Merry Christmas! Sandwiched between Luke’s Angelic birth announcement and Matthew’s Magi visitation, is this encounter in the Jerusalem temple just eight days after Jesus’ birth. It would be easy to skip over this portion of the Christmas story. It has none of the familiarity associated with Christ’s Nativity.

• no angels,
• no sheep or shepherds,
• no Inn or manger,
• no strangers from the East, and
• no star to guide them.
  

And yet this story is critical to understanding both the identity and future of the child who is Jesus of Nazareth.

• It’s here that the parents prove themselves good Jews by circumcising the child in the Jerusalem temple (an act that marked this child’s acceptance into the covenant community).
• It is here that the child is given the name Jesus, honoring God’s decree in Luke 1:31.
• Here too is evidence of the couple’s poverty. Their offering of two pigeons or turtledoves is an option reserved for the poor. 
• Here New Testament prophets speak for God, identifying the child as “God’s salvation.”
• Here we learn of the child’s future, one who will cause the rising and falling of many; Salvation redefined both as redemption of the human soul and redemption of human community. 
• And finally, here we receive a premonition of the child’s untimely death; one destined to pierce the heart of his mother.
  

This portion of the birth narrative bridges Old Testament and New Testament. God’s promise of salvation is about to be realized in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

So despite its lack of familiarity, this story continues the Birth narratives’ overarching theme: This is no ordinary child!
Our reading comes from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 2, verses 21-40. As you are able, please stand for the reading of the Gospel.

21 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. 22 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 23(as it is written in the law of the Lord, ‘Every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord’), 24and they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of the Lord, ‘a pair of turtle-doves or two young pigeons.’ 25 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. 26It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. 27Guided 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, 28Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying, 29‘Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace,according to your word; 30for my eyes have seen your salvation, 31   which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, 32a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.’ 33 And the child’s father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him. 34Then 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 35so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul too.’ 36 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 for seven years after her marriage, 37then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshipped there with fasting and prayer night and day. 38At 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. 39 When they had finished everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. 40The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favour of God was upon him.

Prayer: Come thou, long expected Jesus. Open our hearts to receive the gifts you bring to us and for us today. Amen.
I had the best day last week! I got to hold and bless to newborn babies! Church members Larry and Sheryl Toney (our ECDP Director) have two new grandbabies!

• Cooper Grant (sounds like a movie star, don’t it) and
• Andrew Smith (future president I’m sure).
  

Two boys, cousins born just a week apart! We ooh’d and awed over these two beautiful newborns. And then their mothers and I gently placed our hands on their little heads and prayed a blessing over them. It was a simple, but powerful and moving experience!

In my tenure at HC I’ve had the privilege to hold many of your newborn babies, blessing and baptizing them, and the feeling I always leave with is the same, feeling as if I was the one blessed!

Surely this is how Simeon and Anna felt that day in the temple as they held the infant, gingerly in their arms, and blessed him.
How they recognized God’s salvation in this child of humble and poor origin isn’t stated. What we do know is that they had been looking for it! And I suspect that if you and I had been waiting that long, and hoped and prayed that hard for the coming of God’s salvation, we would recognize it when we saw it too!

There are several lessons here:
The 1st Lesson Simeon and Anna’s Blessing holds is our desperate need to recognize Christ in others, especially the poor, homeless, and displaced.
Not only does Jesus come from a poor family; not only is he born in the squalor of an animal feed trough, ‘he and his family live as refugees in Egypt during the 1st year or so of his life. No wonder Jesus had such compassion for the poor and marginalized. He was one of them!

Mary Ann Evans was a writer. She wrote under the pen name George Eliot because she wrote at a time women were not taken seriously as writers.  

Her book, Silas Marner is a wonderful story of redemption. After having been betrayed by friends and deserted by the woman he loves, Silas moves to a small town where he becomes a Scrooge-like recluse who descends into ever deepening gloom, comforted only by his hoard of gold. And then, even that is stolen from him leaving him.
Unbeknownst to Silas, a young orphaned child lost in the snow, slips into his home… exhausted, weak and nearly frozen, she collapses on his floor near the warmth of his fire.

When Silas walks into the dimly lit room, he sees what appears to be the glitter of gold on the floor near his hearth and for one glorious moment imagines that his treasure has been returned to him. His heart races as he falls to his knees and reaches out his hand only to discover the soft curls of a child’s hair reflecting the light of the fire. His disappointment is quickly overshadowed by the old familiar quivering of tenderness and awe over this child. Trembling, he takes the shivering child and places her on his lap, and wraps his arms around her to warm her.

