Collect

Almighty and ever-living God,
clothed in majesty,
whose beloved Son was this day presented in the Temple,
in substance of our flesh:
grant that we may be presented to you
with pure and clean hearts,
by your Son Jesus Christ our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

 

Reading 1 Malachi 3:1-4

Thus says the Lord God:
Lo, I am sending my messenger
to prepare the way before me;
And suddenly there will come to the temple
the LORD whom you seek,
And the messenger of the covenant whom you desire.
Yes, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts.
But who will endure the day of his coming?
And who can stand when he appears?
For he is like the refiner's fire,
or like the fuller's lye.
He will sit refining and purifying silver,
and he will purify the sons of Levi,
Refining them like gold or like silver
that they may offer due sacrifice to the LORD.
Then the sacrifice of Judah and Jerusalem
will please the LORD,
as in the days of old, as in years gone by.

 

Reading 2 Hebrews 2:14-18

Since the children share in blood and flesh,
Jesus likewise shared in them,
that through death he might destroy the one
who has the power of death, that is, the Devil,
and free those who through fear of death
had been subject to slavery all their life.
Surely he did not help angels
but rather the descendants of Abraham;
therefore, he had to become like his brothers and sisters
in every way,
that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest before God
to expiate the sins of the people.
Because he himself was tested through what he suffered
he is able to help those who are being tested.

 

Gospel Luke 2:22-40

When the days were completed for their purification
according to the law of Moses,
Mary and Joseph took Jesus up to Jerusalem
to present him to the Lord,
just as it is written in the law of the Lord,
Every male that opens the womb shall be consecrated to the Lord,
and to offer the sacrifice of
a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons,
in accordance with the dictate in the law of the Lord.

Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon.
This man was righteous and devout,
awaiting the consolation of Israel,
and the Holy Spirit was upon him.
It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit
that he should not see death
before he had seen the Christ of the Lord.
He came in the Spirit into the temple;
and when the parents brought in the child Jesus
to perform the custom of the law in regard to him,
he took him into his arms and blessed God, saying:

"Now, Master, you may let your servant go
in peace, according to your word,
for my eyes have seen your salvation,
which you prepared in the sight of all the peoples:
a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and glory for your people Israel."

The child's father and mother were amazed at what was said about him;
and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother,
"Behold, this child is destined
for the fall and rise of many in Israel,
and to be a sign that will be contradicted
and you yourself a sword will pierce
so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed."
There was also a prophetess, Anna,
the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher.
She was advanced in years,
having lived seven years with her husband after her marriage,
and then as a widow until she was eighty-four.
She never left the temple,
but worshiped night and day with fasting and prayer.
And coming forward at that very time,
she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child
to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem.

When they had fulfilled all the prescriptions
of the law of the Lord,
they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth.
The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom;
and the favour of God was upon him.

 

SERMON (preached in a previous year)

Have you ever been forgotten? I don’t mean have you ever forgotten something. No, what I mean is, have you ever been forgotten about; felt abandoned? I expect you have.

I must have been about 5 or 6 years old when one day I was left outside school at 4 o’clock with no one to collect me. All the other children’s parents had come to collect their children, and I was left all alone! As tears ran down my little cheeks and I softly sobbed (!) a teacher came up to me and said she would wait until my mum arrived. Around 12 hours later (it could have been 15 minutes, I didn’t have a watch on me) my uncle pulled up alongside me. He had been asked by my parents to pick me up from school but had forgotten - hardly a disaster, but one of those events in life that stick with you.

All of us have had times when we have felt forgotten about; perhaps unsure if anyone is going to turn up. Perhaps you have cooked a dinner for guests who never turned up – it happened to us once. Maybe you have spent hundreds of hours waiting for delayed buses, trains, or flights. Most of us have spent time in queues on the roads and motorways of this fair land wondering what is going on to cause all this waiting.

The people of Israel spent a thousand years waiting – not to be collected from school, nor for the non arrival of dinner guests, nor were they stuck in a traffic jam! They were waiting for the return to earth of God. His arrival was promised; foretold by prophets. They, too, felt unsure if he was ever going to turn up. They were beginning to feel as though he might have forgotten altogether. When he did return, it was not in the way they had expected at all. And they rejected him.

Now, I have here a large cardboard box. It is, however no ordinary box. As you can see it’s marked “Fragile” and “This way up.” You see, it is a very special box because inside it you will find God, if you search hard enough. I’d like two young volunteers to come and help me look for him - preferably with long arms!

(We open the box, empty it of packing and discover an ancient oil lamp. A volunteer is asked to read the instruction on the lamp’s base. They rub the lamp to make God appear. Surprise, surprise, he doesn’t!! Ask the volunteers to return to their seats.)

Of course God was not in the box. Of course he didn’t appear like a genie of the lamp in a pantomime. He can’t be conjured up.

All this may sound frivolous, if not downright blasphemous. But this is how the people of Israel often treated God. It’s often how we, his people today, often treat him. We pray to him telling him to grant us our wishes, and when we don’t get what we want we get cross. 

For 1000 years the people of Israel were waiting for God to return. They didn’t expect a baby. They certainly didn’t expect Jesus. He wasn’t their idea of what God is like. He wasn’t what they wanted, despite all their waiting, when God came to them they didn’t and wouldn’t recognise him. 

Two Jewish people did recognise who Jesus was, though:  Wise old Simeon and wise old Anna. They were deeply pious. They spent hours each day in the Temple at Jerusalem; and they longed to see God who had promised to return. 

On this day we celebrate the baby Jesus being taken by Joseph and his mother Mary to the Temple. There they thanked God for their baby. There they met Simeon and Anna. There Jesus was recognised as the one the people of Israel had been waiting for. For Simeon and Anna, their wait in the queue, their wait at the school gates, their wait for their late dinner guest was well and truly over. God had returned, but not as expected: not on the Israelite’s terms, but on God’s terms. 

Simeon prayed the prayer he had waited all his long life to pray:

Lord, now lettest thou thy servant  depart in peace according to thy word. For mine eyes have seen thy salvation; which thou hast prepared: before the face of all people; to be a light to lighten the Gentiles: and to be the glory of thy people Israel.