.jpg)
Central Lutheran Church - Elk River
Central Lutheran Church - Elk River
The Gifts of Christmas with Pastor Ryan Braley
Imagine receiving an unexpected gift from a basement scavenger hunt—sounds humorous, right? We kick things off with a lighthearted tale of re-gifting that reframes this common practice as a meaningful act of sharing and connection. This playful beginning sets the stage for a warm exploration of the Advent season, where the true spirit of Christmas is captured through the joys of giving, whether it's a heartfelt prayer or a quirky office trinket that brings people together.
As we shift gears, prepare to explore the darker side of history with the tragic figure of King Herod. Known for his ruthless ambition and grandiose projects, his story serves as a stark reminder of how power can crumble and legacies can fade. Through Herod's shattered reign, we contrast his ephemeral impact with the timeless teachings of Jesus, whose influence endures without the need for monumental structures. This contemplation invites a reflection on the cyclical nature of history and the choices individuals make that echo through time.
Finally, the ancient tale of the Magi unfolds with its rich tapestry of symbolism and divine intrigue. These wise men, guided by celestial signs, bring gifts that carry profound meaning—gold, frankincense, and myrrh—and we delve into their connections to kingship, divinity, and mortality. Through this narrative, we encourage listeners to embrace the ultimate gift of selflessly giving oneself, echoing the enduring spirit of Christmas. Join us in this episode as we journey through history, spirituality, and the art of giving, inviting you to contribute to the ongoing creation of a better world.
Join us! Facebook | Instagram | www.clcelkriver.org
Amen, let's pray, god. We give you thanks tonight for this, yeah, wonderful night and we pray, god, that you would once again come and, yeah, re-inspire us. God, would you wake us up in all the ways that we've fallen asleep this past season. And, god, tonight, on this Christmas night, would you fill us once again with wonder and magic and awe, and, as we approach this story and even celebrate the birth of your son, would you make it come alive to us once again. And I pray, god, that you would give us a vision for how we're to be as followers of Jesus in this world, and I pray that you would again help us to do that tonight. By your Holy Spirit, inspire us tonight in Jesus' name. Amen, amen, you may be name, amen, amen, you may be seated. One quick thing Did everybody get a bag of golden rocks when you came in? If you did not, would you raise your hand? We're going to get you one, but I think everyone got one. If you didn't, you're going to need one. Oh, we got one over here, okay, oh, a couple. Oh, we missed a couple. Okay, keep your hand up. Okay, miles has got one. Good, excellent, fantastic. Yeah, keep your hands up.
Speaker 1:We have been journeying through the season of Advent through a series we're calling the Gifts of Advent, or we call it the Gifts of Advent. Thanks, carl, yeah, yeah, keep your hands up. Thanks, ushers, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. We missed a lot of them. You guys got real chatty when I started passing out those gifts of rod. Okay, uh, the title of my sermon is the gifts of Christmas. We've been journeying through Advent in a series called the gifts of Advent, so that it's only appropriate to then have a sermon called the gifts of Christmas, because I love giving and also receiving gifts. So I love to give gifts One of my favorite things to do at Christmas time Almost got them and I also love to receive gifts. So make a note for next year. Just saying and I do have a subtitle for my sermon here's because I love subtitles. The subtitle is my brother, michael embalid, and the Baby Jesus. Sound good, all right, here's why. So I love giving and receiving gifts One of my favorite things at Christmas time and my brother-in-law, michael, who's here tonight I'm not going to point him out to you, but he is here.
Speaker 1:When he was younger, I met my wife when he was younger. He was like a young guy, maybe 70 years old, and he used to love also to give gifts at Christmas time, but there was one big problem he didn't have a job or any money. So here's what he would do. Maybe you've done this. He would go down into the basement and just look around for things that were like left and neglected, and he would take them and rewrap them and then give them to us, called this re-gifting. I liked it, though, but one year I got a 1978 romance novel that I did not ask for, and I was given this gift from him.