He cannot remember the last time he had held anyone, much less a child, and he is overcome with emotion and begins to weep.
And as he does so, something begins to happen to him. His gloom and desire for his lost gold is replaced by hope. Silas discovers in this child, his salvation! The rest of the book describes how she changes his life!

Simeon and Anna recognize God’s salvation en-fleshed in this child. Later Jesus will preach a Gospel that proclaims God’s love for the whole world! Like Cooper and Andrew, all of God’s children deserve to be oohed and awed over!

There’s another story in the Gospels that parallels our reading.

In it Jesus brushes aside his Disciples’ attempts to keep children at a distance. He takes a child and places her on his lap saying, “It is to such as these that the Kingdom of God belongs.” And then he places his hand upon the child’s head and blesses her.
I love this image of Jesus; arm open wide, as a child climbs into his lap to embrace him and in turn, Jesus blessing the child. Every time I pray, I imagine climbing into God’s holy embrace to be blessed.

Every “Dear God” we pray is born out of the soul’s need for intimacy. Now the truth is we like our soul mates with skin on. So God comes as a baby. But Christ didn’t just come 2000 years ago. Christ comes to us again and again and again, throughout our lives. The challenge is learning to recognize him (especially in the poor and displaced).
The 2nd Lesson Simone and Anna’s blessing teaches is our Christian Identity as Stepping Stones of God’s Kingdom.
Vs. 34, “Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, “This child is destined for the falling and rising of many in Israel…”

The implication is not that Jesus will cause many to rise and then fall but rather that for some he will be a stepping stone and others, a stumbling block.

Our identity is to be stepping stones. Like those first disciples, we either help God’s children find Jesus or bar the way!
Soren Kierkegaard, the father of Christian Existentialism, describes two types of Christians: those who imitate Jesus Christ, and a 2nd, much cheaper brand-those who are content to admire him.

Are we fulfilling our identity as stepping stones for God’s children to meet Jesus?

The Children’s Home in Waco, is one of the success stories of our Denomination and one of the reasons I’m proud to be UM. This ministry works with unwed mothers; helps with adoptions, provides for abandoned children, and partners with a ministry to special needs children. That’s us, United Methodists. We are doing this work! One half of our Christmas Eve communion offering will support this ministry, the other half, will support local and global mission. We are stepping stones for these children to experience Christ’s love! Amen?!

The 3rd Lesson Simeon and Anna’s Blessing teaches is the Art of letting Go and Trusting God.
Vs.27 “Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple…”

To be Spirit-led, according to the Biblical witness is to let go.

What is it we are to let go of? An easy answer is self-centeredness. Jesus told his disciples to “deny self.” We are to be

God-centered not self-centered.

I wonder if like Silas Marner, our “treasure” gets in the way of our recognition of Christ in the poor and orphaned.
Treasure is about security. What you see with Anna and Simeon is the abandonment of security. There is no security here, only trust in the inevitability of God’s love expressed in Jesus.

Imagine what their neighbors thought of their claims to have held God’s salvation in their arms! “Crazy old hoot. He’s finally lost it! Poor old widow; she’s gone off the deep end.”  

No doubt people were talking but Simeon and Anna didn’t care. They had waited their whole lives for this moment and they weren’t going to keep quiet about it.

1) Until we learn to recognize Christ in the poor;
2) Until we assume our Christian Identity as Stepping Stones for the Kingdom.
3) Until we can let go and trust God…

We will have not celebrated Christmas as a way of life.

Hope calls us to live differently. Hope calls us to live believing what we already know to be true. So how do we live in this hope?
James Harnish, closes our Advent Study with these words:

The good news of hope for each of us is that we have seen the credible sign of God’s hope in the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Like Simeon and Anna, we may not see all the promises of the Kingdom fulfilled, but we have seen enough to live into what God has done and is doing. Along the way to the fulfillment of the promise, we can rejoice in hope.
In the words of a dear friend:

“Live now the promises of God; promises of healing, forgiveness, and peace. Put on the Armor of light. Say no to the darkness that seeks to overcome, and everyday get up, refuse to live in that darkness and recommit to live in that light believing that our God is a powerful God! God’s love is more powerful then sin and death and cancer and divorce….so regardless of what others tells us we are going to believe in the promises of God and the power of God’s love and believe that promise, that gift is right here. And when its hard and you just don’t think you can do it close your eyes and go to your knees and you give thanks for the gift that you know is there and pray for the strength to hold on, to embrace it, and God will enable you to walk in faith.”