Sermon
delivered at All Saints’ Church, Whiteparish
– Sunday 3 February 2019 – Candlemas
Luke 2:22-40
“Master,
you are now dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word; for my
eyes have seen your salvation which you have prepared in the presence of all
peoples;
A
light for revelation to the Gentiles and for the glory of your people Israel”
I think everyone here is very familiar with this passage
– it has been sung over the centuries in its King James Version under its Latin
heading “Nunc Dimittis” meaning “now you dismiss”.
For some strange inexplicable reason our Church’s
liturgical year goes backwards chronologically at this time. Last week we had the twelve year old boy
Jesus left behind in the Temple explaining prophesy to the scribes and elders
and here we go back twelve years to his presentation in the Temple as a tiny
baby following his naming and circumcism.
We call this Sunday “Candlemas” and earlier this week I
was asked to explain why the presentation of Jesus in the Temple had been given
this name. Only a couple of hours
earlier I had, thankfully, heard an explanation from Alec Knight so was able to
give an answer quickly and impressively!
The early church leaders recognised and spoke of Jesus’s presentation as
being the presentation of the light of the world – as we have just read “a light for revelation to the Gentiles
and the glory of the people Israel” and services, especially in the
Orthodox Church, use a great many candles in their services at this time –
hence Candlemas.
This morning, though, I
want to concentrate a little more on those two elderly dwellers in the Temple –
Simeon and Anna and their importance in this story.
I think I have been fighting
off old age for some time now. Indeed, I had my children late in life such that
when many of my contemporaries from school and university have been sending me
Christmas newsletters about how well their grandchildren are doing, I had felt
much younger for the lack of anyone to call me grandad, or grandpa or whatever
and I was still writing our own newsletter primarily about our children. Old
age though seems to have crept up – first there was retirement, which was put
off in my mind by retraining for church ministry – a gruelling four year
academic course with essays and assignments – being back as a university
student, then the bus pass arrived – now that was a great asset of growing
older and made me even more restless; and then last September the state
pension. The one thing, though, which I
did find weird was after twelve years of taking my son to watch Southampton FC
at St. Mary’s with him getting a concession for his youth and me having to pay
full whack as an adult, when we attended a match there a few weeks’ ago he had
to pay the full adult price and I was the concession for age! I suddenly realised that old age had finally
arrived and it has led me to much reflection about my ministry and what God is
wanting me to do as I enter what I believe we now call the third age.
Last Saturday lunchtime something massively significant
occurred – our daughter-in-law gave birth to two beautiful twins – a girl and a
boy – Fiona and William. Suddenly I was catapulted into the new status of a
grandparent and far from feeling old I suddenly felt such a wonderful amazing
love for these two little bundles of joy.
It brought to mind Simeon’s words, not the bit about “departing” but the
bit that says “my eyes have seen your salvation” – new life, such beauty, such
innocence and a deep feeling of our own responsibility towards our future
generations.
An elderly lady in a care home once said– “I used to be a good Christian but I can’t
get to church now and help out as I used to do; neither can I get down on my
knees and pray anymore for fear of not being able to get up again and my sight
is so poor I can no longer read my bible.
I feel so helpless, so Godless – what use is my life any more – I am
just a burden to everyone.”
I say to that lady, not so. Maybe you cannot drive people
to church or to the shops as you used to, maybe you cannot be on the flower
rota, maybe you cannot be in church serving coffee or any of the many other
things you used to, perhaps you cannot read your daily devotionals but you can
still pray from your armchair or get somebody else to read to you. You can still smile at the carers and make
them feel the warmth of your appreciation for all they do; you can still listen
to the stories of others with a sympathetic ear, there are so many things which
we can do even as our faculties leave us.