Speaker 1:But it's actually not a bad idea, this re-gifting and you know, I know re-gifting it's a bad rap in our world today, but I like to think of it more as like just passing on the blessing or keeping the goodness in circulation. Are you with me? You might even say, if someone's like, hey, are you re-gifting? Because here's the thing many of you might have to go get a couple more gifts before tomorrow Hopefully not any of you in here, but if you do, I would encourage you to consider just re-gifting an item, and if they're like, hey, are you re-gifting this to me? Just tell them no, I am just merely contributing to the ongoing generative nature of the world and the cosmos and this giving and receiving. Just tell them that, in fact. Yeah, Merry Christmas to you.
Speaker 1:In fact, I went through my own office and I found some gifts I want to give away to you tonight. Would that be all right if I give you guys some gifts? I've got three of them. Is there anybody here? What do I got here? Is there anybody here who just loves taking notes, especially during my sermons? Okay, back here. Yes, okay, I got a gift for you. This is from my office. Here you go, sir. We pass that back. There you go. Wonderful, I love it. I love it. Okay, he was enthusiastic too. He was like double-fisted in the air. How many of you or is anybody in here?
Speaker 1:In the first hand, I see, gets it just loves ancient coins, and maybe not real ancient coins, but maybe replica. I saw this hand right here Replica ancient coins. There you go. There's a bag of widow's mites for you. I think that's what's in there. Is there anybody who is just a diehard Christmas fan and is sometimes a bit chilly because of a? Okay, my nieces get this. Then. Here you go, ladies. Yeah, this is from Ben. It goes under a door to keep the draft down. There you go, ladies, all right, oh, your mom and dad are going to kill me later. Ben was so mad because Ben wanted that and he's like, but he brought it in because Ben's wife didn't like it, so he's like. You can have it, ryan. Now here's, you're welcome. Here's the deal. Do you know why?
Speaker 1:So giving gifts is an ancient tradition that goes back probably to the beginning of humanity itself. I mean, we've often given gifts as a way to show our love or build camaraderie amongst each other, and it's this ancient thing and it's sort of wired into our neurobiology and our human experience. But gifts giving at Christmastime is unique. The reason we give gifts at Christmas time is because of the story that Addison read about the Magi. These eastern men show up at the birth of Jesus they really don't belong there and they bring him some gifts. And so you heard the story read and this is Magi.
Speaker 1:Now, this story about the Magi coming to visit the baby Jesus, it's only found in the Gospel of Matthew. There's only two stories, or two times, that the birth of Jesus is mentioned in the Gospels the Gospel of Luke and the Gospel of Matthew. They're the only two Gospels that tell the story about Jesus' birth. The other two don't seem to care, I guess, but you have Luke's Gospel and Matthew's. In Matthew's, these men from the east come to Jerusalem. They ask where is this newborn king of the Jews? Now, here's the deal. I don't want to disrupt any of your nativity scenes at home, but many of them probably have the baby Jesus alongside the Magi.
Speaker 1:That probably wasn't how it happened. They probably didn't show up for a while. That may be a year or two years later, so Jesus was probably a little bit older, maybe a young child at this time, and when they come they find him in a house, and so they weren't there immediately, these three magi and actually there probably weren't just three of them, we think there was three because they had three gifts, and so in the Western church they often will have them portrayed as three, but in the Eastern Orthodox church they usually have them as 12, as a nod to the 12 disciples or the 12 tribes of Israel. So if you have any Eastern Orthodox art or any of your Coptic Christians, you'll have 12 magi. But probably in reality these men were rolling 20, maybe 30 deep, with this posse of guys roaming across the desert, because it's dangerous to travel across the desert, and so these guys, you know, traveled a long ways, and these magi show up at the birth of Jesus. And I wanted to unpack this story a little bit more, including the gifts that were given to Jesus, because here's the thing, a couple of the gifts were fine, but one of the gifts that Jesus gets given by these men who come from the east, these mysterious guys one of them was deeply offensive, or maybe at least jaw-dropping at the time. So I want to unpack this story a little bit more for you Now.
