Not resolutions...alignment.

Christmas I Sermon

12.28.14

Luke 2:22-40

Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. ²⁶It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. ²⁷Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him what was customary under the law, ²⁸Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying, 

²⁹ ‘Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace,

   according to your word; 

³⁰ for my eyes have seen your salvation, 

³¹   which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, 

³² a light for revelation to the Gentiles

   and for glory to your people Israel.’

Today’s Gospel reading features two pillars of faith who never get a starring role in the telling of the Christmas story.  I’m guessing many of you are packing up your nativity scenes and no one is carefully rolling their Simeon or Anna figurine up.  These are two people who are glorious parts of Jesus’ infancy, but only the few get to hear the story – because only on the Sunday after Christmas, once every three years do they make a public appearance.   And today is their day, you get to hear about Simeon and Anna today – consider it your door prize for coming to church just three days after Christmas, I am really glad you are here. 

Jesus was born into a Jewish home, and in keeping with the Jewish law his parents brought him to the Temple to be circumcised and dedicated to God on his 8^th day of life.  It is from this practice that our modern-day practice of baptizing babies finds it’s origin.  And that day at the temple, led by faithful Joseph and carried by a still-recovering Mary, Jesus is laid in the arms of an old man, Simeon. He takes Jesus into his arms and proclaims that now he is ready to die, for a promise he heard from God some time ago is now fulfilled.  Simeon says it like this,

          ‘Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace,
   according to your word; 
³⁰ for my eyes have seen your salvation, 
³¹   which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, 
³² a light for revelation to the Gentiles
   and for glory to your people Israel.’

Simeon’s whole life has been lived in faith, trusting that this moment, of holding God’s promise for all people would occur! And, when it did – he knew it, recognized it and praised God.    And then the other, even lesser known character of Anna makes an appearance.  She is known as an old prophetess, widowed and devout as she spent her life worshipping and fasting in the temple.  Anna too, tells of this child and what redemption will come to all the world because of his life on earth. 

Simeon and Anna, they got it.  

This is a rare treasure that we hear from Jesus’ life as told in the gospels.  We are used to hearing about disciples asking frustrating questions and misunderstanding, and religious leaders who are blinded by arrogance.  But today we hear from Simeon and Anna – they acknowledge God’s faithfulness and glory right there in the temple in the form of a baby!  What a gift, for his first week of taking on flesh, Jesus is known and praised, and what an affirmation for Mary and Joseph who stand there, in the temple, stunned at what these two elders of the faith are saying.   In this little known story in the Gospel of Luke, the people of God are aligned with what God is doing and they talk about it, they lift their voice and praise. 

Alignment

It is not often that we get that kind of clarity, is it? Maybe it is more often in hindsight that we can look back on chapters of our lives and point to God’s presence there.  And we’re in a hind-sight kind of place in our year, with only 3 days left on the 2014 calendar.  On this Sunday between Christmas and New Year, we are at a time of taking stock, reflecting on what’s happened- counting the regrets against the victories, scanning the horizon of our life and the life of the world to wonder what this year has been, what does this year say about us as a person, family, nation, world, what does this year say about us as a church?

Over the weekend I was reading up on headlines and followed a link to see the best photos of the past year and then was led to a link provided by Google which reviewed the year through the lens of their search engine.  Google even made up a little video that you can all go home and check out later – but for now I will share one of the top five list they compiled, the top 5 searches that occurred world wide, of the past year: Robin Williams, World Cup, Ebola, Malaysian Airlines and the Ice Bucket Challenge.  

Now, I think we could have some fascinating conversations about what these searches say about us, the global family (or at least the members of the global family who are connected to the internet).   But just at first glance I hear sweeping themes of tragedy and hope...the defeating death of a loveable movie star and the disappearance of an entire plane of passengers and their crew.  The threat of spreading disease and losing control – these hold 3 of the top 5 spots in searches.  The world cup also holds a spot,  which I know close to nothing about and finally, the ice bucket challenge comes in as a grassroots, messy, life of its own movement which raised both awareness and money for Lou Gerig’s Disease research.  The theme of tragedy stands alongside a movement of hope and healing in the list of what people are interested in learning about as they troll the internet.   A common human experience is that we are so often driven by fear and simultaneously searching for hope. Have these two powers had a place in your year?

Simeon’s and Anna’s whole lives were waiting for hope to be fulfilled.  They were not driven by fear, but by faith – could that be why they could see the presence of God in the form of a baby? Was it their faith that gave them eyes to see God’s glory?

This is the perfect day for Simeon and Anna to show up and remind us that our hope and redemption does not come from the tragedies that play out on a global stage, or the ones that we encounter in our most private corners.   As we “take stock” and think about New Year’s resolutions, or failures from the past year or even from counting the successes of the last year…I hope Simeon’s  story will bring us to know that our hope and redemption comes from being aligned with God in the flesh, in our midst today and every day.

Baby Jesus was brought to the worship space by his parents, to follow the commands of God and to be claimed by this God.  So began his earthly ministry, as he grew and then became baptized it all began with this early affirmation and alignment right there in the temple.  Today We have all had the privilege of bearing witness to ___ babies being brought to the waters, where each of us are aligned again and again and again by God’s promises and presence.  It is a time to take stock, a time to begin again, a time for faith and lives transformed – all because so many years ago another baby came into this world and was brought to the temple and God’s Spirit fell upon him just has the Spirit falls on all of us.

And so our year begins, will we have the faith of Anna that is spurred on by a hunger for God’s Word?

Or could we have the clarity of Simeon and so ardently search and wait for God’s presence in our lives?

Will our lives be led by the hope of the Christmas promise or the fear of the unknown future?

May the resolutions of our lives and the google searches on our screens point to hope and open our hearts to hear God’s promises…like the words from the prophet Isaiah who spoke these, stunning words that give voice to hope from tragedy…

For as the earth brings forth its shoots,
   and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up,
so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise
   to spring up before all the nations. 

For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent,
   and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest,
until her vindication shines out like the dawn,
   

For the sake of the world, do not keep silent, raise your voice, raise your voice in praise. 

May our entrance into the new year be marked by Jesus, the Word who dwells in us, may we see, recognized and praise God who is worthy.  Amen.