Songs of Christmas

Week four - What can I give him? (In the Bleak Midwinter)
Matthew 6:21

Bottom line: We give as a way of tying our hearts to Jesus.

This question of figuring out what to give someone leads me to our last song of Christmas:

“In the Bleak Midwinter” is a bit of a dismal Christmas carol
“In the bleak midwinter, frosty winds made moan, earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone…”
(based on a poem from 1872 by Christina Rossetti)

The final verse of the song asks the question “What can I give him, poor as I am?”

What do you give someone you value so highly when you feel as though you have nothing to give, or not the “right something” to give?

What can I give Him
Poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would give a lamb
If I were a wise man, I would do my part
Yet what I can, I give Him
Give Him my heart —Christina Rossetti

Jesus said:
Love God, Love Each Other
Do Everything in Love

Paul said:
Faith, Hope and Love remain, but the Greatest of these is Love

Jesus also said, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
We’re receiving our Christmas offering today - an offering dedicated to building our permanent homebase so we can invest for generations to come in our kids, our grandkids, and our great-grandkids; in our community, our schools, and our neighbors.
Most of us have great treasure and heart wrapped up in some or all of those things.
And so, I am asking you to give sacrificially and generously to that literal concrete.

But ultimately, I’m asking you to give as a way of tying your heart to Jesus.
We give Him our hearts when we give Him the best parts of ourselves, knowing that God already gave the best part of Himself to us.