The Presentation of Christ in the Temple February 2, 2020 Today s - PDF document

The Presentation of Christ in the Temple February 2, 2020 Today ’ s Feast is one of three in the course of the Christian year that are said to “ take precedence ” over a normal Sunday under the rules set forth in the Book of Common Prayer. The first is the Feast of the Holy Name (January 1). If January 1 falls on a Sunday, it is not “ The First Sunday After Christmas, ” it is the “ Feast of the Holy Name. ” Today ’ s Feast is the second. Today is not the “ Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany, ” it is the “ Feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple. ” The third, and final, of these feasts is the Transfiguration (August 6). If August 6 falls on a Sunday, we celebrate the Transfiguration, not the whatever-number-of-Sundays it ’ s been since Pentecost. And just to add to the “mystique” of this day, it has more than one name. Indeed, it has no fewer than four different names. Each name recalls a different aspect of this Feast. And I hope you’ll forgive me if I spend a moment on each, as each of them reveals something worth our considering. First of all, today ’ s Feast is called the Presentation of Christ in the Temple . This is because it commemorates the Presentation of Christ by his mother in the Temple at Jerusalem exactly forty days after his Birth. In Orthodoxy, there is a wonderful icon of this Feast. It depicts Christ being brought to the Temple by his mother, accompanied by his earthly father, Joseph, who holds the customary sacrifice of two turtle doves. In the Temple Christ was carried in the arms of the righteous Simeon and watched over by the prophetess Anna. This Feast is a reminder to us that the Son of God truly became human. Today an infant, not a spirit or an angel, is brought to the Temple. This meeting between the righteous Simeon and Anna and the Savior is why this Feast has another, very common name in Eastern Christianity: “ The Meeting of the Lord. ” According to an age-old tradition, Simeon was the descendant of one of those seventy translators who in the third century before Christ had translated the Scriptures of the Old Testament into Greek. When Simeon, reading this text his forebear had so carefully and prayerfully translated, came to the words in the seventh chapter of Isaiah the Prophet, we are told he was awestruck by the affirmation that a Virgin would give birth. And he was told by the Holy Spirit that, though he was quite old, he would live until he saw these words fulfilled. At today ’ s Feast we hear the fulfillment of these words. The aged Simeon utters the words perhaps most familiar to us as the Nunc Dimittis :

“Lord, n ow lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people, a light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel .” Soon after uttering these words, he died, as did the righteous Anna, who had also been waiting to see the fulfillment of the promise of the Holy Spirit that she too would see the Messiah in great old age. This Prayer of St. Simeon is read at Evening Prayer daily by millions in our tradition who recite the Office as part of their daily devotions, but at our celebration [tonight] [today], it has not just been recited, but sung . According to the Hebrew Scriptures, the Jews were commanded to present their male children at the Temple in Jerusalem forty days after their birth. This was to give thanks to God and pray for the purification of the mother and health of the child, for it was considered that after the vital forty-day period it was almost certain that all mortal danger had passed. This is why this Feast has yet another name: “ The Purification of the Blessed Virgin .” If you look in the older editions of the Prayer Book, the 1928 edition and its predecessors, you will see that this tradition was perpetuated, even into times very near our own. It was known in that Prayer Book as “The Churching of Women,” and it was a reminder of the ancient understanding, surely not one we hold today, that women were somehow “unclean” after childbirth until they had been presented to God to be “purified,” or, in Old English terms, to be “churched.” Even by 1928 that aspect of the service had been somewhat modified, moving that service in the direction of what today’s Prayer Book calls the “Thanksgiving for the Birth or Adoption of a Child,” but the ancient roots can surely there be found, nevertheless. The Presentation , the Meeting and the Purification are then all names given to today ’ s Feast, but there is yet a fourth name – Candlemas . This name was given to this Feast as a reminder of the Roman custom of lighting all the candles in the church upon it, which recalls the lights in the Temple at Jerusalem. The custom spread from Rome to much of Europe, and even to western parts of Russia. In the Russian Orthodox liturgies there is a prayer for the blessing of candles on this day. What you may not know, however, is that Candlemas is connected with any number of popular sayings concerning weatherlore, and, yes, believe it or not, is connected to the custom after which this day has a fifth, not ecclesiastical, name, “Groundhog Day.” For it is on this day that make our prognostications as to how long it will be before natural light can take the place of candlelight in brightening our homes and our churches. As the old saying puts it:

“ If Candlemas be fair and bright, winter shall have another flight. ” This means that if today ’ s weather is good, we shall have more cold and wintry weather before the Spring. Got it? It ’s another version of “If the groundhog sees his shadow…” But enough of history and folklore. What does this Feast mean for us today? Since it is exactly forty days since Christmas, and in many years we would be standing on the brink of the forty days of Lent, I would like to suggest that it is time for us to think about the last forty days and ask ourselves some questions as we prepare for the forty days of Lent to come: • What today can we present to the Temple of Christ, the Church? • In what condition do we present our souls to Christ? • What sacrifices have we made for the sake of Christ? • Have we begun cultivating new habits, new disciplines? • Have we attempted to give up an old vice? • Have we been faithful in prayer? • Have we set a wholesome Christian example to our neighbors? • Have we thanked God for all that we have received? • What has changed in our way of life since the Birth of Christ forty days ago? • What progress has been made? Whatever our answers to these questions, on this, • the Feast of the Presentation ; • the Feast of the Meeting of Christ ; • the Feast of the Purification ; • the Feast of Candlemas ; one thing is certain: If we are not spiritually prepared to meet Christ, the time has come • to light a few candles in our hearts; • to meet Christ for ourselves; • to seek Christ’s purifying love; • to meet him and be changed. Amen.