“A Surprising Gift”

Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Creation Series: Gifts of Humanity

August 27, 2023

Romans 12:1-8

Matthew 16:13-20

Children’s Message:

I watch you playing with the legos on the table over here. How many of you enjoy doing legos? I do, too. I like big projects. When I get one, I start working on it, and I don’t stop until it’s done. It might mean I’m working on it at 3am, but I just get started and can’t stop. But, you know what makes me stop pretty quick? When a part is missing. It doesn’t matter what part. If a part is missing, I can’t keep working on the project.

Paul said that that’s kind of like the church. We each are important. We each have a job to do. We are each given our own ways to participate, gifts from God to make the whole church work. But when one of us is missing, we can’t really do our job as church. We’re not complete. We get a little stuck when we don’t all work together and use our gifts.

Like a lego project that’s missing a piece. Now, sometimes it’s challenging to figure out what our gifts are. But I bet that if you think about what you enjoy and what you’re good at, you’ll find a way to use that to make our whole community even better—and more complete.

Let’s pray. Dear God, you give us each ways to make our church better. Help us use those gifts to build your vision of life with you. Amen.

Message:

As I put together our creation series, I struggled a bit with what to do with this week. Last week, we got to talk about the gifts of the garden. Next week, we will celebrate the gifts of pets. But as I pondered today’s readings, I thought it might be appropriate to talk about the gift of humanity.

Now, that’s a challenging topic for me. As I see the effects of climate change, hear about mass shootings nearly daily, read about wars and insurrections, and experience the hatred people have for one another even in our community, I wonder if humanity is much of a gift. We hurt each other and devour creation. Our greed and insatiable demand for power and entitlement turn civilization into a miasma of chaos and turmoil. I don’t think I’d be remiss if I said that creation would have been much better off had humanity never been a part of it.

And yet, God seems to think otherwise. In the garden, God called this finale of order ‘very good’. God made us in their image—the whole scope of human diversity an expression of God’s being. Even after the Fall, God did not abandon God’s children. Every time we turn away, God makes a way back—culminating in the Messiah, God’s very own being in our midst, as one of us.

And I wonder, are we really worth it? Sorry—I’m a cynic by nature. But seriously. Are we worth the effort? Are we worth the pain? Are we worth the life and death and resurrection? God says with unequivocal clarity: “YES!” In fact, God goes beyond that to say that not only are we worth God’s very life, we are God’s gift to creation.

Well, that gift backfired. Or did it? When God created humanity in all of our fallibility, God had to have known what God was getting into. God doesn’t make mistakes. Instead, God created an opportunity for growth. For change. For transformation. For learning. For being challenged. For questioning and doubting. For messing up and trying again. And again. And again.

It may not seem like much of a gift, but we don’t see ourselves the way God sees us. Earlier this year, my mom’s dog died. She was devastated. She was lonely. She was inconsolable. I found another dog for her. She’s a puppy. She’s active, she chews on everything, she swallows anything, and she is really difficult to house train. Sometimes I wonder whether she was worth it. I imagine my mom thinks the same thing. But she’s a puppy. And while she brings my mom headaches and holes in the carpet and all sorts of messes, she also brings my mom joy and companionship and love. She is a gift. She is a complicated gift, but a gift nonetheless.

We are children—God’s children, but children all the same. We chew on things, swallow things we shouldn’t, make messes in the wrong places, and generally probably give God a headache. But God still chooses us. God still loves us. God still enjoys watching us develop and grow and learn.

Paul challenges us to recognize our giftedness. Present ourselves—our whole beings—as an offering to God. In everything we do, from our work to our play, in the sanctuary and in the bedroom, on the phone and on social media, alone and in a crowd, dedicate our activities, our thoughts, our emotions to God.

Paul was writing to the followers in Rome—the seat of the power of the empire. Not only would it have been challenging to worship the Living God—it was dangerous. And yet, Paul encouraged believers to let their whole lives be a form of worship. Let their minds be transformed from the ways of violence and competition to the ways of love, justice, and care for others.

Paul often used the body as a metaphor for Christian community. Whereas many in Rome and across the world would use their bodies and minds to dominate and exert power and control, Paul calls on the followers of Christ to see themselves as a member of a larger body—one whose purpose is to live in the footsteps of Christ, himself. And each of us are important to that purpose. Each of us has something to offer. Not one element of the Body is non-essential.

We each have a gift to offer. We each ARE a gift given by God to not only the Body of Christ but to all of creation. In that holy embodiment, we are interconnected. When one of us suffers, we all suffer. When one of us succeeds, we all succeed. When one of us grows deeper, when one of us shows compassion, when one of us seeks justice, when one of us catches a glimpse of heaven, when one of us takes steps to diminish our carbon footprint, when one of us challenges the status quo, when one of us courageously declares ourselves nonbinary, when one of us opens our hearts to a new way—when one of us sees God face to face, we are all blessed. We all celebrate the gift of that one, because in doing so, we celebrate the gift that is us.

Dear friends, you are God’s amazing gift, masterfully crafted, and shared with the world. Never ever doubt your worth for any reason. Because God has, from the beginning of time, already called you by name and said, “You are my beloved child. Welcome to the home of my heart.”

Pastor Tobi White

Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church

Lincoln, NE