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"Called to Witness"
Truth be told: I would rather teach than preach. But on the last two Sundays of December, at least in our culture, many churches cancel the Sunday School classes, for inter-generational events and special services. Well, not today. Today, you will get a short Sunday School lesson instead of a sermon – at 8:30 and 11. This morning’s sermon/lesson is based on some ideas from The Present Word, an ecumenical Bible study published jointly by the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, The Moravian Church in America (North and South), the Presbyterian Church (USA) – that’s us, in case you have forgotten – and the United Church of Christ.
During the Winter Quarter – December 2007 to February 2008, our lessons are drawn from Luke’s gospel. The theme for December is "Christ: God’s Call at Christmas and Beyond" and it explores how we are called to believe, to be a vessel, to proclaim, to rejoice and finally, to witness. When I first saw today’s theme: Called To Witness – I remembered the old joke about what do you get when you cross a Jehovah’s Witness with a Presbyterian? Someone who knocks on the door of strangers -- and then doesn’t know what to say. Beyond the surface humor of this statement, there is a deeper reality which must be addressed by people of faith: Many adults wish they could explain the Christian faith to others, but they are hesitant to testify of their knowledge and experience of God. What got me thinking anew about the need to witness was not this lesson or even that old joke. It was something that our national moderator Joan Gray said last month in Lexington when she was speaking at the meeting of Transylvania Presbytery. She was talking about change within the church, and then mentioned the number of people who have been active members of the church for 20, 30 or 40 years and who have never changed their views or actions about anything as a result of the church. It was and is a shocking truth! It made me question whether the church is an agent of change or a victim of change – if is unable to reach some of its long-time members. Is the church doing its job if it cannot influence its own members for the better? This morning we return to Luke's infancy narratives, for the final episode. Once more we are in the temple, where the story started. As you may recall, Luke strings several stories together over two chapters to tell us about the birth of Jesus. In majestic literary beauty, he parallels the birth of Jesus with the birth of John the Baptist. He shows us the similarities and differences between these two baby boys. In the opening scene, Luke introduces us to Zechariah, who is struck speechless in the temple. He is told by an angel that he and his aged wife, Elizabeth, will have a son. This "impossible" child will grow up to be the fire and brimstone preacher that preceded Jesus. When it is time to name him, Zechariah, Elizabeth, and the baby John go to the temple, where the wife, not the husband, tells the world his name is John. That is the beginning story. It lifts up the faith of an older couple -- Zachariah and Elizabeth. Today, at the conclusion of the birth narratives, we are introduced to the faith of two more senior citizens in the Temple -- Simeon and Anna. (We will focus on Simeon). They are there, in the shadows of the temple, to tell us who this baby Jesus is when Mary and Joseph bring their infant son for his naming and dedication. Luke is a careful, and a compassionate, craftsman. His gospel moves step-by-step with confidence to show us how God comes to us again and again through the birth, the ministry and the passion of Jesus, who is the Christ, the messiah -- the incarnation: God with us in the flesh in human history. Our God has "pitched his tent" in the middle of our lives. There are many ways to study the Bible. One of the most natural -- and most important -- is to study the people. Take time to look at them -- and think about them as Luke and the other writers of Holy Scripture see them -- as saints in the shadows of God's holy light. Joseph is one; Simeon another, as is Anna. Ordinary folks, like you and me, who are all a part of God's ongoing passion play. As you encounter these Biblical folks, ask: Why are they there? Why did the early church and the Biblical writers remember them? What can they teach us? How can they inspire us? How do they "witness" to us -- and the ages? On the first Sunday after Christmas, today's text is a natural one. Christmas parties are over. Guests have come and gone. Now Mary and Joseph acknowledge that they must return from the wonder of Christmas to the reality of today. It is back to the ordinary. Reality for them is this: Mary and Joseph have a son to rear, religious obligations to keep, and a trip back to Nazareth to make. Sounds familiar enough to us. Like Zechariah and Elizabeth, Simeon has been waiting for a child his entire life. Simeon, who grew up in the faith community, believed that God would make good on his promise to send his people a messiah. Like our waiting in Advent, Simeon is rewarded for his faithfulness. Near the end of his full and devoted life, he is in the right place at the right time. He is there when Mary and Joseph bring the baby Jesus "to present him to the Lord." (Luke 2:22). Jesus was still in diapers when Simeon first spotted him. When the time came, he looked through his cataract lenses, and saw "the light of the world" making his first public appearance in church. He who is called "the light of the world" was bringing his light into the church for the first time. And as anyone who has ever lit a candle, or turned on a light, knows, you cannot create a light without also creating shadows. Indeed, this is the literal meaning of the term "making a difference." Jesus was one who came into the world to bring truth and light -- to make a difference. He brings light, yes; but he also brings shadows. All who come in contact with him are thrown into a crisis of decision. They must decide who this child is for them. As such, people in the church are "saints in the shadows." The real question is, will we be drawn out of the