In just three weeks, we’ve covered a lot of ground in terms of the regifting process. Prior to Advent, some of us might have thought that regifting was a simple matter of finding something you don’t want and pawning it off on someone else, but now we know better. Now we know that regifting can be much more than that, and that there are steps to doing it well.
This week, we’ve arrived at the long-awaited final step. Technically, step four isn’t something you do in preparation for regifting; it’s actually a part of the act itself. It’s the moment just before the gift changes hands, the very last thing you do before your regifting is complete: you redirect the gift from yourself to the other person - in other words, you bring it to them.
Now, you may be thinking that it’s unnecessary to list this step explicitly - of COURSE you have to bring the gift to its new recipient; how else would you give a gift? But while it may seem like this step is an obvious and innate part of the gifting process, the fact is that we often forget about it entirely when it comes to *God’*s gifts. We tell ourselves, “People know to come to church if they want to hear the Good News; they know where to find us if they want community; they have our address if they need help.”
This, of course, is a cop out, and one that we wouldn’t dream of using for any other gift. Imagine saying, “Well, if he wants that train set he’ll just have to come to me and ask for it,” or “She knows where I live; she can come pick up the sweater I got for her,” or “Why don’t they just stop by if they want their gifts so badly?” It’s not a good look. And yet, all too often, that’s exactly the way the Church operates. As a result, many of God’s gifts that are intended to be shared never make it out of our hands and into the lives of others. We do all of that work to RECEIVE, REFLECT, and REPACKAGE the gifts, and then they just sit in a metaphorical closet. We wind up unintentionally hoarding them for ourselves as we wonder why more people aren’t coming to us. Seems pretty backwards to me.
Can you imagine if this was the attitude taken in the Christmas story? If the angel in Luke 2 said, “Well, if the shepherds want to know about Jesus, they’ll come find him”? Absurd, right? The shepherds certainly couldn’t abandon their post, and possibly even their sheep, just on a whim or a hunch. How were they supposed to know Jesus’ location, let alone that there even WAS a gift for them to find? The obvious answer is that they wouldn’t. They’d stay in their field, and Christmas pageants the world over would never be the same.
Now, it’s possible that the shepherds MIGHT have eventually found out about Jesus for themselves. After all, he was gonna be a pretty big deal once he grew up, and his reputation would spread far beyond his home town of Nazareth. The angel could have justified staying at home by telling himself that the shepherds were bound to get the message sooner or later. And that way, he wouldn’t have to change his very important angel plans and go outside of his comfort zone in the middle of the night. But of course, there would be no guarantee that the gift would eventually be delivered - a gift that God wanted the shepherds to have. It would be leaving God’s will entirely to chance.
Fortunately, as we know, that’s NOT what happened. The gift was too good to make the shepherds wait for it or to leave its delivery to chance. So instead of placing the onus on the shepherds, the angel immediately brings it to them where they are. That field wasn’t a place where angels usually hang out or where they’d be stopping by anyway. It was the shepherds’ domain, the shepherds’ comfort zone, and the angel pursued them all the way out there to present them with God’s gift. “Look! I AM BRINGING good news TO YOU…”
Don’t get me wrong; I’m not saying that we should all just sit around and wait for angels to drop God’s gifts directly in our laps. There’s something profoundly meaningful about choosing to pursue and claim God’s gifts for yourself. It’s for this very reason that I’ve personally always preferred communion where the people come forward to receive the sacrament. The collective procession to the front of the sanctuary says, “Here I am, God, responding to your call on my life; I choose YOU.” It’s a beautiful example (and a rare one, in the Presbyterian context) of us responding to God’s love with our WHOLE self - heart, mind, AND body.
But the shepherds remind us that there are plenty of individuals for whom this isn’t an option, those who CAN’T pursue God’s gifts for themselves. Sometimes, people aren’t ABLE to come forward to take communion. Usually it’s because of mobility limitations, but there are other possible reasons, too: maybe, like the shepherds, they can’t go because they’re caring for someone else. Maybe they have sensory issues that would be exacerbated by standing close to others. Maybe they don’t think they’re allowed to participate. But instead of demanding that they come forward like everyone else, the communion servers leave their post, walk down the aisle, and bring communion to THEM - just as the angel brought the good news to the shepherds in the field. Whatever their reason for staying seated, the gift of the sacrament is for them just as much as anyone else. So we go to them to make sure they receive it.
And so it is with all of God’s gifts. Of course it’s wonderful when people take the initiative to claim them for themselves, but the reality is that not everyone can do that. There are all sorts of reasons - fear, ignorance, hurt, doubt - that might keep someone from seeking out the divine gifts that *we* find so easy to pursue. That doesn’t mean that they don’t deserve them - it means that it’s time for us to step up.
Instead of expecting these potential new recipients of God’s gifts to just walk through the front door of the church, we need to redirect what we’re regifting - out the door and into the fields, into the night, into the schools and streets and businesses and shelters and prisons, into anywhere that people are right now. We need to hand deliver these gifts to make SURE that they get where God wants them to go. That’s the only way to guarantee that God’s gifts will finally get to be “wonderful, joyous news for *all* people.”
Because here’s the thing: remember how this whole regifting thing started with us recognizing that the gifts we receive from God are too good NOT to share with others? Guess what will happen when we follow all of the steps and successfully regift them to someone else? Well, what did the shepherds do when THEY heard the good news? They RECEIVED it by going to find the baby, REFLECTED on it to consider what it might mean for others, REPACKAGED it (because I think it’s safe to assume that they wouldn’t have a great assembly of the heavenly forces to back them up), and REDIRECTED it out into the world. They almost immediately REGIFTED what had been given to them, because the angel was right: it IS wonderful, joyous news for all people. So the shepherds made sure it didn’t stop with them.
It’s because of this endless chain of regifting, beginning with Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds, that we’re gathered here today, preparing to proclaim the birth of our savior. We would never have known the hope, peace, joy, and love that arrived as an infant so many years ago if those who went before us had stayed in their comfort zones. We wouldn’t be celebrating if those with the gifts had refused to redirect their knowledge and blessings to those who needed them most. It’s their determination to spread God’s gifts far and wide that has brought us, hundreds and thousands of years later, to the manger, to the cross, and ultimately, to the empty tomb.
So now it’s our turn. In gratitude for the faithful regifting that has given so much to us, let’s make sure that we keep it going. Let’s spread comfort and joy into all of the tiny, forgotten corners of humanity, so that, little by little, this world begins to look just a bit more like the kindom of heaven. Let this be our humble gift to the holy child born in just a few days’ time: a promise to share and magnify and multiply the love that comes to earth on Christmas Day, no matter where it might take us. It’s the perfect gift, because I’m willing to bet that it’s just what he’s always wanted. Amen.
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