January 4, 2004: The Second Sunday after Christmas Day Readings: Jeremiah 31:7-14; Ephesians 1:3-6, 15-19a; Matthew 2:1-12; Psalm 84:1-8.   The Rev. Dr. Hilary B. Smith Bringing our Gifts The three wise men from the East bring their gifts to baby Jesus. Even though I never went to church as a child, I knew that part of the story. Almost everyone knows that part of the story. They followed the star and found the place where Jesus was. They gave him three gifts, I wasn’t sure about the frankincense and the myrrh (expensive aromatic gum resins, not native to Palestine), but the gold sounded like a good gift. The gifts that they bring acknowledge who Jesus is: "gold because he is a king; frankincense, for Jesus as divine, since it was used in worship; and myrrh, for Jesus’ dying, since it was used in embalming (M. Eugene Boring, "The Gospel of Matthew," in the New Interpreter’s Bible, Volume VIII, Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1995, p. 143.) " They brought gifts to Jesus. By doing that they showed that he was worthy of their attention and adoration. They were worshipping him. What do we do when we worship? We gaze with love upon the One who draws us to himself. We give all our attention to our Lord, who is the source of our life. For a few peaceful moments, when the cares that fill our minds are quieted, we rest in God’s love. Resting in God’s love and being strengthen by God’s presence, we come together to worship God’s love for us is so amazing. Listen again to the story of the wise men from the East. The encounter that they have with the Christ child was one of being draw by love. The love of Christ was so strong at its birth. Already people are being drawn to him. Jesus’ life was just beginning, and already we see a familiar sequence of events. We are seeing how people come to know Jesus. It all starts with the strength of his love to draw us to himself. We see God working through what people already know to bring them close. The wise men were astrologers; they were the scientists of their day. They are led to Jesus by a star, which was something they studied all the time. Notice the pattern of events. They search. They ask others about this thing that is supposed to have happened. They find him. They bring him gifts. The sequence of events found in the story of the Wise men has occurred many times. The light of Christ draws us. We seek. We find. We give. The gifts that we bring say something about who we think Jesus is. We might wonder what can we give? What can we give to the one who gives everything to us? Psalm 116, asked this question: "What shall I return to the Lord for all his bounty to me?" What indeed? The hymn, "In the bleak midwinter (112)" captures this sense of knowing Christ and wondering what to give him. "What can I give him, poor as I am? If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb; if I were a wise man, I would do my part; yet what can I give him—give my heart." We give our love; we give our gifts; we give ourselves. The Wise men seek Jesus. They find him. They give their gifts. It is a moving story of worship. The power of God is expressed by the power of God to draw them. Before we leave this story of love and power and worship, we should note that the story is complicated. The story is complicated by the fact that not everyone was happy about this birth. The story of Jesus is also a story of fear, deception and plotting. Herod represents those who worship only themselves. Jesus is a threat to that way of understanding the world, and so Herod seeks to destroy him. The story of Christ’s birth is the story of God’s great light shining forth. It is also a story that has hints of the world’s darkness. Herod’s plan to use the wise men to find the baby fails. Strong as the darkness can seem; we know that the light of God will overcome it. Today we worship our Lord. In this worship we find our strength, our joy and our peace. We bring our gifts—the gift of ourselves, of our attention, and of our adoration. By so doing, we acknowledge who Jesus is for us. For we have observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage. Amen.