29 January 2012
5
What brought you here?
Presentation of Jesus
The Revd Jenny Wilkens
5 February 2017
Malachi 3:1-5; Hebrews 2:14-18
Luke 2:22-40
http://www.stlukesinthecity.org.nz/sermons_pid_22.html
Fifty six years ago, I was brought as a three-week old baby to Nelson Cathedral
for my baptism, presented by my parents at the temple if you like, my tender
age not the age demanded by the law, but to fit it in before the end of the
school holidays! I slept blissfully through the whole service, so do excuse me if
you ever see me doing the same now! The obligatory photos taken in front of
the Cathedral with the Bishop include one of my mother and my godmother
looking anxiously into the middle distance as some of my 3 siblings had
obviously given up on photos and gone exploring!
I have always loved, then, this story of the young Mary and Joseph bringing their
six week old baby Jesus to the Temple, and offering their two pigeons, the gifts
of the poor. I love watching the scene change as the Spirit of God at work brings
all the actors together onto the stage: Mary, Joseph, the baby, Simeon, Anna and then as these characters interact, extraordinary things are said about this
tiny child, and how he will bring consolation, redemption, salvation, not just to
Israel but to the whole Gentile world.
We hear the child's parents were amazed by what was being said about him (Lk
2:33). They had come to the temple as a devout young couple, piously fulfilling
the requirements of the law, but their expectations of this visit were likely blown
right out of the water!
In the same way, both Simeon and Anna had spent long years of waiting,
yearning and praying for the coming of God's Messiah and for release from the
Roman captivity they lived under. Perhaps they too had almost given up hope,
and came into the temple with little expectation - and yet the Spirit of God was
drawing them both: "Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple" (v.27)
What brought you here today? Habit? long connection? the liturgy? music?
aesthetics? wanting time and space to reflect before the week starts? being on a
roster?!
Our St Luke’s community is full of Simeons and Annas, those of you who spend
so much of your time quietly ministering behind the scenes, on the St Luke’s site,
with a polishing rag or laundry bucket, sorting out the offertory or delivering the
Foodbank donations, taking people out shopping or to appointments, popping in
for a cuppa or making a phonecall. Perhaps some of you can identify with Anna
who 'never left the temple but worshipped there with fasting and prayer night
and day' (Lk 2:37). And that quiet prayerful ministry over years is what makes
wherever we gather a place that feels prayed in and worshipped in, not just on
Sundays but through the week as well.
Who might be the Marys and Josephs who might visit us? Perhaps those who
come to this city to study or to work, come here to find community, a home
away from home, a place to learn and ask questions and explore faith, and to
serve and be a part of the life of this city, even just for a time.
What brings people to church these days? The former Bishop of Oxford, John
Pritchard, has written about this in a recent book, God Lost and Found. 1
He suggests four things that churches can offer people looking for God:
 A context of beauty in worship and architecture that gives a sense of the
numinous and transcendent, suggests a God who is worth taking seriously.
 Quality worship in liturgy , music, preaching (we hope!)
 Physical and mental space to reflect. Not prescribing what people have to
do all the time, but offering an invitation. You can explore the world of
faith without the danger of being asked to stand for Vestry on your 2nd
visit! (well, maybe on your 3rd!). You can come in, just sit if you want to,
and just 'be'.
 An encounter of depth. We don't want to keep people paddling forever in
the shallow end of faith. We know that many thoughtful people are
looking for a real, deeper engagement with the Christian faith, and how we
can live that out in today's challenging world. I am always delighted when
people ask tricky questions, or ask if they can join in a study group, or what
book I could recommend on a particular topic. The Anglican church loves
fostering life-long learners on the journey of faith!
Recently I read an interesting take on the story of Anna2, a 'midrash' in the
Jewish tradition of telling a story about a Biblical story. We know nothing
about Anna apart from the small cameo Luke gives us in our reading, but this
midrash suggested that Anna might have been in her youth quite a firebrand,
that she and her husband might well have been part of the Zealot movement
who sought to subvert and oppose the Roman overlords. This midrash
suggested that Anna's husband might have been executed, even crucified,
just seven years into their marriage (Lk 2:36,37), and that Anna from then on
had come to the temple, perhaps first of all to cry out her grief and anger
before God. The midrash then suggested that perhaps well down the track,
Anna moved from that stance of railing at God to a place of listening to God
and then actively praying for God to intervene and bring his Messiah to
redeem God's people. And now, led by the Spirit, Anna the prophet finds her
voice again, as she 'praises God and speaks about this child to all who were
looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.' (Lk 2:38)
1
2
John Pritchard, God Lost and Found, SPCK, 2011, p.115ff
'Anna's story', Revd Margaret Harvey, Wales in Quiet Spaces, Bible Reading Fellowship, Issue 20 (September 2011), p.68
What brings you here Sunday by Sunday? Are you prepared for the Spirit of
God to speak to you , to show you something new, to encourage you in a
new direction this year, perhaps through noticing something quite small, as
small as a six week old child?
Perhaps God may be encouraging you to take a new step. You might like to
plan to come to one of our Lent groups, as we explore together more about
the Eucharist, using the Pilgrim course, an opportunity to discuss and share
which we don’t have in our Eucharist service itself.
If you're usually busy with a rostered duty in our service, God may be telling
you to make sure you have services sometimes when you're not rostered, just
to sit and be and have time to reflect and worship. We need people who
have the time and space to listen for God's voice, to observe what the Spirit is
saying and doing in the church and to speak up and share that with us. These
are Simeon and Anna roles, that can be taken up at any age and stage of life,
and we need to recognise what season of life we are in, and what we need
most in our spiritual life at this time.
For that to happen, it may mean that some of you who at the moment aren’t
on our ministry roster, might like to offer to read or be a welcomer or wash
linen or learn to be a thurifer or liturgical assistant, so we don’t wear out
some people. Do speak to me if you sense the Spirit of God prompting you in
a new direction; we're all learning and growing and being part of the body of
Christ together!
What did Mary and Joseph do after they'd been at the Temple? They took
their child home to Nazareth in Galilee, and we read 'the child grew and
became strong, filled with wisdom, and the favour of God was upon him.' (Lk
2:39, 40) But it didn't happen all by itself, Mary and Joseph nurtured their
child with the resources they had themselves received, and no doubt their
family and community helped. Many of you are good at resourcing yourselves
spiritually so that we may share what we are given with others, those
dependent on us, those with whom we live and move and have our being.
What about Simeon and Anna? What did they do, after this eventful meeting
in the temple? We do not know, but I rather like the ending of a drama3 from
the Iona Community, written about this encounter, that suggests that Simeon
and Anna decided to go off together and have a celebratory bottle of wine
and a loaf from the baker's! A wonderful honouring of the one who would
later give himself in bread and wine, body and blood, for us.
What will bring you back here next Sunday? familiar liturgy and worship,
friendships and community, the opportunity to serve, being on the roster!, the
possibility that the Spirit of God may have something to say to you, to speak into
your life and mine in the weeks ahead, to reveal to us more of the love of God
revealed to us in Jesus Christ, his cradle and cross? Amen – let it be.
3
'Anna and Simeon', in Cloth for the Cradle: worship resources for Advent/Christmas/Epiphany, Iona Community, Scotland., 1997.