Our lessons and carols have given us the unfolding drama of this night. We have heard the prediction that a little town called Bethlehem would experience a great glory. We have heard the announcement of the angel Gabriel to the mother of our Lord that she would bear a wonderful son. We have heard the story of Jesus' birth as told by the gospel writers Matthew and Luke. And finally we have heard the stirring words from St. John on the meaning of it all. Emmanuel. God is with us. The Word of God has become flesh.

Outside, the secular world celebrates what it imagines to be Christmas - decorated houses, reindeer in the yards, Santa Clauses in the malls, a celebration of gifts and cards and decorated trees. Nice things to do, wonderful things to do, the things cherished memories are made of. Yet these are things which really have little to do with Christmas as Christians know it, features of a secular holiday which by some almost perverse coincidence takes place at the very same time as we celebrate the birth of Christ.

We who are here know that at the heart of our Christian holy day, Christmas gifts don't come from shopping malls, they come from mangers. The celebration of Christmas is a celebration first of all of God's gift to us of himself, expressed in his incarnation as a baby, a youth, a young man, a crucified Messiah, a risen Lord.

One of the familiar secular carols at Christmas time is the Twelve Days of Christmas. It takes us back to medieval England where romantic lords sought to win the hearts of ladies by a series of gifts. In the Twelve Days of Christmas there is a build up, if you like these gifts, with each day more elaborate than the day before. On Christmas Day there is just a partridge in a pear tree, but by the twelfth day-January 6, which we celebrate as Epiphany and the Latin Community celebrates as Three Kings Day-the gifts are at their most elaborate.

As usual, God turns things upside down and gives us the very best gift on the first day of Christmas. And then because God is constantly trying to get us to join God's party, God invites us to respond. Here's my gift, God says - what's yours?

And in the stories we respond. Shepherds quake at the sight, glories stream from heaven afar, heavenly hosts sing Alleluia, and the magi come all the way from Persia bearing gold, frankencense and myrrh. And in our own response we recall the hymn, "what gift can we bring, what present, what token? What words can convey it, the joy of this day? When grateful we come, remembering, rejoicing, what song can we offer in honor and praise?"⁽¹⁾ There is a lovely carol called, "The Friendly Beasts" in which each of the animals there in the stable offers to the Christ child something unique and special to that animal. The donkey carries Mary to Bethlehem. The cow gives up its manger for the Christ child's bed. The sheep gives wool for the baby's blanket. And the doves, cooing in the rafters, offer a lullaby.

All these Christmas gifts for the Christ child! From the rich gifts of the wise men to the humble but important offerings of the animals in the stable. What a wonderful image of the giving that we think of as the spirit of Christmas.

But I invite you to pause for a moment. What if the wise men had met robbers on the way, and on their arrival had heavy hearts and empty hands? Would they have been less welcome in that humble Bethlehem stable? Can you imagine Joseph or Mary telling them, "Where are the goods, man? You can't come in without the goods!" I don't think so.

When you think of it, the gold, frankincense and myrrh are less important than the visit of the wise men themselves. They would for a certainty be welcome, even without the gold, the frankencense, or the myrrh, for they themselves are the gift.

And so when we ask, "what gift can we bring?" there is only one answer that is sufficient-the gift of ourselves.

The truth is, this Christmas, in response to God's gift of himself, we are the gift. You are the gift this Christmas. And I will be audacious enough to say, if you are wondering what your purpose is in life, why you were born and why you are here, that you were born to be a gift, and you are a gift, to God and to the Christ child and to all of God's people on this earth, and that is why you are here. And if you don't feel you are a gift, I will further say that it is not because of anything missing-you are a wonderful gift the way you are-but because there are things that have gotten in the way. I challenge you to examine your lives not for what is missing, but for what is too much present - attachments that send us down dead end roads, fears and anxieties that preoccupy and intimidate us, unhelpful ways of thinking about life that cloud our judgment-and let these things go, so that the gift that you are can be seen.

You are the gift. Let yourself be the gift - to Christ, to God, and to all those around you, both the ones you know and love, and the strangers you will meet in the year ahead. God welcomes you to join the shepherds, the wise men, the friendly beasts, and the choir of angels, this Christmas night.

1. Jane Marshall, "What Gift Can We Bring, 1980, United Methodist Hymnal. Nashville: United Methodist Publishing House, 1989, #87