CEC schedule and Father Riley's homily from February 2, 2020

CEC Service Schedule:

…Father Riley will lead us in Holy Eucharist February 16, 2020.

…We plan to have Morning Prayer February 23, 2020, however, plans are not firm yet and we may have Father Lee Jefferson lead us in Holy Eucharist if he is available….stay tuned.

THE PRESENTATION - A - 20                         LUKE 2. 22 - 40

“When the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, the parents of Jesus brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.”

The sanctification of the firstborn was to occur 7 days after birth, according to the Law of Moses, with the circumcision on the eight day. 40 days after the birth of a son, the mother of the child was to present herself before the Lord to make an offering in order to be pronounced clean by the priest.

Therefore, Mary, Joseph and the infant Jesus made the trip from Nazareth to Jerusalem to do what was required of them. Traditionally the offering was that of a lamb, but exceptions were made for those who could not afford one. In Mary’s case, two turtledoves and two pigeons were offered.

There was in the temple an old man, Simeon who had spent his life looking for the consolation of Israel. Day in and day out, he was in the temple praying for the promise of God to come true. God had revealed to him, through the Holy Spirit, that he would not see death until he had seen the Lord’s Messiah.

How many male children he must have seen being brought before the Lord whose mother’s had come to present themselves and to make their thank offering and sin offering according to the law, only God knows. Yet none of these he had heretofore seen was revealed to him as the one God had sent to fulfill the promise.

Then one day a young mother and her older husband along with their male child entered the temple to do what was customary. The Holy Spirit of God revealed to Simeon that this child was the one.

He took him into his arms and praised God singing, “…my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all your peoples, a light for revelation of the Gentiles and for the glory to your people Israel.”

His song, the Nunc dimmittis, emphasizes the double mission of Jesus to the Jews and the Gentiles. It is contained in our services of Morning and Evening Prayer, and is used as an exit anthem in the Burial office.

A child being presented in the temple was an everyday occurrence. It was not what old Simeon was expecting. Moreover, when he realized that this was the promised one, he foretold that this child, the appointed redeemer would deal with suffering by sharing it himself.

Simeon speaks dark words about opposition, and about a sword that will pierce Mary’s heart. This is what happens when the kingdom of God confronts the kingdom of the world.

God indeed blessed Simeon by his recognition of Jesus as Messiah. In his song, he reveals that God’s plan of salvation is for all people everywhere. The true glory of Israel is in her role as being the bearer of the promise, the nation in and from whom the true world ruler would arise as “A light for revelation to the nations and glory for your people Israel.”

This, however, is not the sort of revelation the world was expecting, and not the sort of glory Israel wanted, but true revelation and true glory nonetheless. Often times God’s answer is not what we expect.

Sometimes in prayer, for example, when we have been earnestly praying for an answer and what we really want is for God to confirm our wish. God says “no.” That is certainly not an answer we expect. At other times, he simply tells us not yet. In other words, we must continue to wait. Waiting requires patience. Then, there is the surprise response, when God says, “I thought you would never ask.”

Simeon and Anna had been waiting on God, waiting on their turn to die, worshipping God day and night praying for the salvation of his people. Everyday a child was brought into the Temple. Yet God’s answer was not yet, you must continue to wait.

Waiting on God requires a steady faith, faith that one day God will make good on his promise. That day finally came for both Simeon and Anna and for the life of the world.

Can we see ourselves in this story? It is our story. We all have a vocation. Everybody has his or her role in God’s plan.

For some it is obvious. It will be active, working in the public’s eye, helping to meet the practical needs of others. For others it will be quiet, away from the public’s view, praying faithfully for God to act in fulfillment of his promises. For many it will be a mixture of the two, sometimes one, sometimes the other.

In the Feast of the Presentation, we have a new winter encounter. It is a meeting between a child and two old people who have spent a lifetime waiting for the promise of salvation to be fulfilled. Simeon sings his song in response to God making good on his promise that he would not see death until he has seen God’s messiah.

However, his patient waiting was not without the constant need of receiving the grace of God to rekindle the light of faith. Anna gave thanks because the years of watching and waiting, fasting and praying, have yielded to a new life, the life of a child. She praised God for having witnessed God’s promise being fulfilled in him.

Amid the winter experiences of our own lives we are invited this day to bring our own temptations to despair that’s God ’s promise will never be fulfilled to the burning light of Jesus’ paschal mystery. He has chosen to be helpless so that he can embrace all our helplessness. As the author of Hebrews reminds us, “Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested.”

So, let us come anew this day to the temple of our lives to receive Jesus the merciful one, who became like us in every respect whose helplessness embraces our helplessness and whose love give us the courage to keep watching and waiting as we yearn for the fulfillment of the promises of God.

For God in Jesus Christ our great high priest has chosen to meet us and to be one with us in our darkness and despair. It is by his grace the light of our faith is rekindled by the knowledge that the promise of life already shines forth through the outstretched arms of the crucified Jesus whose love for all has overcome the darkness and helplessness of the world. AMEN+