Sermon for 02 February 2025, Presentation of the Lord, Year C, Luke 2.22-40

Let us pray: Fill us with your Holy Spirit, that through us, your light may shine in all the world. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen

Upon reflection, the peak time for waiting must be in December. In church, we call it Advent, and we wait for Christ to usher in a new kingdom. Children in December wait impatiently for the big reveal on Christmas morning. We, adults, wait in queues.

One of the worst queues that most of us endure is waiting in the Stranraer Post Office. In December, that queue can stretch beyond the Post Office, and clash with shoppers at the Tesco checkouts. The queue’s progress has an eternal quality, and the simple goal of buying stamps can seem very far away as we wait for those magical words… ‘Next please!’

Waiting, especially when the exact result or arrival time is unspecified, can be very trying! It is frustrating and exhausting. Mind you, the suffering we endure for 30 minutes in the post office queue is nothing compared to the lifetime of waiting endured by Simeon and Anna. The two elderly prophets who were fixtures in the temple.

Simeon, had been promised that he would not see death before he saw the Messiah of the Lord. Anna had lived in the temple for over 50 years as a quiet widow, watching from the shadows and waiting for a promised light from God. How much longer would they be able to wait?

 

We can sense that unending waiting when we sing ‘0 Come, 0 come, Emmanuel’ throughout Advent. Christians have called and watched for Jesus’ return for so long since he ascended to heaven saying ”I’ll be back!”

In some ways, waiting then and now for the Messiah feels like accepting a blank cheque. Despite the uncertainties, we are assured that waiting and trusting in the Lord will bring its own reward.

Waiting is an act of faith that requires hope. Let’s pray that we will be strong enough to bear the pressure of waiting and watching for Christ with no fixed end date.

 

From their separate vantage points, Simeon and Anna had watched generations of firstborn male babies being carried into the temple by their parents. Simeon was watching for a person, the Saviour, the Lord’s Messiah. Anna’s purpose was less clear, she was watching for a sign from God that she prayed would be revealed by the visitors. Both would cast their eyes over the people coming to thank God for the safe arrival of their son, both seeking that mysterious ‘something’.

‘Was this the one they were looking for? No.’

And so they continued, looking past each little family to the next set of arrivals, only to be disappointed again. Surrounded by so much ordinary life, they sought something extraordinary. An unknown something that they were convinced they would recognise when they saw it. As time ground on, it must have been harder and harder to remain hopeful or positive. What a struggle to keep waiting.

How long must we wait, Lord? How long?

Simeon was promised that he would not see death before he saw the Messiah, but as he became more elderly, and less able, even his confidence and resolve must have wavered.

Waiting, however, should not be passive. Jesus would be so disappointed if he returned to discover that we had sat down and not moved while we waited for the Second Coming. We must make the most of our time, obeying Jesus to love and care for our neighbours while worshipping God. Our waiting cannot be done in isolation. Instead, we are challenged to live faithfully while living in the world.

The prophet Malachi compared the coming of the Messiah to the refiner’s fire and our experience of waiting to the process of refining gold. While waiting, we are transformed from a mixed-up piece of ore to a pure ingot of gold. The problem with living in the world is that we often make mistakes. Sometimes those mistakes are caused by our background, sometimes by poor decisions, or even under the influence of another. It does not matter what causes the mistake, it is what we do AFTER the mistake that matters.

 

Do we repent and try hard not to repeat each mistake? How we repent and change is our personal refining experience. The rubbish and distractions are steadily removed. Refining any metal is a tough, even brutal, experience, but hopefully, the end justifies the process. The ore is crushed, roasted, heated, and melted, and contaminants and unwanted elements are removed at every stage.

Comparing our lives to refining can seem melodramatic, but there’s a truth in it. Life, when we look back over the years, can be brutal. We are squeezed, stretched, even crushed, in ways that hurt ourselves, our wills, our souls. The very fact that we are here today shows that we survived those trials. Well done indeed!

You are more bruised and battered than anticipated in your youth. Avoiding those painful experiences also avoids opportunities to grow and mature. Take the chance to experience your own refiner’s fire, and you will be stronger and clearer about what makes you tick. When you pause to reflect, you will understand how you ended up as the person you are today.

 

So, we wait for Christ. And not just at Advent.

 

We wait, we experience more of life, we don’t give in, and we learn to jettison the aspects of life that don’t feed or even bless us. We are refined, we grow in faith, and we, too, become just a bit more golden.

Anna and Simeon had simplified their lives so they could honour God. They, too, had been refined.

 

On that special day, the one that seemed just like every other day until it didn’t, they were both there, watching and ready for what God would reveal to them.

Simeon saw Mary and Joseph first, coming to give thanks for the child who had already caused shepherds to leave their flocks to celebrate his birth and the skies to be filled with radiant angels.

Yes! Suddenly, Simeon recognised the baby! Led by the Holy Spirit, he lifted the tiny newborn without a single safeguarding hesitation and praised God with mingled joy and relief. For here was what he had waited for, a child who would bring salvation to the whole world and be a light to lead us out of the darkness.

But with his next breath, Simeon warned Mary that this child would be the cause of her own refining. That he would cause her pain and be a sword to pierce her soul. That’s hard to hear about your new baby.

 

Anna recognised Jesus as the sign for the hope that would save Jerusalem and the world. She praised God to all who would listen. For both of them who had waited, there was a realisation that this was not the end but the beginning of something amazing. A true epiphany that we can experience today!

 

Simeon began to sing a song that we still pray at the end of the day and is sung by Evensong choirs.

Now, Lord, you let your servant go in peace, your word has been fulfilled. 

My own eyes have seen the salvation which you have prepared in the sight of every people;

A light to reveal you to the nations, and the glory of your people Israel.

 

A song of hope and joy, a song that was truly worth waiting for.   The Lord be with you!