Sermon by Seminary Intern, Deklan J, Lewis

 As I was preparing this week, the last couple of weeks, really, and thinking about what should be said about the magi and about this story, kind of racking my brain honestly.

Because a lot of sermons for a very long time have been preached on all of these texts. But specifically this one, you know, we talk about the magi, the wise men, every year. I thought I knew, uh, from the beginning that I wanted to do something a little different and that I wanted to make it about sharing our gifts. I had every intention of sitting down last night and writing an amazing sermon. Then I had an anxiety attack at work, so my night ended up being blown out.

I thought we were just gonna share gifts. So I’m going to share some of my gifts with you this morning and talk about the gifts that we all have that we can share with the world and with one another.

One of the things that popped into my head this week was that the Magi were not people that Mary and Joseph would’ve ever met under any other circumstances.

They were from a distant land. They were these mysterious figures. We have all kinds of theories about who they are, but I’m not sure anybody is 100% sure who these people were. From the very beginning of Jesus’ story, it was about drawing in people who weren’t already included.

We talked the other week about the shepherds and how they were people who were ostracized by society, and this week we’re looking at these foreigners who are mysterious and strange. Probably didn’t have the same religious beliefs as Jesus’ family did. To me, that says a lot. Even in the Old Testament, when Abraham initially received God’s covenant, it was about becoming a blessing to the whole world, and how Jesus was sent to be that blessing to the whole world, to include those who hadn’t been included.

Which also had me thinking about my own journey and my own experience of not being included, and finding places where I am included and where my gifts can be used and expressed. Most of the time when I step up to this microphone, I’m talking about those things, but they’re very important to me, and I know that they’re important to you. In the sense that they were important enough for you to take a vote. One of the questions that we had during our Q&A session was, “Why is it such a big deal that we make a public statement? Why is it such a big deal that we become official and make this statement about being open and affirming?”

One of the things that I talked about was that for a lot of people, we have been publicly excluded. So, we’re unsure whether we’re welcome or not. Even if we feel welcome when we walk through the doors, we don’t know if we’re 100% welcome. I can walk in, and I can sit in your pew, and you can all be super nice to me, and we could even have dinner together, or I could join a small group, or any of these things. But if I want to go the next step and use my gifts for the service of the church, if I wanna serve on a ministry team, or if I wanna serve on the board, or if I want to be a pastor, that’s a whole other level of whether or not I’m included. To be in a place where I know that I can use all of my gifts, where I can bring my gifts, is a really amazing thing. I wanted to say thank you to you for that gift.

It’s all tied together. When I was struggling to find a place where I could use my gifts, it made me feel like I didn’t have any because they weren’t acceptable.

That reminded me of a song, and I’m gonna play that song, and I’m hoping you guys will sing along with me.

Come, they told me, pa rum pum pum pum
A newborn King to see, pa rum pum pum pum
Our finest gifts we bring, pa rum pum pum pum
To lay before the King, pa rum pum pum pum
So to honour Him, pa rum pum pum pum When we come.
Little baby, pa rum pum pum pum
I am a poor boy too, pa rum pum pum pum
I have no gift to bring, pa rum pum pum pum
That’s fit to give a King, pa rum pum pum pum
Shall I play for you, pa rum pum pum pum On my drum?
Mary nodded, pa rum pum pum pum
The ox and lamb kept time, pa rum pum pum pum
I played my drum for Him, pa rum pum pum pum
I played my best for Him, pa rum pum pum pum
Then He smiled at me,

That was one of the songs that popped into my head this week as I was thinking about gifts. How the gifts that we bring all look very different. Another part of the story is that Mary was very much the one who brought the gift. She carried the ultimate gift for nine months and brought it, and the world has been ever blessed by it.

Earlier in the season, when we were on Mary’s Sunday, as Pastor Kathryn called it, there was a song that I was reminded of that I have fallen in love with. I had asked her if we were planning to do it, and she said, No, because the congregation doesn’t know it so well. We will reserve it for another time. I think this Sunday is the time, because it’s another gift that I can share with you, and I hope that you will be blessed by it as well. It’s called the Canticle of the Turning, and I put the words up, not so you feel like you have to sing, but so you can see them.

My soul cries out with a joyful shout
That the God of my heart is great
And my spirit sings of the Wondrous things
That you bring to the ones who wait
You fixed your sight on your servant’s plight
And my weakness you did not spurn
So from east to west shall my name be blest
Could the world be about to turn?
My heart shall sing of the day you bring
Let the fires of your justice burn
Wipe away all tears for the dawn draws near
And the world is about to turn!

Though I am small, my God, my all, you
Work great things in me
And your mercy will last from the Depths
Of the past to the end of the age to be
Your very name puts the proud to shame
And to those who would for you yearn
You will show your might
Put the strong to flight
For the world is about to turn
My heart shall sing of the day you bring
Let the fires of your justice burn
Wipe away all tears
For the dawn draws near
And the world is about to turn!

From the halls of power to the fortress tower
Not a stone will be left on stone
Let the king beware for your
Justice tears ev’ry tyrant from his throne
The hungry poor shall weep no more
For the food they can never ears
There are tables spread, ev’ry
Mouth be fed
For the world is about to turn
My heart shall sing of the day you bring
Let the fires of your justice burn
Wipe away all tears
For the dawn draws near
And the world is about to turn!

Though the nations rage from age to age
We remember
Who holds us fast
God’s mercy must deliver us from the conqueror’s crushing grasp
This saving word that out forebears
Heard is the promise which holds us bound
‘Til the spear and rod can be
Crushed by God
Who is turning the world around
My heart shall sing of the day you bring
Let the fires of your justice burn
Wipe away all tears
For the dawn draws near
And the world is about to turn!

My heart shall sing of the day you bring
Let the fires of your justice burn
Wipe away all tears
For the dawn draws near
And the world is about to turn!

We all have gifts. I think I’ve said that probably a hundred times in this sermon.

I can sing, I play guitar, I make little people out of wooden pieces, and I do some art. I like to think that my presence can be a gift sometimes, depending on the situation. You all have gifts, whether it’s a smile, whether it’s a hug, whether it’s the amazing cookies that you bake. Anything that you do, the crocheting or knitting, the patches that you make for your quilts, the garden that you grow out back, we all have them. The world needs them. The world needs all of the gifts. We need diversity. We need difference. Because without it, there are things that are missing.

I have one more song to share with you, and it’s a different kind of song. It’s called Hey Moon, and it’s sung from the perspective of the Star. I heard it a couple of years ago, and it actually made me choke up. It talks about how we’re here for a reason.

Hey, hey Moon
It’s funny how time just flies
Yesterday we were just kids
Hanging in the sky
Staying up all night

Hey, hey Moon
Do you ever get tear in your eye?
When you think about the time that God came down
I couldn’t help myself
I had to shine so bright

I remember that newborn baby?
And the wise men that traveled so far
That’s when I knew I was made for a reason
I feel like the luckiest star
Hey Moon

Hey, hey Moon
It’s funny how things have changed
I wish they could see the things we’ve seen
Before the colored lights
And Christmas trees

Hey, hey Moon
So many people are searching for signs
God is stirring in their hearts
They will lift their wandering eyes
And see us shine

Then they’ll remember that newborn baby?
And the wise men that traveled so far
Then they’ll that they were made for a reason
I feel like the luckiest star
Hey Moon

Silent night
Holy night
All is calm
All is bright

I hope that you’ll all take your gifts and let them shine. I hope that you remember that you were made for a reason, and I hope you feel like the luckiest star.

May it be so. Amen.

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