Speaker 1:Magi comes from the word Magoi. Everyone say Magoi. Yeah, now, magoi in ancient literature were of the priestly class of Persians, and these guys were fascinated by the stars. They loved to watch and gaze at the stars and they saw the stars as like divine messages to the people that lived down below. So these magi, the Magoi, these Eastern Persian priests, would often watch the stars and they were stargazers. In fact, many folks thought that they were, in fact, zoroastrian philosophers or magicians, and so it's really an odd group of people.
Speaker 1:Zoroastrianism is actually still around today. If you go to certain parts of the Near East, you can find Zoroastrians and Zoroastrianism is this ancient religious philosophy that was around in Iran and Persia and it was the predominant religion in Iran before Islam shows up on the scene. And these guys loved to gaze at the stars and they were kind of like magicians and sorcerers and maybe like wizardry type people. And they also they rode on camels when they showed up. You know, like you do when you're traveling across the desert at night looking for a baby, I suppose and they follow the star all the way into Bethlehem.
Speaker 1:And the crazy thing is these guys really shouldn't have been there, this priestly class, these ancient Eastern philosophy, wizard-type people, because they're not Jews, they're Gentiles. For these outsiders, these stargazing, magician-type wizards, to show up at the birth of Jesus would have been a scandal. Now today we're like, oh, not a big deal, but back then we're like why are these guys showing up at the birth of this Jewish baby who's supposed to be the king of the Jews? Now here's the deal with these guys, these Zoroastrian magicians. They follow the star and they show up and they bring gifts to Jesus. And when they show up and they bring gifts to Jesus and when they show up, they ask where is the king of the Jews? We saw the star rise up. We're here to worship him. We want to worship him, and they come and try to find him and they try to worship him. Now here's the deal when they show up, there's already a king of the Jews. This guy named King Herod. You might have heard of King Herod. If you want to see what he looks like. This is King Herod, last name of the great. Thank you, peter, appreciate that. And the problem is that King Herod was the current king of the Jews. So these Eastern Zoroastrian magician, sorcery, gentile outsiders show up from the East mysteriously following some star. These weird stargazing guys show up and they're looking for the king of the Jews. And there's already a king of the Jews. That's a problem.
Speaker 1:Now, herod wasn't a king born as a king. Some kings are born like they get this by their birthright. Some kings are put at least in the Jewish tradition. They're put in place by God. This guy was never put in place by God, nor was he born as a king. He was put in place by the Romans. The Romans were the ones that were oppressing the Jews, and so this guy was a client king of the Romans. The Romans needed somebody who they could trust that could push their agenda in this part of Palestine and be in charge, and had some Jewish connections and ties, so they put King Herod in there.
Speaker 1:But King Herod was not a good king. This client king of the Romans was a murderous king. He murders his own son in order to maintain his position and power as the king. Also, this guy loved himself so much he had all these extravagant building projects, so he built all these ornate, extravagant buildings that he hoped would stand for centuries and tell the story of his supremacy and his kingship, and he hoped that for thousands of years, folks would see these and wonder what a marvelous king he was. I'll tell you, it didn't work. I was in Israel a couple years ago and I saw places where his palaces were and his buildings were, and all that's left of these buildings that he spent all this money and time and ego on. All that's left is just ruins, and all most folks remember of King Herod is that he killed a bunch of babies to maintain his power. So King Herod was not a great king.
Speaker 1:Now imagine, though, being King Herod, this megalomaniac who loves power, loves being the king who kills his own son to maintain this position of power and imagine these Eastern magician, sorcery-type stargazers show up and start asking for the king of the Jews, the newborn king of the Jews. It makes Herod a bit nervous. See, these magi know something that King Herod doesn't know that his kingdom is coming to an end. You might say it this way game over fam. Or maybe you'd say your plot armor just ran out All right. Or like my teenage daughter says, it's giving, your reign is over queen. To which I said he wasn't a queen, he was a king. It doesn't matter, dad, like your fit. Check, I'm just kidding, I'm not going to keep going, I'm done. No, I'll do one more For you.
Speaker 1:Older, more wizened, maybe you know gray in the beard or the hair. Experienced folks in the room, the more older people. You might say it this way hey, the street lamps have come on. It's time to go home for dinner. You know back when we played outside? Yeah, they know his reign is over, it's done.
