Giving and Receiving

When I was in college, I worked as a garbage man for a while. Riding on the back of garbage trucks in the middle of winter will teach you a lot of life lessons, but there is one lesson I will never forget: as the weather got colder and Christmas came closer, every once in a while, we’d find on the tops of the garbage can a nicely wrapped paper plate full of goodies or cookies. It was usually accompanied by a note of gratitude. It was a small gesture, but I never forgot the houses that expressed their joy for our work. Sure, we were just doing our job, but when all we would usually hear throughout the year were complaints about what we did wrong. The change of tone and gesture of thanks was noticeable and appreciated.

There are times when receiving gifts is easy: an unexpected cookie and word of thanks during a cold winter’s day, for instance. Especially if you’re doing the kind of work that often goes unnoticed. Those gifts, the ones that are easy to receive, are also the ones that are so much fun to give: watching someone’s face light up in a grin as their day goes from “just doin’ my job” to getting a surprise that blesses their day – priceless. 

On the other hand, sometimes gifts are not easy to receive. The gift of a compliment, for example (especially if you’re Lutheran!). Gifts that feel like too much, are over-extravagant in substance or price. Gifts that you cannot possibly ever hope to repay. Maybe even the gift of forgiveness. In those cases, instead of receiving something in gratitude, we can feel guilty, and we compensate by trying to at least match the gift that we have been given. We have a hard time just receiving the gift as a gift.

In our own faith life, it can be overwhelming to think about the ultimate gift from God that never rusts or breaks or becomes outdated: the gift of life, forgiveness, and love that God gives to us in Jesus Christ, coming to us first as a tiny baby, then as a wounded, bleeding Savior. It’s too much. It’s over-extravagant. We can never hope to repay it. And yet, it is ours. So, the next time you come to the Lord’s Table to receive communion, don’t worry about the extravagance. Don’t worry about trying to repay it or live up to it. Just hold out your hands in faith and gratitude. It’s a gift. It’s for you. And it was given in joy and in love.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Tim