Advent Conspiracy ~ Give More

There are not a lot of gifts that I remember getting as a child, it’s not that I didn’t get a lot, it’s just I don’t remember any of them. I didn’t get a red rider BB gun or a bicycle when I was young, and I never got that new car with the big red bow when I was 16. While there is no gift I remember receiving as a child, there is one gift I remember giving and that was little pewter turtle pin that I gave my Mom. I was maybe 8 or 9 years old and my Mom left me in a gift shop to buy her a gift while she went to the grocery store (this was back in the days when in a small town you could leave your child in a store while you went down the street to shop). All the money I had was in a little black change purse that had the zipper along the top. The gift I picked out was that little pewter turtle pin and the woman got it out of the cabinet and to an 8 year old boy – it was the best gift you could give your mom because it was jewelry but it was also a turtle. So she told how much it was and I opened my little change purse and emptied it out. We counted out the money together and I didn’t have enough. I was a few dollars short and I was devastated. The woman behind the counter could tell I was heartbroken so she said, don’t worry about it, I’ll make up the difference.

Obviously to this day I remember that gift. I can picture the pin, the store, the woman behind the counter, the little black change purse, everything. I can’t tell you what I got for Christmas that year, but I know what I gave because what I gave required me to give everything I had. It’s the only gift I ever gave that cost me everything and then some and isn’t that what this Christmas story is all about – giving more than we ever thought we could, giving all we have and then still needing more? Think about all the characters in this Christmas story: Mary, Joseph, Shepherds, Magi even the baby Jesus – they all gave more than they ever thought they could, and yet everything they gave still wasn’t enough – each one needed more. Mary and Joseph gave all they had to give and yet they needed the help of God to bring their child into the world and they needed God to help them make the long journey to Bethlehem and then find them a place to deliver their child.

The shepherds gave their time and even jeopardized their jobs by leaving sheep in the fields to go and find the child that the angels told them about, but they also needed more. They first needed those heaven sent angels to tell them about the child, and how to find him. They needed the spirit of God to give them boldness and courage to share the good news about what they found. And the Magi gave more then they had ever planned on giving. They gave their time to make a long journey. They had to finance that journey with their own resources and the trip took longer than they planned because once they arrived in Jerusalem they were told they now had to travel to Bethlehem, and then after their visit with Mary, Joseph and Jesus, they were told to return home by another way. So they gave their all, their time, energy, resources, they gave up their safety and security to travel through dangers deserted areas, they went longer and farther then they planned. They gave more than they thought they ever could, but they also needed the help of God. They needed a star to guide them, they needed religious leaders to tell them where the child was to be born, and they needed an angel to tell them to return home by another road so that both they and Jesus would be safe. They gave their all – but still needed help.

So one of the things we see in common among all these characters is that they gave. They each gave more then they ever thought they could, they gave everything they had, but they also needed the help of God. But God himself also gives. God gave his all in Jesus, but even God needed the help of others. God needed Mary and Joseph to say yes. God needed Mary and Joseph to follow through on their commitment to the very end. So the real spirit of Christmas isn’t in getting gifts – it’s in giving and giving more than we ever thought we could. Christmas is about giving more, but not more gifts bought at Wal-Mart or Target, more gifts of our selves.

The real spirit of Christmas is about giving more of our time, energy, love and help. We need to give more of ourselves to God in worship, we need to give more of ourselves to our family so we can strengthen those all important bonds of love, we need to give more of ourselves to our friends who enrich our lives and offer us support, and we need to give more of ourselves to the people of God and to God’s people around the world. We need to give more of ourselves to our neighbors and those in need all around us. Simply put, we need to give more.

Giving more is the next step in the Advent conspiracy and while on the surface it may seem like a contradiction to last weeks step of spending less, it really isn’t. When we say we need to spend less, it’s spending less money on those gifts that a month from now, a year from now or 10 years from now we will have forgotten and giving more of those gifts of time, energy and resources that will make a lasting difference in the lives of our family, friends and world. If you think about it, the very best we can give is the gift of ourselves. Beyond any gift you can wrap up in a box, the gift we all want from others is their time, attention and love, and that was the gift given in Bethlehem so long ago.