Many stories in the bible, especially in the Old
Testament, do describe old age as a feeble and helpless state. In 2 Samuel 19:31-35 we read of an
eighty-year old man, Barzillai, who talks very much like my lady in the care
home. He talks of being a burden to King David and of the loss of pleasure of
food and drink and hearing music but the King is kind to him and treats him
with utter respect. In the New Testament
Peter is told then when he grows old a stranger will carry him to where he no
longer wishes to go. My lady in the care home equally does not like the fact
that she has to rely upon somebody to push her in a wheelchair for any long
distances.
But, here in the story of Simeon and Anna we read of very
old people receiving good news from God – looking hopefully to the future,
praising and thanking God and sharing the good news.
They are examples to us all – whatever age we might be –
praying and praising even when sometimes there is nothing else we can do. To continue to watch and listen for good news
from God and sharing that good news with everyone we meet or encounter in our
daily life.
For me the story of Jesus being presented in the Temple
is poignant and very real coming at the same time as when Liz and I were first
presented to our new born grandchildren – 3 hours old! They are part of God’s future. They have also brought a great light into our
lives and we trust the world too. They
are examples of God’s wonderful creation and love and certainly make me
appreciate the preciousness of life.
Simeon and Anna, these old people greeted the baby Jesus. Now you may
think that Mary and Joseph would find themselves hearing old Simeon and Anna
moaning about how bad everything was with the occupation of the Romans, Herod’s
government and everything. They could have harked back to the good old days.
But they didn't.
They were both old but they didn't live in the past. They both had
lots to complain about but they were positive about the future. Neither of
them were moaners.
We are told that the Holy Spirit rested on Simeon. The Holy Spirit leads
us today, as then, into the future with hope, because the future is God's and
God will always give us hope. The challenge for each of us is to put our trust
in God in the same complete way that Simeon and Anna did when they glimpsed the
divine face of that small baby in the Temple.
So many
Christian mystics have talked about seeing the divine face or falling in love
with the face of Jesus. Clare of Assisi (1194-1253) often used the image of
“mirroring” in her writings. We are mirrored not by concepts, but by faces
delighting in us, giving us the face we can’t give to ourselves. And, of
course, the ultimate and perfect mirror is the face of God.
The early
mirroring we receive from our parents is particularly important. Neuroscience
now shows that the gaze between a newborn and his or her loving caretaker
creates “mirror neurons” that help a person become compassionate and have empathy
for others. Moreover, although none of us can demand or expect absolutely
unconditional divine love from another human being, we can experience very
real aspects of it. This helps us be able to imagine what God’s love is like
and keeps us open to God’s love.
James
Finley offers a fitting poetic image for this idea:
“When God eases us out of God’s heart into the
earthly plane, God searches for the place that is most like paradise, and it’s
the mother’s gaze. In the mother’s gaze, she transparently sacramentalises
God’s infinite gaze of love, looking into the eyes of the infant. And when the
infant looks into her eyes it is looking into God’s eyes, incarnate as her
loving eyes.”
When
caregivers and infants gaze at each other, their brain activity increases; parts
of their brains literally light up. Similarly, Finley says:
“When God gazes at us and we gaze at God, both of
us light up. God lights up in the sense of the joy of being recognized by the
one that God created in his own image and likeness for the very sake of this
recognition. For us it’s a moment of visceral, intimate communion or oneness
that feels like homecoming.”
We must like Simeon have the faith to recognise God at work in this
world; God in this world and have the faith to trust that God has a plan for
his world; we must, like Anna, be able to look to the dawning of a new
age; just as we welcomed those twins last Saturday and prayed for their future
health and happiness. Look now into the
face of the person or persons sitting next to – you are looking into the face
of God’s created image – a glimpse of God himself who loves you.
Let us pray :
O Lord Jesus Christ, as a child you were presented in the
Temple and received with joy by Simeon and Anna as Redeemer of Israel and a
Light to all Nations: we ask that we, like them, may be guided by the Holy
Spirit to acknowledge and love you until the end of our lives.
Amen
MFB/30012019
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