shadows by the power of the light -- or will we prefer the semi-darkness, sitting as it is, on the fence of faith -- believing sometimes and doubting other times. Being silent unchanged members of the club. Our text tells us Simeon was a righteous and devout man who had anticipated the Messiah's birth. At least that's what I think verse 25 means when it says that Simeon was "looking forward to the consolation of Israel." Note that Simeon received no visit from an angel; the text tells us it was his custom to trust the guidance of the Holy Spirit. "Not my will but thy will." And thus he was "guided by the Spirit" to be at the temple when the Holy family arrived. At some point in his life he was told that he would live long enough to see the Lord's Messiah. So he lived with a sense of expectation. He lived in the hope that his deepest longing, and the deepest longing of his people, would be fulfilled in his lifetime. He believed he would not die before God would show him the depth of God's love for the world. What a way to live and witness! It doesn't say that Simeon was a priest, but it does say that the first thing he did was bless the Holy family upon seeing them. What a greeting! And then Simeon asked Mary and Joseph if it would be all right for him to hold the baby in his arms. They said yes -- perhaps as nervously as any parent turns over their precious child to a stranger -- on the condition that he would be careful, hold his head up, and not drop the child. Simeon agreed to take care and immediately he took the baby into his arms and praised God. What a picture for the last Sunday of the year. A devout old Jew, probably with hair going in many directions, holding the small baby, squinting to get a better look at the child before him. It is a portrait of transition -- the old being replaced by the new. God's long awaited salvation of the world was now at hand -- in his hands. The incarnation was right there -- God, in flesh, appearing. Simeon’s words are known by the church as the Nunc Dimittis, the first two words from the Latin hymn which echoes verses 29-32. It is also called the Song of Simeon. As a child, this was my favorite part of the worship service -- the end; the dismissal, when the pastor or priest would say "you are dismissed -- Depart in peace." You are free to go! This of course was an abbreviation of the text, which reads: "Master, now you are
dismissing your servant in peace, It was such a sweet scene, it's too bad Simeon had to ruin it. Up to this point, the parents were as pleased as punch with this strange old man who came out of the shadows in the temple. But there was something about Mary that caused Simeon to go on talking, and say something about her son facing great opposition and that "a sword will pierce your soul too." It is hard to guess what he saw, maybe it was her pain -- at the crucifixion. As Frederick Buechner describes it: [1] What he saw in her face was a long way off, but it was there so plainly he couldn't pretend. "A sword will pierce through your soul," he said (Luke 2:35). He would rather have bitten off his tongue than said it, but in that holy place he felt he had no choice. Then he handed her back the baby and departed in something less than the perfect peace he'd dreamed of all the long years of his waiting. The Christmas Hymn, "O Little Town of Bethlehem," captures this awkward moment in the last phrase of the first verse, which says "the hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight." Truth be told, every birth, while an event that connects promises of the past to the hope of the future, also bears untold anxieties. Even if he is God’s salvation for the whole world, will the whole world receive him? We know the answer to that one. Not everyone will welcome God’s salvation through Jesus. Not every word spoken of him will be a witness to God’s purpose. Many will speak against him. He will be put to death as an ultimate act of rejection of God’s salvation. Some will do it in noisy violence; some will do it quietly, pretending it never happened. As we consider Simeon (and the next story of the Prophet Anna), Fred Craddock gives us an historical overview in one of his books worth thinking about. He writes: [2] These two aged saints are Israel in miniature, and Israel at its best: devout, obedient, constant in prayer, led by the Holy Spirit, at home in the temple, longing and hoping for the fulfillment of God's promises. And they, like Zechariah and Elizabeth, are old, ready to move offstage, to "depart in peace." God is doing something new, but it is not really new, because hope is always joined to memory, and the new is God's keeping an old promise. As the risen Christ was later to say to his disciples, "Everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled." (24:44). Anna and Simeon are a portrait of the Israel that accepted Jesus. Those who rejected him misunderstood their own tradition and therefore were not capable of recognizing him as the continuation of their own best memory and hope. Why does Luke include the story of Simeon in his account of the Good News? There are several good reasons, including Luke thinks we are called to witness what we have seen, heard, experienced and felt in church. We are to practice believing that God is active in the world, by looking for, and encouraging, peace and justice on a daily basis. We have come to church to worship, yes; – but as we leave, we are to witness and serve God and others. The Nunc Dimittis is a call to witness: Depart now in peace; you have seen God's salvation in the flesh. Go, tell this Good News on the Mountain. Tell all the world! Salvation has come to Israel and to all the world. As we celebrate the fulfillment of Christmas and look forward to the coming of the new year, may we imitate Simeon (and Anna) in their faithfulness. We too are saints in the shadows, called to come forward into the light of God's salvation history. In our own way, with our own voices, we are called to witness to the truth as we know it. And this means change: have we changed, will we change? I pray that we will. In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. ___________________ |
Stephen
Palmer