Advent Conspiracy, Week 3, Give More

Never before has it occurred to me to compare the gift that God has given us with the gifts we give one another. I’ve often heard that we give because God gave or we give because we are celebrating the birth of our savior Jesus. But I have never considered trying to understand the logic behind the type of gift or the manner in which it was given.

Our God is so wise and so all knowing that he really did give us the perfect gift and it just amazes me how long it takes us to grasp the nature of this gift.

God didn’t give us a package with bows and ribbons. He didn’t give us something temporary. He didn’t give us something that could ever be thrown away.

Instead he gave us the gift of himself. And in sending his son, in sending Immanuel, “God with us” he gave us a person with whom we can have a relationship.

Relationship or relational ministry is a big buzz word right now in churches. It is the concept that all ministry that happens really doesn’t happen in meetings or in events, but that ministry happens in the relationships that we build with one another. When we truly get to know one another and care for one another, when we learn how to love no matter what and spend our time feeding and nurturing, both physically and spiritually, that is when we learn about who Christ is and what Christ has to offer each one of us. This new way of thinking has caused churches everywhere to re-evaluate how they do church. Churches are cutting back on programs and committees and increasing small groups and experiences.

You see, we come here each week to work on our relationships – the primary relationship for all of our lives is the one that we have between us and our maker. We come here to put that back in focus and to have our lives put back on track week after week. And when we tend to that relationship with Christ, we should seek to have all of our relationships mirror that openness and joy and service.

But, as I’ve said so many times before, we are skilled artisans at keeping church in church and keeping the “real world” functioning as it should. And I see my job as helping all of us to find ways to have the two cross over. That is exactly what God did in Christmas. He crossed over from the only God world of the heavens into the ordinary and mundane world of earth and when he did that he proclaimed to us that there is not one speck of our lives that is off limits to the power of God.

This relationship is for all people. Between you and every single person you meet. Between all of the people who you can’t wait to see at Christmas and between you and those people you wish you didn’t have to see.

When the Advent Conspiracy asks us to give more, it is asking us to think specifically about the God who gave us everything in taking the greatest risk by sending his son to earth and then to take risks in our own lives. Reaching out to those who need some companionship. Giving the gift of time and of love.

You probably remember a few months back a dear friend of mine lost her four year old to cancer. She struggles every day to just make it through the ordinary things. But occasionally she still posts on her daughter’s website the things that are going through her mind. This week she posted that she was talking to her friend about the people who are hard to shop for on her list. The friend responded that to those people she always gives time. To the nieces and nephews who have everything, to the grandmother who is late in years, she always finds a way to give a gift that involves spending quality time with the person.

When my friend Amy heard the response she was stopped motionless in her tracks. Here she was worried about silly presents when all she had prayed for over the last year was more time with her daughter. She quickly recalled the countless hours of puzzles and coloring and doll play that they enjoyed in her daughter’s hospital bed when there were no other activities they could do. She herself needed a reminder that time is the greatest gift we have to give, even in the midst of our harried schedules and frantic lives, there are moments that someday we will wish we would have had and wish we would have taken.

Give More. Worship Fully. Spend Less. Give More.

This is what Christmas is all about. Giving of yourself in a way that honors what God gave to us. The very nature and design of his gift must be the primary model for all of our gifts.

I pray that as you receive the gift of the Christ Child this year, you, perhaps for the first time, think about God’s logic and wisdom in the way he gave the perfect gift and reconsider the gifts you will give because of the gift we have all been given.

Amen.