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As we gather, we recognize that we live, work, pray, and play
in the traditional, unceded lands
of the Cowichan Tribes and Coast Salish People.
We continue to commit ourselves
to the work of reconciliation and relationship-building
with our First Nations neighbours.
Call to Worship:
This is a light
to reveal God to the nations
&
the glory of his people Israel.
Luke 2. 32
O Come. Let Us Worship.
Gathering
Almighty God:
To you all hearts are open,
all desires known,
and from you no secrets are hidden.
Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts
by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit,
that we may perfectly love you,
and worthily magnify your holy name;
through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Collect for Today
Blessed are you, O Lord our God,
for you have sent us your salvation.
Inspire us by your Holy Spirit
to recognize him who is the glory of Israel
and the light for all nations,
your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Proclamation of the Gospel:
Luke 2. 22 - 40
May the words of my lips and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable to You, O Lord. Amen.
" From Birth to Messenger "
Who can tell me what seasons of the year have 40 days in the liturgical calendar?
Everyone is going to say, "Lent. Everyone knows there are 40 days in Lent."
But, what about Christmas? Have you ever thought that there are 40 days in the Christmas season?
Today is the last day of the Christmas season. Today is the 40th day since the birth of Christ.
I must admit that I was really not aware of that until in some of the reading I have been doing this recently on the seasons of the Church year. And so, I have discovered that Christmas is also a 40 day season.
So, when people say, “When are you going to take down your Christmas tree?” you can say, “Well, on the Feast of the Presentation of Our Lord.” It would be interesting to see the response.
Moving on: do you see yourself as a messenger of Christ? Do you see yourself as God’s messenger in the world?
Today we enter the Temple with Jesus and his parents. Today is the day, you might say, that Jesus is anointed to begin his mission.
I’m not sure all of us would consider our being brought to the parish church (to the temple) for our baptism as the beginning of our mission to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Yet, in reality in all senses of the Liturgy, it is today.
Yes, right there. At the back of the church. As you enter the church—that place where you are bapitised into the family of the Church.
It all started long before, though—long before our baptism—long before Jesus was presented in the Temple.
In our home, we have two family Bibles. They are records of my paternal and maternal families. They tell something of the history of our family in relationship to the church. Alongside, we have parts of a family tree for both Flo’s family, and my family.
Treasured records!
The prophet Malachi provides, then, that bridge between the Old and New Testament. Not only does it provide a bridge in the idea of the separation between two books or sections of the Bible; metaphorically, it provides a bridge for us to discover our ‘bridge in life’ from that of our birth into Christianity, but also that of "our birth to becoming a messenger", a messenger sharing in the ministry of Christ.
Malachi uses this wonderful illustration of a refiner’s fire or washer’s soap.
In the ‘refiner’s fire,’ the fire is used to separate the impurities from metal. In the ‘washer’s soap’ or what is often referred to as a fuller’s soap or launder’s soap, one of the ingredients was alkali. The reason alkali was used in the soap was to make the whites, white.
I recall my mother saving those little bits of the soap bars (you know—that get to that point where they are basically hard to get the suds to come up on them.) I can recall her saving those over the winter months and then, early in the spring, as the first washing would be going out on the line, I can remember her shaving those up—cutting those up—and making sort of a thick dense soap out of them and then they were used in the laundry for that day—in the first washing for the whites. That was to ensure that those first whites that went out on the line would be whiter than white.
They were a sense of “re-birthing” of over the winter maybe being dried inside over a line .
Well, Malachi uses this illustration to remind us of the messenger who is coming.
Surveying the whitest of white then you get a clean sense of the power of Christ—the power of Christ coming into the world for our salvation. When you see your reflection in the polished precious metal you have that sense of the beauty that Christ sees in each of us.
This is a reminder for each one of us as we are purified by God. His reflection in our lives will become more and more clear to those around us.
And so, it is. Becoming messengers, we are called to be open to the purification of Christ in our lives.
We have this great message then of affirmation as Jesus is presented in the temple.
First, his parents meet Simeon. Simeon is an elderly man—he is a man of God. You might say, he’s pretty near like a prophet. He is that elder that is respected within the Temple. He is a very spiritual man, obviously, because he witnesses that he has heard the message of God about his life, that he would live until he saw, and experienced, the Messiah.
(The picture on the front of our bulletin this week shows Joseph standing, and Simeon holding our Lord in his arms.)
It is at that moment that we have these great words—words that are so familiar to us as Anglicans particularly in that sense of Evening Prayer and often recited at the end of a funeral service. from Simeon:
Simeon says,
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.”
The words of The Nunc Dimittis (Magnificat) in the BCP express this so wonderfully and are some of my favourite parts of Anglican chant that we hear.
“O LORD, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace…”
It is just so meaningful!
I had not thought of this before to this point: but as I was preparing for today, I realized that the 2 canticles for Evening Prayer are ‘the Magnificat’ and ‘the Nunc Dimittis.’ The two times that Mary is greeted by the Lord receiving these great messages of the MESSENGER that her child is to be to the world.
The Magnificat is that moment when she is visiting Elizabeth, and she hears and expresses these words from God.
Then to add to the affirmation of the place of Jesus in the world, we have those great words from Anna giving praise for the fulfillment of God’s promise.
Now I know, it is possible not one of us would see ourselves as (or our parents) meeting Simeon and Anna when we were brought into the temple. At the same time, this lesson and why we should remember this day, The Presentation of our Lord, for they remind us that Simeon and Anna had never given up hope.
But, they should also remind us of the elders in our pews—of the local saints in our community—who have raised us up and who have given us the message of faith and the message of hope.
One of the documentaries I listened to this past week on the 80th Anniversary of Auschwitz--those being interviewed continue to remind the world to never give up on hope. Reminding us that the survivors as they shared, they were reminded by their community to keep hope. To always hope for their release, and thankfully, some were.
We may live in a time when to all appearances, values are disappearing—values we knew as youth—but yet, wisdom and the fulness of wisdom is the message we have to share with our youth.
And to remind them of their potential in the world; and to remind them of the potential of the elders, and that they are not to be ignored.
We have a message to share with the world. The world needs our message and our young people will too find hope through our friendship with them. The world will continue to find ways to continue to serve God.
“And the child grew and became strong.”
Since our “Presentation” in the temple, we have grown and become strong, and the grace of God remains with us—remains with us as individuals, and as a collective in the community of our parish church, in the corporate body of each qnd everyone of us.
Thanks be to God, Amen.