Speaker 1:And Herod hears this and it says that Herod is greatly disturbed. Or in the NRSV, it says he was frightened because he knows there's this baby. Can you imagine feeling threatened and insecure about a baby? And he says, hey, go find this baby. I want to worship him. Really. When did one king ever worship another king? Kings don't do that, so they leave and go find this baby, and Herod wants to know where this baby is so he can take care of business.
Speaker 1:Because here's the deal King Herod was the king of the Jews. He had it minted on his own coin. Here's a coin from the ancient world that says King Herod, and many of these kings would do this. They would mint their own coins and sort of declare their supremacy on these coins. It was like an ancient world version of Twitter and they would tell you how. Thank you, thank you. I liked that joke a little bit. I didn't know if it would work or not. And yeah, he had his own coin and for anyone else to declare that they were the king of the Jews would amount to treason. This is why Herod kills about 20 to 30 infant babies in order to maintain his power. I mean, it's weird. People will do anything. I mean anything to maintain their power, and history's full of people even modern history, of people who are drunk on power or are so poisoned by the allure of power and what it might bring that they will sell their souls to keep their positions, and the tragedy is, all that's left in the end is just ruins, and they built nothing. You can go to Israel now, and Jesus left no stones behind, no buildings, but his story. Yeah, two different legacies and two different kinds of kings.
Speaker 1:So a quick word about stars, by the way, though, because these Eastern philosophers, they love these stars, these magician-type sorcery, zoroastrian wise men, they love the stars. And this story was actually a bit of a scandal in the early church, because many early Christians, they were like. They were like scandalized by the fact that this Bible story seems to endorse astrology or things like horoscopes or palm readings. I mean, who looks to the stars for signs of the divine or things in the skies, and why don't we just listen to God himself? And so they were kind of like struck by this idea like this is like a scandal to have the story of astrology in the Bible, and yet there it is. Also, many other ancients believe that the stars wrote their story like that. Their story, rather, was written in the stars.
Speaker 1:We have this saying it's written in the stars that from the earliest days, all of our stories, our fates, were declared in the stars and they were unchangeable. You couldn't change it. It was preordained, predestined, that you and I are just living out a story already written and scripted, and they could do nothing to change it. And they felt oppressed by this tyranny of the fates of the stars, the Greeks especially. They had this idea that, oh, it's already all done and written and so yet Matthew in his gospel doesn't address either of these problems. It's like he doesn't care. It's like Matthew's, like it doesn't matter.
Speaker 1:God created the stars and God hung them in the sky. So God can do whatever he wants with these stars. If he wants to use them to kind of direct these eastern Zoroastrian guys who do not belong at the birth of a Jewish baby, what's it to you guys? God will do whatever he wants to do. And because God uses the star to direct these men, it's like the astral determinism is broken. Yeah, and many times in the ancient world there were these ancient or like these celestial phenomenon that would happen in the sky, that would correspond with these political events on the ground comets and full moons and these kinds of things and so it wasn't uncommon to look to the sky to see. Maybe does this link up with something on the ground that's happening the birth of a major leader or maybe even a king, and get this.
Speaker 1:In the ancient Jewish or Hebrew scriptures there were a number of prophecies that talked about a Messiah, a savior, a king that would come and save the whole world, and in many places it was connected to the stars. So here's one. In Numbers, for example, it says a star will come out of Jacob. This is in Numbers 24. A scepter will rise out of Israel. And maybe, just maybe, these magi who were from the east had access to this ancient Jewish scripture Like how would they have had that? Ryan, they're nowhere near Israel. Well, when the temple fell around 567 BC, all the Jews were sent into exile, into Babylon, and so perhaps many of these exiled Jews brought these scriptures and these stories and these prophecies with them, and maybe these magi had heard of this ancient Hebrew or Jewish script or text that told of a Messiah coming and a star, and they saw it Like we got to follow this and see where it goes. And so they do.
