Sermon for January 1, 2017

The reading

 The reading

Luke 2:21-38

After eight days had passed, it was time to circumcise the child; and he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord”), and they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.”

Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him what was customary under the law, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying,

“Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace,
according to your word;
for my eyes have seen your salvation,
which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles
and for glory to your people Israel.”

And the child’s father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, “This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul too.”

There was also a prophet, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, having lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped there with fasting and prayer night and day. At that moment she came, and began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem

The message 

From now until Easter we will go through the Gospel of Luke.  Each week, we will look at another chapter or so of the third Gospel.  I wanted to start with a little background about this book and its author. The Gospel of Luke is probably the third of the 4 gospels written after Mark and Matthew but before John.  There is some consensus that the book was written around the year 80 or 85.  According to the oldest traditions, the author of Luke was a physician and co worker with St Paul during his missionary journeys to bring the good news of Jesus Christ to non- Jewish communities.   The author of Luke also wrote the book of Acts which tells about the life, disputes and development of the early church including details about those missionary journeys. 

In this Gospel, Luke presents a very logical and intentionally ordered argument that Jesus Christ is God’s son and the universal savior, sent to save all of humanity.   Some of Jesus very well-known parables including the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son are only found in Luke.  In each of these teaching stories, God’s saving love for all, including the outsider, the disobedient and sinner is expressed.  Luke does connect Jesus to Jewish traditions and Old Testament scripture. We see this in the efforts to show Jesus is born in Bethlehem and Joseph is from King David’s family line. We can also see this in today’s reading where Mary and Joseph follow the instructions of the Jewish law in circumcising, naming and presenting Jesus in the temple. (Genesis 17:12  For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner--those who are not your offspring  and Exodus 13, which connects these rituals to a central moment in the history of God’s interaction with the world   “Set apart to me every firstborn male – the first offspring of every womb among the Israelites, whether human or animal; it is mine.”  then you must give over to the Lord the first offspring of every womb. Every firstling of a beast that you have – the males will be the Lord’s. When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to release us, the Lord killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of people to the first born of all the animals

The life, death and resurrection of the Messiah, will be expanded throughout  Luke’s Gospel to include all people.  We started the Gospel of Luke right before Christmas with the story of Mary hearing the news that she would give birth to Jesus. Luke starts the story of Jesus birth with the census, the routine government work of counting all people. On Christmas Eve, I suggested that this was a sign that to God, all people count, an idea that is in line with all of Luke’s Gospel. In the Christmas story, angels appear to shepherds, a people that no one wanted around and a job no one had much respect for.  Today, the revelations of Christmas come to holy people who were deeply respected, faithful and obedient.  We also see that Jesus comes from a poor, well from a not rich family, their offering of a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons indicates that they did not have a lot of resources. The proper offering at the temple was a lamb but in cases where a family could not afford that, cheaper turtle doves or pigeons could be offered   By half way through the second chapter, God’s saving work has already been seen, heard and felt by the outcast, the poor and the holy (although not mentioned in Luke, Matthew tells us that around the time of Jesus birth, wealthy kings, wise men or magi also come from far away to worship Christ).   

The main characters in today’s reading, Simeon and Anna, both teach us important lessons and urge us to keep faithful.  Today is New Year’s Day. Last night, I assume many of us were waiting for Midnight, counting down the last moments of 2016 and living in the first moments of 2017.  Many people were waiting for that moment to do things, to quit smoking, start a new diet, cut back on soda, not gamble, attempt to reconcile with estranged loved ones or lots of other popular resolutions.  That change in time was the moment they were waiting for to start something new or something they have put off for too long.   

Here at our church, we have been waiting for, planning and preparing celebrations for our 150^th anniversary year.  That starts today, right now we are in the middle of our first worship as 150 year olds. We are in the midst of 150 what we have been waiting for, we are invited to ask, what now.   Once Simeon and Anna, witness what so many people were waiting for over hard and anxious centuries, they respond with praise and joy.   Simeon declare his proclamation of faith and joy, my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all the peoples, a light for revelation to the gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.  Anna shares her words of praise and prophesy

Today, we hear the same news that the shepherds, Simeon, Anna, Mary, Joseph and the magi  hear, that Christ, the savior of all, is born. We are challenged to ask “how will we respond”.  As I thought about the ending of today’s message and its connection to our 150^th anniversary, I wanted to start a new project, called 150 days of service. Basically I want us to work together and do 150 days (150 x 8 for 1200 hours) of service work.  Over the months of 2017, we will keep track of what we do and see if we reach our goal.  We will count anything that we do because we know God loves us and we want to share that news. It can include events at church, school or in the community.  (I’ll have more information about this soon).