicate the honor they bring to meeting Jesus. For the magi, it was an important journey that ended where they had originally hoped: at the feet of the newborn king of the Jews. They greet the Christ child with gifts of immense value, and they honor the parents who are already busy caring for this little boy who needs a nurturing place to grow into adulthood. 

So much of the story of the magi is about the gifts that are being given, and it asks us to consider the ways that God is inviting us to share our own gifts with God and with each other. Perhaps to put it more straight-forwardly, we are being invited to consider how to share the gifts we receive from God with one another, and in so doing, we also share those gifts with God in the ways that we serve one another in our faith journeys. As we share gifts with each other, we will stumble in the ways that we share those gifts, and we will have moments in which the gift we are sharing is not received as a gift at all. In fact, we will each have moments in which we share our gifts in such a way that we unintentionally step on each others’ toes. This is simply part of our journey: learning to live in community with one another and learning to share our gifts in healthy and appropriate ways. 

Though it is most often said of the body and blood of Christ, I think we can think about the gifts of God for the people of God in a broader sense. I think we can begin to think of the many gifts we have as individuals as part of the gifts of God for the people of God. As the body of Christ, we are knit together in such a way that we need each other to be whole, to be complete. The late Archbishop Desmond Tutu preached this so consistently in his ministry within the church using the South African philosophy of ubuntu, which is loosely translated as “I am because you are.” It is a way of understanding that I am shaped into the person I am because of the person you are. The people in our lives have a way of shaping us and helping us to grow into the person the God is speaking into being each and every moment of the day. 

Like the magi, the journey we are on together is not an easy one, and we will have moments in which the twists and turns of the journey cause us to stumble, to get things wrong, to grow exasperated or tired, and to feel emotions of annoyance, exasperation, tiredness, anger, sadness, joy, love, peace, and many, many others. Though the journey will challenge us, God is inviting us to keep going on the journey. We are invited to continue following the yonder star leading us to the feet of the Christ child so that, as the collect tells us, we “who know you now by faith” may “see your glory face to face.” 

You are a gift of God’s making and of God’s loving. How is God inviting you into the journey of sharing your gifts within God’s kingdom?

In Christ,

Hunter+