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Sermon February 2, 2020
The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers,
The Church of the Nativity and St. Stephen’s
The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple
http://lectionarypage.net/YearABC_RCL/HolyDays/Present_RCL.html
‘Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace,
according to your word;
for my eyes have seen your salvation,
which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles
and for glory to your people Israel.’
Luke 2:29-32
Please be seated.
When I was nine years old, my mother decided to join my father’s church and become a Lutheran. It’s odd the things you remember from your childhood. Something I remember is singing these words of Simeon after communion every Sunday for many years. I don’t know when I connected these words with Simeon. I still hear the words and music in my head. Maybe I remember the words because they signaled the end of the service?
Fast forward another 35 years and it’s 2006. I was living in Washington DC, having taken a job there. And all I wanted to do was be in church. I was delighted that my 50th birthday was on a Sunday! I was attending the Washington National Cathedral. I sang with my choir at the 9am service, stayed for the 11am service, went to my favorite restaurant within walking distance of the Cathedral,and came back for the 4:00 Evensong service.
These words of Simeon – the Nunc Dimittis…now you dismiss – are a canticle that is often sung at Evensong after one of the lesson readings. That day, my 50th birthday, the words I’d learned so long ago and that were deep inside of me, washed over me. In that moment, I felt tremendous joy.
“I’d love to live a whole lot more years,” I said to myself. “But if I walked out of this place and was hit by a bus, I’d be at such peace. Because I’ve lived an AMAZING life. . . . A life beyond my wildest dreams.”
I knew what Simeon meant: “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word…” (BCP, p. 66) Simeon was at peace with his life.
Are you at peace with your life? Can you, like Simeon, let go of your life in peace? Or does the very idea make you anxious?
Intellectually we know we are not promised any number of days. We are constantly reminded of that fact. Yet, we have these expectations about how many years people should live. Even when someone we love deeply dies at what we would call an old age, they’ve never lived long enough for us. Accepting the inevitability of death is challenging.
What keeps us from being at peace with the lives we have lived right here and right now? If today is your last day on earth, will you be at peace?
Maybe being here in this worship service gives you peace. It took effort to get here – to get up in time for 9:30 and to be present if you have a special role in the service.
Relationships with our family and friends can be another area of peace or not peace. Are there people we need to reconnect with or connect with on a more regular basis? Are there people we need to forgive and possibly move on from? Are there hurts that need to be healed?
Our relationship with God can give us peace or not peace. Is something troubling you? How can it be resolved? There is a rite for reconciliation of a penitent in our Book of Common Prayer.
Can we accept where we are in our lives right now? Can we see how we have done our best to follow Jesus and to be the heart, hands and feet of Jesus in the world, whether anyone else sees that or not?
If you are not at peace with your life right now, what do you hope to do or need to do to be at peace?
And if you are at peace with your life – not that it’s been perfect – but you are at peace, then rejoice in that.
May we all be able to say like Simeon:
Lord, you now have set your servant free *
to go in peace as you have promised;
For these eyes of mine have seen the Savior, *
whom you have prepared for all the world to see:
A Light to enlighten the nations, *
and the glory of your people Israel. (Book of Common Prayer, p. 120)
Amen
