This is the prepared text of the homily I delivered at Chapel on the Green in New Haven, CT, 10/22/2017

Give to the Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s. It’s a well-known quote that we can look at a bunch of different ways. It is Jesus giving a clever reply to some people trying to trap him. We like clever replies; especially in this age of Twitter and Facebook, where the snarkier a reply is the more we like them.

Jesus’ reply takes the focus away from the Pharisee’s challenge to his authority, and puts it on the bigger issues: taxes, money, and God. None of us like not having enough money. We don’t like having to give our money to other people, especially when we don’t seem to have enough money for ourselves. And in all of this, we too often forget about God. We need to be thinking about what we should be giving to God.

After all, that picture on our money is of some dead politicians, but we are serving a living God. Look around you. Where do you see the hand of our living God? Where do you see God in this beautiful fall day, in the leaves changing color, in the squirrels running across the green? Do you see God in the faces of those around you? Do you see God in your own reflection? Think about that for a moment. Stop and look around. Where do you see God?

This is the place in the homily where preachers normally go on to explain that ultimately all things come from God and we should be giving back to God some of the wonderful things God has given us. But sometimes – sometimes it just feels like all those wonderful things from God are too few and far between. We might try to think of great things God has given us and even be able to recognize that this beautiful day is a gift from God, but somehow, in our pain and brokenness, it just doesn’t feel like a great gift.

So let me offer another way of thinking about this. If all things come from God, where do you and I come from? That’s right. God. Each one of us is a gift from God. We are a gift from God to ourselves and to the people around us. We are gifts from God just waiting to be seen and recognized. I see you. I recognize you as a beautiful gift from God, even when you might not feel like a beautiful gift from God.

In a little while, we are going to share food, smiles, perhaps even some hugs. We are going to share with one another some of the gifts God has given us. I hope we will also share the recognition that each one of us is a gift from God, a gift from God that Jesus has called us to give to God. I hope that as we go forth from Chapel on the Green, we will remember that we are gifts of God to the people around us and that we can truly be that gift when one of our friends is particularly struggling.

Give to the Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.

Amen.