Speaker 1:And of course, they have to bring gifts. You can't show up at the foot of a baby king or a young boy king. You have to bring some gifts. And so they bring these gifts like you do, and they show up there. I imagine them walking into the house where Jesus is, and they lay these gifts down at his feet and one of them, I'm sure, leans over and says hey, jesus, just so we're clear, these are for your birthday and for Christmas. I love that joke, by the way. So they bring gold and frankincense and myrrh I mean not baby wipes or diapers or a stroller Like what are you doing? Clearly, these were single guys that showed up at the birth of Jesus. What are we doing, fellas? Well, these gifts all have a deeply symbolic meaning.
Speaker 1:Gold, you may know, is a very valuable commodity. It was very valuable in the ancient, exodus. Today commodity. It was very valuable in the ancient. As it is today, it was often given as a gift to kings. You would bring a king gold if you had it, and these guys did so. They brought him gold and then gold was a symbol for kingship. So when they bring this to this baby, they have this sense. Maybe they know, or they've read these prophecies, that maybe this baby will somehow one day turn into a king. That's great, fair enough so far. Then they bring him frankincense.
Speaker 1:Frankincense is an incense you would burn worshiping the gods. It was used in sacred worship, in temples and other sacred places, and they would burn frankincense. It smelled incredible and the aromas would rise to the heavens, where the gods live, and you would send your prayers to the gods and you would worship the gods using frankincense. So this, your prayers to the gods, and you would worship the gods using frankincense. So this baby will somehow maybe have this divine, this divinity within him, and this baby that they're meeting with will somehow be divine or a god himself. Great, I like that one too. So so far, you have gold, this sign of his kingship, and you have this frankincense, the sign of his divinity. And and then, of course, there's myrrh. I got you some myrrh, so take out your myrrh.
Speaker 1:Myrrh is this aromatic gum resin that comes from this tree called the camphora tree. So it's aromatic, so you can smell it. It's better out of the bag, because it smells like plastic in the bag, but take it, you can pour it in your hand. Yeah, it smells like plastic, ryan. Yeah, I know it's in the bag. Yeah, it's this aromatic gum resin, and they get it out of this tree called the camphora tree, and it was very valuable and coveted in the ancient world. In fact, it was as valuable or more valuable than gold. So you're welcome. And yeah, hold it, take it out, hold it, put it in your fingers and, dare I say, you can even taste it. Oh yeah, yeah, it's not not terrible, not great, but this is, uh, this is myrrh, and they would get it by, they would, they would, uh, they would etch into the side of the bark of the camphor tree, into the sapwood, and it would bleed the tree. So this sap would come out of the side and it was this golden, bronze color, it was almost like maple syrup and it would come out of this camphor tree and then over time it would coagulate and become hardened and it would be like this amber or dark color and there'd be different shades of this amber color. And it comes, the name comes, from this ancient Semitic root word, that's M-R-R. Myrrh. That's where we get the word myrrh from. We also have the word or the name Mary comes from this word and it means bitter Mary, or Mara or Maria. This means bitter one. So this myrrh, they bring myrrh. Now here's what myrrh is used for. Remember the gold is for a king, frankincense for a divine God.
Speaker 1:Myrrh is used as medicine. It was used as an analgesic. It was a pain reliever and they would use it because in the first century, crucifixion was the most common way for the state to put someone to death. They would give it to people who were being crucified to ease their suffering. So they would crush it up and they would mix it with wine and folks would drink it as a way to kind of just numb their physical pain and their suffering. In fact, they give it to Jesus on the cross. So in the Gospel of Mark, they mix it, they offer him wine mixed with myrrh to ease his suffering and his pain, because crucifixion was one of the most horrible ways to die. And he doesn't take it. I don't know why he doesn't take it. Maybe he didn't want to numb the pain, maybe he wanted to be fully present and not have any kind of you know, checking out, or something like that, but I don't know. And they give it to him and he doesn't take it. But yeah, nice gift, magi. It's an analgesic used in crucifixions.