God didn’t send us a gift that needed to be unwrapped. God didn’t send a gift you could put in a box, God gave a gift wrapped in flesh and blood – God gave the gift of his time, attention and love in the person of Jesus. Look at John 1:1-4, 14. So God and the word are one and that word – God – became flesh in the person of Jesus. We call this the incarnation – God coming to us in human form. God gave the gift of himself in Jesus. But Jesus wasn’t just the gift of God in human form, through Jesus God gave us the gift of forgiveness which not only restored our relationship with God, but opened the door for restoration and healing in all relationships. Through Jesus, God gave the gift of joy and laughter that lifted people’s hearts and lives. Jesus was always being criticized for having too much fun, and I am convinced that one of the reasons such large crowds followed him was because people wanted to be around Jesus, not because of what he could do for them, or what he would give them, but because Jesus love and joy just lifted people up.

By coming to us in the person of Jesus, God shows us that the greatest gift we can give to anyone in this season is the gift of our selves, our time, our energy, our joy and our love. In fact, if we want to give a true Christmas gift, a gift that reflects the original Christmas gift given in Bethlehem and laid in a manger, we need to give of ourselves, so let’s give more of that gift, let’s give more of ourselves.

So how do we give the gift of our presence? In the bulletin there are some wonderfully creative ideas on how to give the gift of relationship. How about the gift of a movie night with your family or friends once a month for the entire year? A box of popcorn doesn’t cost much and if you buy it from the scouts you are supporting our own youth, and Dick Snyder reminded me that you can check out movies from the library for free, so it’s one way we can spend less and yet give more. What about giving a coupon to spend the day with your child or spouse or a friend doing what they want to do. What about giving our time to the children and youth of the church in prayer or service? We could be a prayer partner for a youth, or read stories to our children. We can also give more of ourselves in missions and help people in our community who are in need, or help a service agency like Habitat or Paws that meet the needs we have right here in Centre County. And of course there are still ways to give our time to the Christmas Dinner and build relationships with those we will serve and those we will serve with.

In the Advent Conspiracy book there is a wonderful story of a young man who gave his father a pound of coffee with the stipulation that he had to drink that coffee while they were together talking and sharing. In the days it took to drink that coffee, the father and son got reacquainted and a relationship was healed. How can we give ourselves in ways that relationships can be healed and strengthened? How could this kind of gift save a marriage or transform a family. The one thing it will require from us is time, our most valuable commodity, are we willing to give more of that gift?

Giving more may also mean giving more or even giving all of our money to those who are in real need. You can give these gifts through the church and help our children, youth and missions, or you can give these gifts through different missions and ministries that provide resources for those in need around the world. When you give more than you ever thought you could – you enter into the Christmas story. When you spend all you have in giving yourself to others – you will remember those gifts for a lifetime.

As we give more of ourselves in relationship and in gifts that make a real difference, we also need to remember that no matter how much we give, those gifts won’t accomplish anything alone – they need the spirit and presence of God to go with them. Even Jesus needed the spirit and presence of God to go with him. Jesus was God in the flesh, but it says that at the baptism of Jesus the spirit of God descended on him like a dove. The spirit of God was with Jesus daily and it was the constant indwelling of God that gave Jesus the strength and power to do all that God asked him to do.

No matter how much we give, we still need the strength of God’s spirit to help make our gifts transformational. We need God going with us as we give ourselves to others. We need God using our gift of time and energy in mission and ministry to make a difference in the lives of others. On our own, we will just serve a meal on Christmas Day, but with the spirit of God working in us and through us, we will offer hope and peace and a love that will change the lives of others. On our own, we will just read a story to kids, but with God working in us and through us we become those shepherds who share the life changing message a Savior’s love and grace.

Giving more is good, giving more of ourselves is good, giving all we have is good, but the message of this nativity story is that giving all we have is still not enough, we still need God giving through us. So as we give more, let us ask God to give more of himself through us so that together we can change peoples hearts and lives and transform the world around us.