The Rev. Daudi Ndahana
King of Peace Episcopal Church
Kingsland, Georgia
January 4, 2009

Discovering Your Own Gift for the Christ Child
Matthew 2:1-12

Today, we are celebrating Epiphany Sunday.  Our focus is the story of the three Wiseman, the guiding star, and their giving of gifts to the Christ child, their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Our particular focus today is on giving our giftedness, our gifts, to God. Each of us has a set of gifts that we give to God. Let me explain by means of a story.  

So these men saw a star. In the ancient world, the occurrence of a star or a constellation of stars was often associated with the birth of a notable person. So having seen the star that Matthew says heralds the arrival of Messiah, having interpreted that star as astrologers do, the Magi go to worship, to pay homage to the child they refer to as the king of the Jews.

No big shocker that Herod is not pleased. It has always been the case, and I am afraid that it will always remain the case, that the presence in the world of that which is most godly evokes the resistance of that which is most insidious. It is an inescapable spiritual truth that when tender grace bursts upon the scene, the harsh forces of selfishness array against it. And so like a roach scurrying for a dark place when the light is turned on, Herod frantically plots to destroy the tender but mighty One who threatens his throne.

He begins by inviting the Magi to a secret meeting. One thing I have learned is never to trust secret meetings. "Go and search for the child," Herod tells the Magi. "I want to worship him, too." Herod is a liar. He intends no worship. He intends to pay no homage. He has no gifts to offer. He intends only to exploit the Magi, to use them as pawns in the hidden agenda he secretly and darkly wishes to advance. "When you find him," he says to them, "get back to me so that I can worship him too."  

Herod has a thousand faces. He is alive today in anyone or anything that leads you away from being overwhelmed with the joy God wants you to have, the joy that comes from being who you really and truly are, where you really and truly want to be, and doing what you really and truly want to do. I know what it's like to capitulate to Herod. I also know what it's like to be flooded by joy. And I think I'm finally learning that any fear I have of Herod is not worth comparing to the delights of trusting my inner experience of joy that is the gift of God and moving courageously, confidently, in that direction.

That's what God wishes for you. I do know it's a tough move. Herod's pull is strong. But on this Sunday of Epiphany, when once again we watch a few stargazers offer some gifts to the child who is a king, perhaps we can recognize as well that the Wisemen bring a gift today to you and to me. What they bring is the gift of their example. It's the example of saying "No" to Herod and "Yes" to Christ. It's the example of saying "No" to fear and "Yes" to joy. It's the example of saying "No" to the painful past and "Yes" to the joyful future. It's the example of trusting your joy enough to build an entire life around it, whether the rest of the world understands and approves or not. And if we can receive that gift, then out of the experience of our lives joyfully lived, we will be more fully and richly able to offer our own gift to the Christ child. And I can think of no gift that would grace him more than for us to trust and to live each day in the joy that is the reason he came in the first place.

My sermon is discovering your own gift for Christchild; I would like to ask a question...What are the gifts that God has given to you? Sometimes many people do not know their gifts that God has given them, however, it is very important to know your gifts, Gifts of Grace by Mary Schramm, and I would like to walk through those steps with you:

The first step is to discover your gifts, and you always discover your gifts in relationship.  You never discover your gifts in isolation.  For example, the essence of all good parenting is to help your child discover his or her gifts.  Yes, we love them and give them stability, but part of the genius of good parenting is to help kids to discover their own unique talents and resources which are personally there own.  The great temptation of parents is to impose one’s own values on which gifts a child should have rather than for them to discover their own.  Another relationship in which to discover your gifts is all school, with teachers and coaches and conductors and peers.  The purpose of education is not only to acquire knowledge of subjects, but to get to know oneself and the resources within oneself.  That is the essence of good education.  We also discover our giftedness while at work.  Our fellow employees help us as we mature in our talents and abilities.  And certainly marriage is a place where you discover your giftedness.  In a good marriage, a spouse is forever helping you to discover your talents and how to use those talents most effectively, from the time you are first married until you die.  For you are forever growing and changing, and a good marriage partner is one who helps you to discover yourself and what you want to do next with your life.  Friends also help you to discover yourself. 

The second step is to accept the gifts that God has given you.  This is the art of maturity, learning to accept the gifts that God has given to you and not given to you. A key thermometer is how jealous and envious you are of other people and their gifts.  If you are jealous and envious of other people’s giftedness or feel inferior, chances are you have not really accepted your own blend of gifts that God has given to you. 

The third step is to enjoy your God-given gifts.  To take pleasure in them, to appreciate what God can do through your life.

The fourth step is to mature or develop those gifts.  Like all gifts, they need to be put to work, to be exercise, developed.  Nothing in this world becomes stronger without hard work and investment of time, self and energy.  Just to rely on native talent and avoid the hard work of developing that gift will lead you nowhere, but will cheapen your gift and you as a person.  We all know people who live off their gifts and resources and not truly discipline themselves.

And the fifth step involves all of the steps, and this is to surrender all your gifts to God.  It means to give all of your gifts to Jesus Christ. That’s what was wise about the Wiseman.  Their wisdom wasn’t merely giving their material gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, but it was the gift of their total selves to their journey to find Christ. Their trip took years to find Christ in their searching, their looking, their time, and their energy.  They were totally devoted to the mission of finding Christ, using all of their resources.  Wisdom is giving all of your gifts to Jesus Christ.  ....  If you don’t, you will use your gifts for your own benefit...to glorify yourself or to satisfy yourself. And it’s either/or; one way or another; there is no middle ground.  Either you give your gifts to the service of Christ and his mission in this world, or you don’t. 

So those are the five steps about your gifts:  discovering, accepting, taking joy in, maturing, and surrendering them to the work of God in this world. 

Let us pray.

God, you are the giver of true joy, joy that the world cannot give and cannot understand, through the light of Christ's coming, help us to know and to live our joy, the joy that is both your gift to us and our gift to you. Through Christ our Lord we pray. Amen.