Speaker 1:It's also, by the way, used as an embalming element. They use it to preserve dead bodies. Yeah, so the Egyptians and other ancients would use it. They'd put it around dead bodies, the great theologian, father Cornelius Alapide, whose name gives me great pleasure to say, father Cornelius Alapide, he says the bodies of the dead are buried with myrrh. Say, father Cornelius Alapid. He says the bodies of the dead are buried with myrrh, that they may remain incorrupt. Myrrh has the property of drying up moisture and preventing the generation of worms. I love that. So go ahead and bury me with some myrrh when I die, would you?
Speaker 1:So, to recap, these eastern Zoroastrian magician type people, these sorcery wizards who don't belong, at the birth of a Jewish king, they show up and they bring gold and frankincense and myrrh, a crucifixion aid and an embalming fluid, real, hopeful gifts for this baby Sheesh. So it raises the question what do we make of this? What do we make of these men who bring Jesus myrrh? What do we do with this? I mean, for many of us, christmas is really this cozy time where we get together and we exchange gifts with our loved ones and we sing songs, and it's a silent night, maybe there's a fire roaring in the side, drink hot cocoa, maybe put a little Bailey's in there or something fancy, and that's Christmas. But this is Christmas. This is Christmas.
Speaker 1:These Eastern outsiders, these Gentiles, who don't belong, who wouldn't probably make it past the gatekeepers in normal society. And yet there they are and they bring a foreshadowing of the suffering and death of this baby. That's a bold move. That's Christmas, yeah, and that's myrrh. This is the beginning of the world being made new and new life being brought forth right in the middle of this old one. And yet somehow it includes the suffering and death of this baby, who will be a king and is also somehow a God. Yeah, that's what happens when you give birth to something new. There's often pain and suffering and there's sometimes even death. Ask mothers, they know this is true.
Speaker 1:This is the story of old things being made new and new life being brought forth right in the middle of these old things. And maybe these magi knew this that somehow the renewal of the world or the healing of the world would come about through this baby. And they brought this gift that foreshadows his suffering and death, maybe even death on a cross, but also this renewal of life itself. And so Myrrh rounds out all the gifts, the gifts of his kingship and his divinity, and also this Myrrh, this foreshadowing of his suffering and death. It was clear from the jump what his mission was his baby. Even as an infant, it was clear what his mission was, because the Christian story is that somehow, in the life and the suffering and death and resurrection of this baby, new life is brought into the world. The world is renewed, new creation happens in this baby and because of what he's going to do. But this whole story of new newness, new life, new creation being birthed right here in the midst of the old one, it begins with this, foreshadowing this ominous shadow.
Speaker 1:That's how life works, though, isn't it? I mean, out of death often comes new life, if we let it. It's all around us, this idea of death to life, and life and death. It's all around us. In fact, it's kind of the way the world works. For example, you know, seeds when they go into the ground, they die. You ever planted a seed in the ground, and who knows what's happening down there? Well, the seed dies, but out of that death comes new life. It's how the world works. Every fall, the tree leaves die. When they change colors, it's quite beautiful and lovely. We take pictures. That's actually death. That tree, those leaves are dying, yeah, but they fall to the ground and they give life to the ground. And then the next spring those trees grow new leaves. Forest fires also. When a forest burns down, it makes way for new life. So out of death comes life. Also, any composters in the house tonight? All right, let's go, keep going. What is composting? But just dying organisms that are then used to sort of nourish a garden or the grass? Yeah, from death comes life.
Speaker 1:Your human body is constantly dying and regrowing all the time. So good news there. But the you that was you seven years ago is not the you that is you now. In fact, your body is almost totally regenerated, which does raise the question on a side note, who are you? I have an emotional growth. Many of us are on a journey trying to become emotionally mature people. That's the hope, anyway.
Speaker 1:Don't look around. But in order to grow and mature and become a flourishing adult, you got to let some old things die Old habit patterns, old thought patterns, old ways of doing things. I know plenty of adults who are really just grown up, 13 year olds. Now, I won't look around, I'm just going to look up here. How about a career transition In order for you to, let's say you're feeling called to go into a new career or begin a new journey in your life, or your calling Something old will have to die. You have to let go of old jobs or salaries or friends or states you used to live in or whatever. How about this one? Yeah, personal testimonies.
