The Feast of the Presentation
A 4-year-old boy named Johnny was asked to give thanks for the Christmas dinner feast.
The family members bowed their heads in expectation.
He began his prayer, thanking God for all his friends, naming them one by one.
Then he thanked God for Mommy, Daddy, brother, sister, Grandma, Grandpa, and all his aunts and uncles.
Then he began to thank God for the food.
Johnny gave thanks for the turkey, the dressing, the fruit salad, the cranberry sauce, the pies, the cakes,
even the Cool Whip.
Then he paused, and
everyone waited--and waited.
After this long silence, Johnny looked up at his mother and asked,
"If I thank God for the broccoli, won't he know that I'm lying?"
After this long silence, Johnny looked up at his mother and asked,
"If I thank God for the broccoli, won't he know that I'm lying?"
This is the feast of the
presentation. It is a major day in the church calendar and many of
us do not know much about this important day which is always held on
February 2nd. It
is always forty days after Christmas and because of that it usually
does not fall on a Sunday. But here we are. Its Sunday. Its February
2nd and we
celebrate the feast of the presentation. We thank God that Jesus
came into our lives and showed us The Way.
In the gospel reading we
have two prophesies, one from Simeon and one from Anna and I like the
gender balance in this. Simeon was promised by the holy spirit that
he would live to see the messiah and he senses that this is the one.
And then the prophet Anna, a very devout aged woman says the same
thing. They both praise God. They thank God that the messiah has
finally arrived.
I want to talk about Mary
and Joseph. Lets look at all that has happened to them so far. Mary
became pregnant out of wedlock. Joseph gets his mind changed from
quietly divorcing her through a dream. The child is born in lowly
circumstances. Wise men come bearing gifts. This new family then
fled to Egypt for a time because of Herod. Now they are told again
that their son is the Messiah. That he is going to be responsible
for the rising and falling of many in Israel. Lastly, a sword will
pierce their own souls.
I would not wish these
kinds of events on any mother or father. In our bible study this
week the question was asked what do you think would be the impact of
these words on Mary and Joseph? A sword will pierce your own soul.
The first thing any parent wants is to protect their child from harm.
The family has just returned from Egypt doing just that. Now they
are being told something painful is going to happen. Something
emotionally crushing. There is joy in discovering that your child is
destined for great things and a kind of helplessness in hearing that
something tragic will happen to him. It would not be easy being in
these parents shoes. I admire them
Jesus was not the kind of
messiah the Jews were expecting. He did not raise armies and throw
out the Roman occupation. However, he did change the world. And he
continues to change it today. It is not just his words that are
making that change. It is those of us, you and me, who are inspired
by those words. We are following his commandments to love God and
love one another. We show that love by caring for each other, by
helping the elderly with activities at nursing homes, by visiting
with worshipers after the Sunday service and when we do the peace, by
volunteering our time and treasure in so many ways in our community
and by moments of thoughtful prayer.
May we never forget who we
are and why we are here.
Amen
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