The Season of Getting
Sometimes it can be hard to receive a gift. As a person with multiple hobbies, there is no shortage of gear and accoutrements that I have my eye on at any given time. Many of us who have specific interests and taste are prone to extensively researching and buying for ourselves those things that we “need.” Alternatively, we can provide our gift-giving loved ones clear-cut instructions for getting us these things as gifts, though it’s always a little deflating watching someone open a gift that they know they’re getting. The only element of surprise left lies in the hesitant, almost apologetic pause of checking whether it’s the right color or size. Whether or not this describes your experience, all of us will, at some point this week, be faced with the same question: what do we do with a gift we did not ask for, do not want, or do not know how to receive?
God’s incarnation on Earth as a poor, helpless baby born to an unwed woman living in a backwater town shows us that we’re not as good at asking for the things we really need as we think we are. The story of Christmas—the life and ministry of Jesus, his death, resurrection, and ascension—is a gift no one could have imagined asking for: reconciliation with God through his death, and the promise of new life through his resurrection. And yet God, in his infinite wisdom, knew precisely what we needed and how to give it. I’ve titled this post “The Season of Getting” because I need to be reminded of my neediness, my deficiency in asking God to provide me with the things I actually need instead of plowing through life with my own agenda. I need help receiving the gift and not qualifying my existence through my competency, relevancy, even through my ability to give good gifts. Despite the popular sentiment that this season should be more about giving than receiving, I think many of us need a lesson in simply receiving God’s blessing, a lesson in “nothing-in-my-hands-I-bringness.”
Of course, this analogy doesn’t completely hold up – at some point, you have to face that you’re just never going to wear that sweater that was so thoughtfully gifted to you. But receiving gifts is not about maximizing resources or making sure the scales balance out between how much we give and how much we get. To receive a gift, even an unwanted one, is to confess that there are ways of being loved beyond your own imagining—and that they may be more healing than you ever hoped possible.
Blessings,
Wilson Whitten
Worship Director