Feast of the Presentation of our Lord: Candelmas 2020

The Feast of the Presentation of Our Lord February 2, 2020 Today is the Feast of the Presentation of our Lord—one of the “top ten feasts” in our church calendar. Today, on this 40th day after Jesus’s birth, we remember how Mary and Joseph took Jesus to the temple for his dedication to the Lord-to fulfill the law of Moses. During this rite, Mary also finished the purification rite which she was required to do after having given birth to a son. As they are in the temple to offer the appropriate prayers and sacrifices for this ritual, the Holy Family encounter two elderly people—Simeon and Anna. And both of these people see the manifestation of God in the Christ child and they talk about it. Simeon has been promised by God that he will see the Lord’s Messiah before he dies. As he encounters Mary, Joseph, and Jesus in the temple, Simeon takes the child into his arms and he proclaims that he may now die in peace because he has seen God’s promise fulfilled. Simeon’s words are an ancient and well-loved song that we call the Nunc Dimittis (which is Latin for Now Depart), and we use these words in our liturgies for the end of the day—Evening Prayer and Compline. Over the years, this feast day has also been known as Candelmas. Candelmas, or the feast of candles, is a mid-way point; a mid-way point between Christmas and Lent and also a mid-way point between the shortest day of the year and the beginning of spring. As early as the 7th century, Christians would celebrate the hope of the return of the light which Simeon’s song conveys with lighted processions as a looking forward to new life and spring. “One tradition that grew up around Candlemas was that you could predict how harsh the second half of winter was going to be by looking at the weather on that day. An old Scottish saying says, ‘If Candlemas day is bright and clear, there'll be two winters in the year.’”i Does that sound like any modern commemoration that we also keep on February 2nd? So, today as we remember this past year and prepare for this new year of 2020 as a church in our annual parish meeting, we also participate in this ancient celebration of hope. We give thanks for our connection and rootedness to our past. And we celebrate the new life that God is calling forth in and among us. This past week, I came across a story from the artist Brian Andreas that I had shared years before. It reads: “If there is any secret to this life I live, this is it: the sound of what cannot be seen sings within everything that can. And there is nothing more to it than that.” It reminds me of Simeon, of his task of the many years he spent waiting and watching for signs of the fulfillment of the Lord’s promise to him. It reminds me of how this is our task as well, to keep watch for the fulfillment of God’s promise of new life, of light that conquers the darkness in the world around us, and it reminds me of how we are called to point those signs of fulfilled promise out to each other. This week, I have been especially fortunate to talk to a number of you who have already been doing this work of listening and watching, looking for signs, and I have been blessed by the ways that you have shared that with me. “If there is any secret to this life I live, this is it: the sound of what cannot be seen sings within everything that can. And there is nothing more to it than that.” Your invitation this week is to pay attention, to listen for the sound of what cannot be seen which sings out within everything that can, and to share that with others. i. http://www.stpaulswrj.org/st-pauls-blog/2014/4/27/b3x9oi55ji60ake0imcs8xtv4p57h6