St Michael's Church (Church of England)

Mum and Dad turn up at the temple for the mum to purify herself from her childbirth impurity by making a sacrifice of an animal and for a male child to be presented 40 days after his birth as recorded in Leviticus 4. and Luke 2. 22 - 39 as Jewish law required.

The Church has a hierarchy of terms for celebrations:

Principal Feasts,

Other Principal Holy days, Eastertide (great 50 days of Easter starting on Easter day) and Festivals.

Then come the lowly others:

Celebrations, Local Celebrations, Lesser festival, Commemorations, Days of Discipline and Self-Denial,

Ember Days and Ordinary time.

So in this useful church jargon hierarchy the presentation of Christ in the Temple comes right near the top as a Principal Feast right up there with Christmas and Easter and on this day every Cathedral and Parish church must celebrate Holy Communion by Cannon law B14 and may not be displaced by any other celebration.

If the feast day falls on a week day it may be moved to the Sunday, which is what has happened this year since the true date of Presentation of Christ is on the 2^nd February.

Linked with the presentation of Christ in the Temple is the word Candlemas - a distinctive rite in the Western church according to the 1970 Roman Catholic Missal where a procession of candles to a place in the church other than where the mass is celebrated (sanctuary / or top part of the church) happens. Then Candles representing those used in the church services are blessed and sometimes the congregation may hold candles too. This was to commemorate or remember Christ entering the Temple which is why we hold a similar part in our service by the main door of the church. During this the Nunc Dimittis (the hip hooray of Simeon) is said. Not all Anglican churches will include this part of the celebration but this sits well with our Anglo-Catholic part of our heritage here in St Michaels and we will share this after the sermon and before we say our affirmation of faith or creed.

So if the Presentation is this important for the world church perhaps it holds more for us to understand or think about than just a rite of passage for mum and baby. Looking back at the readings, you will find the references on the front of the weekly sheet and there are Bibles in each of the rows of seats so feel welcome to look them up if you want to while I am talking.

I wanted to draw out what might ring as important so we could then follow that on to see the significance for our lives of faith.

- Malachi the prophet is heard to say the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to the Temple. He then goes on to say this messenger (Messiah) will refine, purify the people. And if you think what a bright, intense thing refining of silver and the like is you start getting an indication of the depth of encounter meeting with the Messiah, the Lord will be. One of cleansing, or revealing impurity and of judging contents.

- Paul in his letter to the Hebrews talks about ‘him’ sharing the flesh and blood of all human kind. In other words ‘he’ Jesus was fully human. And it was the humanity of Christ that made the difference. That actually helped ‘those who are being tested’ (back to the refining theme)

- Then finally the Gospel account of that encounter in the temple is given. A couple going about the normal practice of sacrificing birds to purify the mother and present the son, they must have been just the same as countless other parents and babies in the Temple, mixing with all the other devotees coming for purification or prayer, petition and sacrifice.

This was no special feast day, just another day in the Temple activities, but even on an ordinary day the Temple would have been extremely busy – with other families presenting other firstborn, and other women undergoing ritual purification. We can imagine that the atmosphere – at least in the outer areas – would have been a far cry from the stillness and clarity of a church service or meeting.

Amid all the hustle and bustle, Mary, Joseph and Jesus would have looked like another ordinary family going about their business, and Jesus would have looked like another ordinary baby boy. Yet, through all the busy throng, Simeon and Anna both spotted something extraordinary. They clearly saw something – or rather, someone – who would change everything, for everyone, for ever.

Simeon and Anna, faithful, prayerful, expectant people came forward and gave Mary and Joseph another affirmation of the blessing and wonder of this child for the world, and foretold the future including the manner of his death which would cause such a pain as to pierce her heart.

Three things:

this messenger (Messiah) will refine, purify the people
Jesus was fully human. And it was the humanity of Christ that made the difference.
Simeon and Anna clearly saw someone – who would change everything, for everyone, for ever.

Why is this important, to the level of being a nonnegotiable feast day in the church year?

1. Refining the people

John the Baptist spoke of getting ready to meet with Jesus, to wash away our sins. We aim to become pure with clean hearts ready to meet with Jesus the Messiah. He lights the darkness

- The darkness of the world around us, and gives us light, comfort to live by.

- He also lights up and reveals our own lives as we look at them under the magnifying glass of his advice, his teaching. We can see through his lens the truth of our actions, our motives or intentions, our honesty and ability to be generous in how we live. The more we try to find out about the teaching of Jesus the more we find ourselves being refined. And it is my experience that in that refining, though sometimes painful, comes joy, peace and contentment.

The humanity of Christ that made the difference

It is Christ’s humanity and death that destroys the power of death in the earthly world.

As human, Jesus experienced the same as ourselves -

All that is good in our lives: love, joy, friendship, relationships. But also all that is destructive: Anger, sadness, loss, bereavement, frustration, rejection, pain, violence betrayal, death.

As Messiah, he took in all that was destructive in his live and as he sacrificed himself upon the cross. The church language for this action of Christ, fully human and yet divine is ‘atonement’

The meaning of the English word originally signified the condition of being ‘at-one’ after two parties had been estranged from one another. Think about the two parties as being God and human kind. Does that shed any light on the power of the word?

Soon a secondary meaning emerged: ‘atonement’ denoted the means, an act or a payment, through which harmony was restored. How’s that for blowing our Christian minds?

This sacrifice of Christ was atonement:

Two parties being ‘at-one’, and an act through which harmony is restored.

Atonement At / one / ment

3.Simeon and Anna clearly saw someone – who would change everything, for everyone, for ever.

They saw in Jesus the baby, bundled up and carried into the Temple the person who would bring light to the world for all people, Jews and other nations or Gentiles alike. They knew his light would both comfort and challenge, and by his life and death God would no longer be estranged from human kind and that harmony would be restored in their relationship once more.

Now that is a message and reality to celebrate. Or even to live by. But we can only celebrate in our worship this wonderful message or live by it if we stay expectant and open like Anna and Simeon.

How on earth, in the hurly-burly of daily life, do we find the space and the time?

Well, I suggest the first step is to accept that God speaks to us all the time.

The second step is to soften our souls so we’re receptive to that relationship. And that’s the tricky part, because in the growing-up process we become hardened.

As children we race headlong into adventure, only to suffer scraped knees. As teenagers we rush headstrong into romance, only to suffer broken hearts. So through life we become more cautious, and in the process most of us lose the adventurer and romantic within us – but it takes elements of both to listen to the voice of God.

So at least in our Spiritual lives lets cling onto the hope, the freedom and the joy of remembering what Christ has done for us.

Simeon and Anna looked for the future promise and recognised it arrive, but never saw the reality of the truth of their words.

We have the wisdom of being Easter people who know what Christ did by his life, death and resurrection, his AToneMENT.

Praise be to God, May heaven be praised, and may we sense for ourselves that joy that caused Simeon to say “now God, I am so happy I need nothing more”. ‘for my eyes have seen your salvation’ Luke 2. 30.

Amen.

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