OFFERING GIFTS
Matthew 2: 1 – 12 Dec 17, 2006
Pilgrim Bud Precise

“Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.” Not exactly gifts one would offer a baby. The gifts were symbolic – gifts you would give a king – expensive and rare. Gold – probably a good gift for this king who would choose to reign not with force, but with love. Frankincense – a gift fit for a priest. Priest used the sweet perfume of frankincense in the temple. The Latin word for priest is
”ponifex” which literally means “bridge-builder.” A priest was, is, one who relates people to God. Myrrh was used for embalming- very rare, expensive.
We don’t really know much about the magi. They were from the East. They were following a star – the sign of the birth of royalty. We think of three magi, because three gifts were offered. It probably comes from the familiar carol. But actually, there could have been five or ten. We do know that Jesus was not born in their country. They traveled to get to the place of his birth. The magi come to Jerusalem and inquired where this king is to be born. King Herod did not take the news of a new king well. Matthew portrays Herod as an old king, cunning, cruel, alarmed about the possibility of a new king. He is called “Herod the Great.” And in some ways he was a great ruler. He ruled for 35 years and he managed to keep the peace during his reign. He was a great builder and responsible for rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem. Herod’s problem was that he wanted the world to revolve around him. He was constantly afraid that he might lose his kingdom. He eliminated anybody who he thought might be a threat to his throne – over the years he executed his wife, his mother-in-law, three of his own sons and many others, including John the Baptizer. How sick was he? He issued the order that at the very moment of his death, a large collection of the most distinguished and respected citizens of Jerusalem should be executed. By this order, Herod hoped to trick history. He knew that when word was out in the streets that these beloved community leaders had been killed, there would be great mourning and crying in the streets. He thought that historians would look back on the moment and mistakenly think the tears of the people were shed for Herod. Luckily, this command was not carried out.
Herod summoned together the chief priest and scribes of the people and inquired of them where this messiah would be born. They knew the scriptures and the quoted to him from the prophet Micah. “And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah, for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.” So Herod calls the Magi and asked them to find the child and return and report to him so that he too may come and pay homage.
The Magi find the baby in the manger. They offer their gifts and then return to their home by another route rather than go back and tell Herod. They had been warned in a dream to not tell Herod. This visit of the Magi ushers the followers of Jesus beyond a local religion from the very beginning. The church would name the season, Epiphany – the manifestation of God to all people.
Gifts. Opening our treasure chests, what do we offer as gifts to the Christ Child?
I first thought of what people offer in this church.
Fran – our historian.
Harry – organization and leadership
Melanie, Tim and Barrett – music ability
Nancy Lavender – her artistic work with worship
Nancy Ellis, Jim and Mary – keep records and books
Ethel – her daily work and devotion
Libba – greeting
John – leadership and love for this church
Rhoda – her cooking
Lou – fellowship
Linda – working with children –
Well, you can go through our membership and assign gifts that every single person here offers to this church.
There are gifts that we offer to God as a church – we offer them together.
At our last congregational meeting, we talked about words to describe values we hold here at Pilgrim. One of the words we talked a lot about was the word witness. Part of our conversation centered on our thought that the use of the word witness would give a message that is not who we are – like witness by handing out tracts or trying to pressure others into being Christian. That is not what we are about. But we kept coming back to the word – witness – because it states action – it is something we do. We talked about being a witness for justice, being a witness for peace. We talked of a witness of helping those in poverty. Our idea of witness follows the saying “love does not insist on it’s own way.” I really like that, because our witness it to our understanding of God.
Our Open and Affirming stance is a witness that all people are welcome in our congregation – and they are welcome in the presence of God. It is one of the gifts we offer as a congregation together.
Individually we offer our pledges as gifts. But actually they come together as a gift from the congregation.
Let us celebrate the gifts we have to offer. And let us offer them in gratitude during this Christmas season.