“What Gift Do We Bring?”
by Bruce J. Johnson
I have always been fond of the story that J. Barrie Shepherd tells of the little boy attending his first ever Epiphany service—one solely dedicated to the contemplation of the meaning of the visit of the three wise men, three kings, or three astrologers, whichever you prefer. He watched the three Magi lining up in the back of the church, getting ready to walk down the aisle, and nudged his mother and said, “Don’t look now, but God just got here… only I’m not sure which one he is.”
Well,
it was an honest mistake by a youngster and actually, not far off the mark.
Epiphany is about the recognition of the arrival of God---literally, the
‘manifestation’ or the ‘revelation’ of God in Christ to the world. It is about
a Star that led three wise men through the hostility and deception of the world
to the light and truth in Christ. We’re supposed to believe that God has
arrived and we know that God is with us now in Jesus Christ.
Matthew’s
story of their journey manages to express in 11 short verses the truth and
mystery of faith:
the truth
that people will come from afar and by many routes to discover the light;
the truth that no place in this world is too humble
or lowly to welcome the light and kneel before Him;
the truth that as knowledge grows so does reverence
and love;
the truth that wise people are people of action and can act as people
of thought and reason as well as passion;
and the mystery of the star, shining over
Bethlehem—a sign hung high in the night sky to symbolize the deepest longing of
everyone, which is for light in darkness, hope in the midst of despair and the
sustaining belief that love conquers all.
(Credit
given to the Rev. Patricia de Jong, fccb, for some of these opening thoughts)
Some
years ago, the same J Barrie Shepherd, senior pastor at the First Presbyterian
Church in New York City wrote a very useful Christmas book titled: Faces
at the Manger. It is a
collection of reflections and poems about various attendees at the manger that
first Christmas. One of his poems, along with a brief introduction, goes as
follows:
“These magi find their wisdom redirected
from the foretelling
of the future to the unveiling of the significance
of the present moment in all its givenness.”
as a
rule,
charting
the bright courses, channels,
navigations
of the distant lighted vessels
of
the heavens, probing through the viscera
of sacrificial beasts,
observing birds in flight,
relating
visions of the night to what
will come
to pass in days and years
ahead.
This white and mobile star,
however,
tells us nothing of what is
to be,
directs the sight instead
toward what is.
I mean the present, here and
now,
and what, or better, who
is born
within the tight but waking
moment.
The Presence of new life
awaits our presence
and the precious gifts we
too might bear
inside the stable of the
self.
Isn’t
that beautiful? “The Presence of new life awaits our presence and the gifts we
too might bear inside the stable of the self.”
Indeed,
within these twelve days of Christmas, still held up at some home in
Tradition
and its interpretation, of course, claims that the Three Kings brought three
gifts. They brought gold representing their worldly wealth, frankincense –
their innermost thoughts and feelings and then there was the myrrh, which
because of its use in embalming has come to stand for our sorrow and our
suffering, the hardest things perhaps to dedicate to Christ--- or so it seems.
Too often, when we lose someone we love through death or a spouse through
divorce, or a hope through an illness or a job through bad economic times or
the present conditions of corruption and greed, we often turn away in anger and
bitterness forgetting that God’s heart is as broken as ours. And God only wants
us to come to that place in his love where we can find rest and peace and hope
and renewed strength. We’ve all heard it said often:
“Let Go and Let God”
In
this month’s Church Call, I included a wonderful poem by Cheryl Kristolaitis. I
hope that you not only enjoyed it but that it gave you pause to ponder the significance
of its message--- that perhaps myrrh was the most precious of all gifts--- not
only because it symbolizes our sorrow and suffering but His and what it means
for us. Myrrh might, in fact, be the outward and visible, if not physical sign
of their inner and spiritual acknowledgement of Christ’s ultimate purpose and
efficacy--- that he would suffer and die so that we may live--- today and
forever.
His
triumph is our triumph
Because
he suffered and die and was raised, so are we...
Can
there be a more precious gift offered Christ--- than our faith and our trust?
Not for me the glitter of
gold,
nor the gummy fragrance of
frankincense.
Those great and glorious
gifts
that spoke of royalty and
worship, dignity and adoration,
were carried by others
deemed more worthy of their glory.
I always had to carry the
myrrh,
reluctant bearer of an
unwelcomed gift.
I had heard the hymn often
enough.
I knew what its bitter
perfume meant.
“Sorrowing, sighing,
bleeding dying,
sealed in the stone cold
tomb.”
It was as if I pierced the
joy of every Christmas pageant
with the desolation of Good
Friday,
dragging my feet up the
aisle,
sure no one wanted my gift
to be given.
Decades have passed since I
last crossed that stage.
The years have taught me the
richness of that gift.
To enter the suffering
knowing it will bend but not break you,
silence the body but not the
soul,
is to rob it of its pain
and to release its power.
If I were to carry the myrrh
once again,
I would not skulk my way to the
Christ child.
No, I would carry it as the
precious gift it is—
the bittersweet fragrance of
life itself.
I
was watching C-Span last Friday while the snow fell outside. I happened to
catch the statements made by Damon and Brenda Van Dam at the sentencing of
David Westerfield for the kidnapping and brutal murder of their 7 year old
daughter, Danielle. She spoke of her child as a light in their lives, taken
from them by evil… The unspeakable evil, their unthinkable horror, the level of
their pain and their grief was so powerful. Is there anything that engages and
moves us more than what might or could and sadly, does happen to our children?
And
yet, last week there was Mary hearing from Simeon that her son came for the
rise and fall of many in Israel, as a sign spoken against and a sword would
pierce her soul too!
And
here was Mary and Joseph today watching one of three wisemen offer myrrh as his
gift--- perhaps the precious gift it is--- the bittersweet fragrance of life
itself—all our sweet joys and bitter sufferings…
But
what gives us such confidence in offering this gift if not our fundamental
faith in the triumph God’s love, shown to us in Christ, the baby of Bethlehem,
the man of Nazareth, the Suffering Servant, the risen Christ?
What
gift do we bring this morning? Let us bring our faith that amidst the darkness
there is light, amidst the despair there is hope, amidst the evil there is
goodness incarnate and through death there is new life--- because love conquers
all.
Amen