December 24, 2008 - "The Gift of God's Self - The Gift of Your Self"

Crescent Hill Baptist Church
Louisville, Kentucky
Christmas Eve
December 24, 2008
W. Gregory Pope

Series: Re-Gifting God’s Gifts
THE GIFT OF GOD’S SELF - THE GIFT OF YOUR SELF

Isaiah 9:2-7; Psalm 96-98; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 1:1-4; Luke 2:1-20; John 1:1-14

This Advent season we have been Re-Gifting God’s Gifts.

When we think of re-gifting we usually think of giving to someone else those gifts we were given that we either did not care for or have more of than we need.

Just for curiosity’s sake: How many of you are re-gifting this year? Raise your hand. I know your family may be sitting beside you and you can’t tell them you’re re-gifting an old gift, but you may just want to raise your hand to make them wonder about their gift.

This season we’ve been talking about Re-Gifting God’s Gifts of hope, peace, joy, and love - not as gifts we do not care for or have too much of, but as gifts we simply cannot keep to ourselves.

We’ve been asking ourselves two questions each week:

One: Where have you found God’s hope, peace, joy, love?
and
Two: How can we re-gift God’s gifts to others and to the world?

God’s gifts of hope, peace, joy, and love can never be too plentiful and are gifts we care for deeply. And the wonderful thing about re-gifting God’s gifts is that you can share them and keep them at the same time.

Tonight as we remember and celebrate the gift of God’s self to us in Jesus Christ, let us also consider how we can re-gift by giving our selves to God, to others, and to the world.

The Gift of God’s Self

The gift of God’s self. In the Christ of Bethlehem, God entered the world in a way God had never done before.

Since the first light of creation and eternity past, the Spirit of God has covered the cosmos - every particle, every black hole, every galaxy. God has been present at the birth of every new star and gives us eyes to see and minds to learn of God’s ever-expanding universe. There is no place in the whole creation where God is not present.

God has walked through garden and wilderness, smiled in birthing rooms and wept in fields of war. There has never been a moment when God did not cradle the whole world in beloved hands. That includes your life and mine.

On this precious speck of dust called earth, God has made God’s self known to us.

The book of Hebrews recounts for us how in times past God has spoken through creation and prophets, but now in Christ God speaks through a Son.

“A child has been born, a son is given. He is Wonderful Counselor, Prince of Prince, Everlasting Father, Mighty God.”

In the mystery of Incarnation, the Word God has been speaking since Day One, the Word through whom God created the world, that Word has become flesh. The Mighty God has taken on skin and bone, blood and human limitation and come to live among us. The Mighty God has come to save us, to be the light in our darkness.

In the New Testament letter of Titus, we read that the scope of this act is universal in its redemption: God’s grace has appeared in Christ bringing salvation to all.

If your mind cannot wrap itself around this miracle of Incarnation, that means you understand. In humility and wonder, you stand under the great mystery and the generous love that is beyond all telling.

The Re-Gifting of Ourselves

But you know what? The miracle of Incarnation continues with you and me and every stranger you meet. Every human face - old and young, brown and white, male and female - bears the face of God in Christ.

Sometimes it takes the tiny face of a Harley Grace to see the miracle of Christmas. Maybe that is why, without our fully knowing, we say Christmas is about children.

Just this week I read a BBC news story with the headline “Child bishop takes on church role.” The story reports that in the southern English county of Hampshire, a nine-year-old girl named Ophelia Wells is serving as bishop at an Anglican cathedral during most of December.

She is preaching every Sunday. And she has made some new rules, including one allowing children to ring the church bells, and another declaring that a free glass of wine will be given to those who go to church for two weeks in a row.

Ophelia is very pleased to occupy the position. She said, “It’s going to be fun. Because I get to boss people around.”

Ophelia’s not the only one. Children have also been appointed bishops at cathedrals in Hereford and Winchester and who knows where else. Each of them is serving from December 6 to December 28.

It’s the revival of a tradition that goes back to the Middle Ages, and it has to do with St. Nicholas. He lived in the 4th century in Turkey, and was himself a bishop. He is the patron saint of sailors and, more famously, of children. His feast day is December 6, and he has been known in some parts of the world to bring presents to children on that day.

As part of the celebration of his feast day, medieval English cathedrals and some of the parish churches would appoint a child, the smallest singer in the choir, to act as bishop for the rest of the month. Other children joined in taking charge. The clergy were dismissed and the kids took over. When the Reformation came, the practice was ended; but now in some quarters it is making a happy comeback. Sounds like fun.

There is a text often read in Advent from the prophet Isaiah that says, “a little child shall lead them.” It is read in this season because we gather around a manger to adore a child who is Emmanuel, God-with-us.

What I want us to see tonight is that you and I are the child-bishop, God’s priest, called not to boss other people around, but called to embody the holy presence of Christ to the world. To continue the Incarnation, to be God’s Word made flesh, led by Bethlehem’s Child.

In particular, it is the church, those bound together in the baptized following of Jesus, who are the Body of Christ, the hands and feet and face of Christ to one another and to the world.

God has come to us in Christ. Christ gave himself up for us all. So we give ourselves to one another, to the world, and to God.

Like the shepherds we tell what we have seen and heard - how the presence of God has come near to us in Jesus Christ, sharing the hope and peace and joy and love of God.

You may not have been able this year to afford the gifts you wanted for those you love. So why don’t you just give the gift of your precious self.

Conclusion

The greatest gift of all awaits us this night in a stable under a cross-shaped star. It is the gift of new life wrapped in blankets of hope and peace, joy and love. It is Emmanuel, God-with-us. The gift of God’s very self is offered you this night. Open your hands, open your heart, and take into yourself eternal life.

And then, in light of God’s generous love and grace, offer yourself back to God in holy living, compassionate generosity, grateful worship, and sacrificial love.

We give ourselves to God by taking care of this world God has made and all who live within it. Giving ourselves for the well-being of others. Giving ourselves as Christ to the world with abandon and great love.

Welcome the Christ. Be the Christ. Give the Christ away.

God has come to live among us.