The concept of giving and receiving runs right through our Holy Scriptures. It is a concept that often runs counter to the way we often think about things today.
Let me give you an example. We know where babies come from. We can make our own babies ourselves. Nobody gives them to us.
But earlier today in this church we held a baptism service and we thanked God for the gift of a baby. A modern family came to church and thanked God for this wonderful gift.
What difference does it make to think of a baby as a gift; and as a gift from God? A gift from God is something holy; it is something precious. And because it is a gift we feel thankful and we have an urge to reciprocate; to give something back. So as we receive this wonderful gift of a new baby, we can also commit to giving something back, committing to loving the baby a she grows up, and offering that love as a gift to God.
Of course, people who do not think of their children as gifts from God love their children very much. I just wonder whether the idea of your child being a gift makes a subtle difference to how we feel about our child; a difference that, although subtle, might make all the difference in a crisis.
God, of course, does not receive his child as a gift; he gives his child as a gift. God so loved the world that he gave his only Son. Jesus is God’s gift to all humanity.
This language of gift emphasises that Jesus came to earth out of love for humanity. God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world. His Son was a gift; a gift bringing the promise of eternal life, the promise of salvation. God is giving the promise of eternal life to us as he gives us life in the first place. God is always giving to us. We have not earned this gift. We are not entitled to this gift. God gives us this gift because he loves us. He created us, he loves us, he wants us to live.
And God wants us to reciprocate his gift. Which is our natural response anyway once we have understood that we have been given a gift. Whenever we are given a gift that we understand as a gift, we want to give back. Giving back restores the balance in the relationship that has been initiated by the gift. The implication of being given a gift is always that the ball is in your court. Over to you.
And Paul makes this clear in his letter to the Galatians. Paul has given his life to Christ because he understands that Christ has given his life for Paul.
It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
How do we give our lives to Christ? We give our lives to Christ by loving one another. We give to one another. We receive from one another. We build communities based on giving and receiving in love. This is what the kingdom of God proclaimed by Jesus Christ looks like; people living in loving relationships based on mutual giving and receiving.
If we are thinking in a Biblical way we remember that when we give something to somebody, as well as us giving something, God is giving something. God is giving something because he is our creator and also the ultimate creator of the gift we are giving. It is God the Son who is the gift that our gift is a response to. And it is the Holy Spirit of God that places in our hearts the desire to give.
All the gifts we give each other are also gifts from God. This makes it easier to give, because we are participating in God’s gifting on earth. And it makes it easier to receive because what we are receiving is a gift from God.
And we may also remember that when we give something to somebody we are also giving to God. Our gifting to our neighbour is part of our response to God’s gifting to us.
And this makes it easier to give as well because we feel great honour in giving something to God. And it makes it easier to receive because we are receiving the gift jointly with God. We are receiving a sacred offering.
So now we can understand the enormous joy we feel when we live in relationship with each other, when we give to each other and receive from each other. And equally we can understand the enormous sadness we feel when this giving and receiving in joy comes to an end. This is the sadness of loss.
One of the prayers we nearly always say at a funeral service is a prayer of thanks for all the things we have received from the person who has died.
I am starting to wonder whether that is quite the right prayer to be saying. It is not wrong to thank God for the gift of the person who has died, for all the things we have received from them as a gift from them and as a gift from God.
But I am starting to wonder whether that is really why we are grieving. Do we really feel that now the person for whom we are grieving has died, we won’t receive anything from them? Because at most of the funerals I go to it is abundantly clear that the people who are mourning for the person who has died are still receiving gifts from them. Their lives have been shaped by the person for whom they mourn. We will continue to receive from these people; these gifts from God for many many years.
So, I don’t think our sense of loss comes from a feeling that we will no longer receive from this person whom we have loved.
I think, rather, our sense of loss, and our grief, comes the shock of wondering how we can ever give to our loved one again. It is the opportunity to give to our loved one that has been taken from us.
Which is why it is terribly helpful to be reminded that when we give to somebody we love, it is also God giving through us.
God continues to give to the loved one whom we see no more. God continues to love that person as he always did. God continues to care for that person.
God so loved the world that he gave his only Son. He loves those whom we loved. We have participated in his love for them and we still do. His love for them continues. This is the promise of eternal life. This is why the promise is made. The love we receive and the love we participate in receiving and giving is eternal love as God draws us all into a loving relationship with him and, through him, with one another.
Amen.