South Roanoke United Methodist Church

The best gifts you get are the ones that are given away.  It’s a bit unusual to say this in this season when we are all anticipating what awaits us next Sunday all wrapped up with love and surprise intended just for us, but it’s speaks to the very central truth of the Gospel:  the best gifts you get are the ones that are given away.

Now I’m not talking about the obvious this morning—gifts that you receive that you just can’t quite figure out, gifts given to you that you don’t know quite what to do with, gifts that you may even eventually re-wrap and give to somebody else at the last minute whom you may have forgotten about if not this Christmas then next Christmas!  As a matter of fact, the Roanoke Area Clergy Association has an annual celebration at this time of year where just such gifts received by the ministers and rabbis in the group are wrapped up and exchanged at the annual holiday party!  I’m not talking about that kind of gift.  

No, the gift promised to Mary by the angel in the Gospel lesson today is not that kind of gift.  When the angel declares to Mary:
          you will conceive in your womb and bear a son
it was a shocking announcement, to be sure, to be made to an unmarried woman, but make no mistake about it, a child is a great gift.  The real blessing of the gift of this child is his intended purpose:
        you will name him Jesus.  He will be great, and will be called
        the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the
       throne of his ancestor David.  He will reign over the house of
      Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.
The real blessing of this gift to Mary is the blessing he will be to others.  For him to be a blessing to others Mary must first give him up.  

The announcement made to Mary is soon shared with the whole world when the angels declare
          Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good will to all.
We hear that announcement and we receive that gift.  We proclaim it with joy this season of the year.  In honor of that great gift to the world we exchange gifts, giving and receiving in the spirit of the celebration of the gift of the Christ Child.

But the best gifts you get are the ones that are given away.  That’s the truth of the Gospel.  That’s the true message of this season.  That is what this great gift of God to the world is all about.

A minister of the church who lived in Myra long ago, which is now the country of Turkey , knew this truth.  He not only knew it, he lived it.  He loved children, especially those in need.  Around Christmastime he would secretly leave gifts at the doorsteps of the homes of those children who needed the most.  He later became a Bishop of the church and continued his ministry of concern for the poor and needy and urged the church to always care for them.  In later years Bishop Nicholas became known as a saint, one whom we now know as St. Nicholas.  You see, Santa Claus has always been a giver.  He has always loved children and has always been especially concerned for those who don’t have enough, who are poor, needy, lonely, and hurting.  Understand me when I say to you that Santa Claus, Saint Nicholas, is a retired bishop of the church and once a year he continues his special ministry to children, taking special care of those who need the most.  He heard the message, he understood the announcement, and he proclaims it with his life.  Having already received such a great gift in Jesus, God’s Son, he knows the best gifts you get are the ones that are given away.  

A number of years ago I came across the story by Nancy Gavin of Baltimore that expresses for me the truth of this message.  It is entitled “For the Man Who Hated Christmas.”  

It's just a small, white envelope stuck among the branches of our Christmas tree. No name, no identification, no inscription. It has peeked through the branches of our tree for the past 10 years or so. It all began because my husband Mike hated Christmas--oh, not the true meaning of Christmas, but the commercial aspects of it--overspending, the frantic running around at the last minute to get a tie for Uncle Harry and the dusting powder for Grandma--the gifts given in desperation because you couldn't think of anything else. Knowing he felt this way, I decided one year to bypass the usual shirts, sweaters, ties and so forth. I reached for something special just for Mike. The inspiration came in an unusual way.

Our son Kevin, who was 12 that year, was wrestling at the junior level at the school he attended; and shortly before Christmas, there was a non-league match against a team sponsored by an inner-city church, mostly black. These youngsters, dressed in sneakers so ragged that shoestrings seemed to be the only thing holding them together, presented a sharp contrast to our boys in their spiffy blue and gold uniforms and sparkling new wrestling shoes. As the match began, I was alarmed to see that the other team was wrestling without headgear, a kind of light helmet designed to protect a wrestler's ears. It was a luxury the ragtag team obviously could not afford.

Well, we ended up walloping them. We took every weight class. And as each of their boys got up from the mat, he swaggered around in his tatters with false bravado, a kind of street pride that couldn't acknowledge defeat. Mike, seated beside me, shook his head sadly, "I wish just one of them could have won," he said. "They have a lot of potential, but losing like this could take the heart right out of them." Mike loved kids--all kids--and he knew them, having coached little league football, baseball and lacrosse.

That's when the idea for his present came. That afternoon, I went to a local sporting goods store and bought an assortment of wrestling headgear and shoes and sent them anonymously to the inner-city church. On Christmas Eve, I placed the envelope on the tree, the note inside telling Mike what I had done and that this was his gift from me. His smile was the brightest thing about Christmas that year and in succeeding years, for each Christmas, I followed the tradition--one year sending a group of retarded youngsters to a hockey game, another year a check to a pair of elderly brothers whose home had burned to the ground a week before Christmas, and on and on.

The envelope became the highlight of our Christmas. It was always the last thing opened on Christmas morning and our children, ignoring their new toys, would stand with wide-eyed anticipation as their dad lifted the envelope from the tree to reveal its contents. As the children grew, the toys gave way to more practical presents, but the envelope never lost its allure.

The story doesn't end there. You see, we lost Mike last year due to dreaded cancer. But when Christmas rolled around, I was still so wrapped in grief that I barely got the tree up. But Christmas Eve found me placing an envelope on the tree, and in the morning, it was joined by three more. Each of our children, unbeknownst to the others, had placed an envelope on the tree for their dad. The tradition had grown and someday will expand even further with our grandchildren standing around the tree with wide-eyed anticipation watching as their fathers take down the envelope . . . .Mike's spirit, like the Christmas Spirit, will always be with us....
 Nancy Gavin, “For the Man Who Hated Christmas,” quoted by Homiletics Online, December 22, 1996
The best gifts you get are the ones that are given away.

Just last Wednesday our son Chris returned to his home in Hampton with his wife, Jessica, and child, Gabriel after a short visit with us.  We shared their Christmas together last Tuesday night because he flies off to Camp Casey , South Korea , on December 22 for his first one-year unaccompanied tour of duty with the United States Army.  After they left, as Cheryl and I began to prepare ourselves for his absence and send him off in the service of his country the truth came back to us in a most personal way:  the best gifts you receive are the ones you give away.

In your bulletin today you will find a small, white envelope.  In the spirit of the announcement of angels, in the spirit of St. Nicholas, in the true spirit of this season, use this envelope, and give a gift that’s given away.