The Gifts of the Nations
Epiphany; January 7, 2007
Matthew 2:1-12 and Isaiah 60:1-6
Today, I have some brief reflections from the two Scripture readings. If you listened closely or if you read them this week before coming to worship, then you have already seen the connection between the two. The Prophet has a vision of the nations bringing their gifts via a caravan of camels to the light arising over Jerusalem; the Evangelist sees that vision fulfilled in the coming of the Magi to the child Jesus.
I suggest that we see in these readings a reversal of our ordinary way of thinking. As Christians and as Americans, we are accustomed to seeing ourselves as those who give. That is a good thing, because we have resources that we can share and a heritage of generosity that we should not abandon. But it can also lead to excessive pride and self-satisfaction that block the grace of God, so let’s look at the reverse.
The Prophet envisions the gifts of the nations coming to Jerusalem. In our national life and in our Christian life, are we not beneficiaries of the gifts of the nations?
It is a truism to say that we are a nation of immigrants, but when we start to get excessively closed it needs to be repeated. Not many miles north of us is a Swedish cultural center; are we in southwestern Iowa not enriched by the great Swedish heritage in our area? I’m not a bit Swedish, but I sure enjoyed the saffron buns we had to celebrate St. Lucy’s Day! You do not need to be Scottish to be glad to hear the bagpipes play “Amazing Grace” and “Flowers of the Forest” at a committal service; it has become part of the heritage of us all. The Scots have given us another gift: Who does not sing “Auld Lang Syne” to celebrate the New Year?
In Clarinda, we are beneficiaries of Japanese investment and we can hope that that will bring with it some riches of Japanese cultural heritage. Before moving here, I lived in a city (Cincinnati) where part of the population still spoke German and where all of us knew that we lived surrounded by German cultural, religious and architectural tradition.
I think I need not go on. These influences have enriched our cultural life as a people. Although we have had our spurts of trying to keep people out who were not “like us” (You have doubtless seen pictures of businesses with signs reading, “No Irish need apply”), generally speaking, our economic, political and cultural wealth as a people are due in large part to our having received the gifts of the nations.
Likewise, the Christian Church (which in the New Testament is represented as the New Jerusalem) is enriched by receiving the gifts of the nations. The great missionary emphasis that used to come from Britain and the United States has new energy from the missionary schools and churches in South Korea. The explosive growth of Christianity in Africa and China is making English-speaking Christianity a minority culture. We can benefit by reading their authors, hearing their speakers and singing their music. Whenever my sense of gratitude to God begins to fade, I simply need to sing again:
¿Con qué pagaremos amor tan inmenso?
Que diste tu vida por el pecador;
En cambio recibes la ofrenda humilde,
La ofrenda humilde, Señor Jesucristo, de mi corazón.
With what shall we pay for such immense love?
For you gave your life for sinners;
In exchange receive the humble offering,
The humble offering, Lord Jesus Christ, of my heart.[1]
Speaking of hymns, did you notice the sources of today’s hymns? The music for the first (DIX) was written by a German (Conrad Kocher); the second (ST. PETER) was written by an Englishman with Austrian heritage (Alexander Reinagle) and the third (REGENT SQUARE) by an English Presbyterian (Henry Thomas Smart). The words to “As with Gladness Men of Old” were written by the manager of an insurance company in Glasgow (William Chatterton Dix) and the words to “In Christ There Is No East or West” by a wholesale grocer (William Arthur Dunkerly) who intended it as part of an exhibition on the Orient. The closing hymn (“Angels from the Realms of Glory”) was written by a printer’s assistant from Yorkshire whose parents were Moravians (James Montgomery). Not a clergyman among them; gifts appear wherever they do and are brought to the new Jerusalem.
The Magi brought the gifts of the nations to the Christ Child. We have our gifts to bring, and we also are the beneficiaries of the gifts of others.
God of every land and of every time, we thank you for the richness of our heritage as a people and as a church. Give us your grace, that we may bring our gifts to Christ and welcome the gifts of others. In Jesus’ name we pray; amen.
Robert A. Keefer
Westminster Presbyterian Church
Clarinda, Iowa
[1] “¿Con qué pagaremos?” Latin American hymn; author unknown. Presbyterian Hymnal (199) #557, literal translation mine; there is a more poetic translation in the Hymnal.