Simeon, Anna and the Christ child

Summary

Pastor Joel was sick in bed this Sunday and so his sermon was read by Pastor Emily Rova-Hegener

Have you ever waited for something, for a long time? I have.

Ever since my mom read to my brothers and me the book, “The Hobbit” I have been enthralled in the epic creation of the world of Middle Earth that was brought to life in the literature of J.R.R. Tolkien. Tolkien was a professor of philology at Cambridge University in England. Philology is the study of language and the culture that is associated with it, a topic which fascinated Tolkien his entire life. In fact the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings only came about because J.R.R. Tolkien was creating another language and needed a people, culture and history to go with it, and so he started to create another world in which this language could belong, a world which eventually contained hobbits, elves, wizards and the struggle of good against evil.

Well, anyway, Tolkien’s world sucked me in and by the time I was twenty-five I had probably read the whole series four or five times. It was such a good read that I knew someday, somebody would make a movie of it. So I waited.

In the mid-nineties I heard distant rumors that there was a guy in New Zealand who was going to make a live action movie of Tolkien’s works. Cool! Really? I was excitedly hopeful at this possibility. Then in the year Two-thousand when this news was confirmed and there was the promise of these movies I became excitedly expectant, wondering what they would be like, would they be faithful to Tolkien’s creation and would they look good cinematically.

But it was only finally when I saw a preview of the first movie, “The Fellowship of the Ring” that I realized my hopes and the director’s promise of a movie had truly come to pass. It was only a three-minute preview of a movie yet to come, but to me it was the realization of the promise that my hopes would be fulfilled.

And now he’s also made, “The Hobbit!”

My hope and the realized promise of these movies is but a pale comparison to today’s story, but it is a comparison nonetheless.

When the Holy Spirit guides Simeon to the baby Jesus in today’s scripture it is so that the Spirit’s promise to Simeon of being able to see the Christ child before Simeon’s death, might be fulfilled.

You see, we learn something about Simeon right away in today’s story, he was a man who, “lived in the prayerful expectancy of help for Israel.”

In other words Simeon had been talking to God for a long time and everyday about when God’s promised Messiah would come. Simeon understood that God’s chosen people, the Jews, were in a sorry state and needed the One whom God had promised. Now, I also figure that Simeon must have been badgering God pretty often because we also learn that God the Holy Spirit had promised Simeon that he would get to see the Messiah before he left the earth, before he died. So, when the day arrived that Jesus was to be offered to God at the temple in accordance with Jewish law, the Holy Spirit nudged ol’ Simeon in the ribs and got him heading up to the temple to see this baby boy.

And I think that is the important thing here, Simeon sees and holds the Messiah who is still a baby. Simeon is not encountering the man Jesus, but the baby Jesus. In other words, the baby Jesus is like the movie preview I saw, Simeon still needs to trust that this baby will grow to become the man whom will bring salvation to the Jews and to all of humanity. Simeon gets to see and hold the embodied promise of the Messiah, but he does not get to see and experience the fulfillment of the promise, which will take place in Jesus’ words and actions as a man.

So, in essence, though Simeon is exultant in his chance to meet and hold the Messiah, he still needs to trust God to make his promise come true.

What I think this means for you and me in our age is this; though we have the gospels and God’s word that we can see and hold, like Simeon we still need to trust that God makes his promise come true for us in our lives today.

The Messiah has come, spoken, acted, died, been raised to new life and then ascended into heaven, and yet, we still need to trust and to live in God’s promises today.

Like Simeon we need to live in the prayerful expectation that God will help the world still today. We need to learn from Simeon his lifestyle of constant conversation with God. We need to try and badger God like Simeon did, so that we might be promised by the Holy Spirit, like Simeon was that we too will be able to meet the Messiah, our Lord and Savior in our lives today.

God is not simply far off. Nor is God aloof. No, God is here with us. God the Holy Spirit moves in our midst, leading, prodding, filling, and resting upon people in their lives still today. For us the question really must be, how do we recognize the promised presence of Jesus’ Holy Spirit in our lives in this age? How do we see and hold Jesus in our lives today?

For starters we really do need to follow Simeon’s lead her and constantly work on communicating with Jesus everyday, and throughout the day. I know I have said this many times, but it is because we need to hear it many times that I do, me most of all. So, what does this look like? Does it mean that we spend hours upon our knees everyday, or what?

Well, it does mean making time for prayer within one’s daily schedule, for sure. Now, this can be hard for me, since by the time I awake everyone else is already up, getting ready for the day. So, I have to jump in and help make sure everyone heads out into their day prepared with bus pass, keys and cell phone.

So, I have a hard time starting my day in prayer, and by evening I am too tired to keep my eyes open. Thus, I try and schedule in prayer time later in the morning. You need to find your own time that works. Some people pray while commuting to work, others while walking and still others in their favorite chair over coffee.

But there is more to communicating with God than simply scheduled prayer. We need to go to Jesus in moments throughout the day. For me when I see beauty in the world I whisper a prayer, “Thank you God for creating this beautiful moment.”

I also have been know to call out, “Help Jesus!” when the car is skidding on ice, or a situation has become an emergency.

Yet there is communication that goes beyond prayer.   The Bible is full of all kinds of learning, instruction, solace, inspiration, encouragement, and simple communication from God for us as God’s people.

And then there are other people and situations in which when we become attuned to the movement of the Holy Spirit we can feel God’s presence and movement in our lives and the life of the world. In today’s story we read a number of times of how the Holy Spirit guided Simeon. This only happened become Simeon was open to the Spirit’s movement and leading in his life.

This is ultimately the point. Jesus wants to walk with us in our lives. Jesus wants to be our constant companion, and is, so rather than ignore him more often than not, pay attention, you’ll be surprised how he leads you. Open your eyes to the Christ child in your life, he’s here.

Amen.

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