Speaker 1:I'm sure if I asked I could get a number of you telling a story of resurrection in your own life. Maybe you were raised in an abusive home and now you've met somebody and it's changed your life. Or you had your own kids and it made you a softer, kinder person. Maybe you're an alcoholic or an addict and you've come through that and now that old party's died and here you are and you've got something new and good for you. Here you are Because out of death, always.
Speaker 1:So I would say to you tonight then maybe there are things in your life that you need to let go of and I would invite you tonight to think about that. Perhaps there are things in your life that need to die. Do it, let them die. Tonight's a good time to do it, because out of death can come new life. Maybe there is an old job or an old friend or an old habit or an old pattern you need to let go of and let it die. Do it Because out of death comes new life. Maybe you're here and you have lost someone and they've actually died this past year and you grieve their passing and you miss them deeply on this Christmas Eve night. And I get it, 100% I get it. And to you I'd say remember that the story of the suffering and death of this little baby Jesus isn't the end of the story. He's resurrected because out of death comes new life and the Christian hope is that one day you will see that loved one again at the resurrection. So may you have hope tonight as you look at this aromatic gum resin and remember the resurrection. Or maybe there's this Maybe somebody should have given you a piece of myrrh when you were an infant and told you hey, one day you're going to die.
Speaker 1:Maybe we should have held on to this myrrh and maybe we should hold on to it tonight and receive it as a gift, a reminder that, yeah, we are going to die Hopefully God forbid anytime soon but you and I are going to die, and I'm here to tell you that what a gift that would have been if we'd been given this when we were younger. Well, I'm giving it to you now. I'm telling you, merry Christmas, you are going to die, but in between then and now, or now and then, you have some things to do, because the ongoing creation is going on all around us. You've been invited to be a part of that. You have a part to play, a role to play. You got things to do. You have a calling, something for you to contribute to this ongoing creation, this generate generativity of the world, and so may this myrrh be a reminder to you that one day we will all die, but in between then and now, we, we will not. So go and do some things and live your life and contribute to the ongoing generativity of the world, the new creation that's being birthed right here in the midst of the old one. Yeah, that's what myrrh is.
Speaker 1:One last way that myrrh was used was as a healing agent. How cool is that? Because it has antimicrobial and antibacterial properties. It would grind it up and put it in ointment and then rub it in their wounds and it would heal their wounds. It was also used as an oral rinse, like an antiseptic to kill the bacteria in their mouth. So if you have bad breath, take this bad boy home. Grind it up. Yeah, because maybe this baby would somehow be the healing of the world and all the wounds that have been suffered. This baby's life and death and resurrection might just heal the world.
Speaker 1:And if you're here tonight and you are a Christian or a follower of Jesus or you want to be one, that's also your job. This is you. You're this antimicrobial, antibacterial presence in the world and to bring healing to wounds where there's bleeding and infection. So look around for it and be a presence of healing and hope in the world and bring healing to a broken place. Are you with me?
Speaker 1:And lastly, I would say this I wonder, I wonder if, for all the infinite wisdom that these wise men had, I wonder if they still kind of missed it.
Speaker 1:I wonder if they missed the one thing that this baby would have wanted more than anything else in the world, which would have been the gift of themselves.
Speaker 1:Maybe this baby only wanted them and their presence to be with them. They didn't need to come with anything. Maybe tonight you, as you exchange gifts, I mean, go ahead and do that, but maybe the gift you can bring is just the presence of yourself to friends and family. You can be present with them and bring the gift of yourself and maybe, just maybe, tonight you can give the gift of yourself to Jesus, because that's probably all he wants of you anyway. It's just the gift of you Just show up and be present. So central may you know tonight the gift of myrrh, this deeply profound symbol of the suffering and death of Jesus, and this aid that was used as a way to ease the suffering of this Messiah, an embalming fluid and as a healing agent for the world. And may we be like that too. May we know we have a job to do and a way to contribute to this ongoing creation of the world. And may you indeed, tonight and tomorrow, have a Merry Christmas, amen.
