The Presentation of Christ in the Temple (Candlemas)
1st February 2009 9:00am & 11:45am
Preacher: The Revd Desmond Cox
CANDLEMAS
2009
In the shops and streets
the Christmas decorations have been put away, and the Chinese New Year
decorations are about to be put away
to make way for Valentine’s Day and If you go to the super market the
hot cross buns are already on
shelves in readiness for Easter.
However as faithful Christians following our
Liturgical year and our lectionary we come this week to Candlemas
a feast sadly not celebrated by many churches these days because it presents us
with too many challenges.
The Feast of Candlemas is always February 2nd,
40 days after Christmas, but we celebrate it on the Sunday closest to that
date. It is on the second of February
because in accordance with
Leviticus chapter 12 verse 1 seven
days after Christmas, January 1st we have the feast of Our Lord’s circumcision, then thirty three days after that , February
2nd is the feast of Christ
being offered in the Temple
and the Purification of Mary
after Jesus Birth. If you went to
the old 1662 Prayer Book you would
see something similar called the Churching of Women, but now days through through
liturgical reform the service has been revised and named Thanksgiving for the Gift of a Child.
At Candlemas we remember Simeon and Anna
greeting the baby Jesus as he is presented in the temple and we have these
marvelous words of Simeon, so marvelous that an Anglican priest is required to
say them every evening when he or she says the office Evening Prayer
Lord now latest
thou they servant depart in peace, according to thy word; for mine eyes have
seen thy salvation which thou has prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation
to the Gentiles, and for glory to thy people Israel.
In these words, Simeon sort of wraps up the Old
Testament. The promised salvation has arrived, the Messiah is here.
We can now start
Looking to the new age.
Now for the Jews this is not true, the Jews are
still looking for someone
Else, whilst we as Christians assert the Coming One has come. As
Christians we say with Simeon Our eyes have seen
His salvation
So Candlemas is a time of rejoicing that God
has kept his promise and given His Messiah to the world. When we realize this we
can understand how the group of Jews who believed in Jesus would have had to
leave the synagogue as they had seen the fulfillment of the prophecies in
Jesus and so now they were living in a new age inaugurated by the
Messiah, and those Jews who did not acknowledge who Jesus was were left waiting
as they still wait today.
BUT there is another side to Candlemas in
the words of Simeon which speak of chilling words of prophecy:
Then Simeon
blessed them and said to Mary, his mother. This child is destined to cause the
falling and rising of many in
Candlemas has been described as one foot in
Christmas and one foot in Easter, we look at the birth of Christ, with all its
joy, but we also turn to the cross of Easter the Resurrection and the cost of
discipleship.
Candlemas reminds us that Christmas is not an
event for one day but an invitation to a new life. A life that will bring joy
but also challenges and change So what does this mean
for us here at
Jesus preached a powerful and challenging message which we are called to
follow in a life changing way. We are called to be a Holy People
We are called to
Reject the devil and all rebellion against God
To renounce the deceit and corruption of evil
To repent of the sins that separates us from God and neighbor.
It is to eternal shame that the Christian church has been involved in
the oppression of people of other different faith positions, different racial
group’s different sexuality indeed just about any kind of difference has been
picked upon and minority groups have been bullied.
So we who wish to stand alongside Christ must share his path to the
cross and be prepared to stand with alongside those who are not welcomed by
others and that costs.
Jesus was seen to be prepared to be judged by the religious
establishment by his association with supposed sinners and outcasts of society.
So today for example our search for holiness must lead us to
Concern for the oppressed and the poor
Refusing to be part of systems which oppress minorities
Working for change in the world.
This might mean that we have to become involved in things which people
say do not concern us. There are many Christians who are dualists; they believe
that religion should be concerned with saying our prayers.
Asking God to stop injustice might be Okay but getting involved, being
Gods agent of change is another matter.
We cover up with the old saying religion and politics should not mix,
Thank God Christian reformers have never taken this seriously
At last year’s Lambeth Conference the
Bishops looked at Transforming Society and the churches role in addressing the needs of the poor and
marginalized in society, this resulted in a march through the centre of London
past the houses of Parliament
to stand with the United
Kingdom’s Prime Minister Gordon Brown to be a voice for the voiceless as the
Anglican church proclaimed it would respond to human need through loving service and
to seek to transform unjust
structures of society.
The walk clearly illustrated to those outside the church the rich
diversity of cultures and experiences of development and relief work through
ministry that we as Anglicans hold within the countries that are part of the
Anglican Communion.
As the third largest
Christian grouping in the world
with structures that reach from the
most remote village to the highest echelons of government we have much to
bring to the world of advocacy,
relief and development and are afforded the great opportunity to speak and act out, fulfilling the
promise of candle mass.
To this effect two weeks
ago the Archbishop of Canterbury
invited myself and eleven other people from the around the Anglican Communion to Lambeth Palace
to talk about how our church
can use its resources to help other
Provinces in the Communion , he
wanted to know why our HIV
Education Centre worked well throughout Asia and could Europe and Latin America learn from us He also wanted to know how we work across religious
boundaries with Muslims Hindus and
Buddhists where in other parts of
the communion it doesn’t.
This consultation sort to build on existing successful models of
ministry in areas of ministry that transforms people lives and how best to
share these resources with the rest of the Anglican Communion, using the five
marks of mission
To proclaim the Good news of the Kingdom
To teach baptize and nurture new believers
To respond to human need by loving service
To seek to transform unjust structures of society
To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew
the life of the earth
From this meeting at Lambent a discussion paper was produced for the
primates meeting which is currently in progress and from this it will go to the
Anglican Consultative Council in May for implementation.
Recognizing God’s
salvation in Jesus means that we have to live different kinds of lives. We are
a part of that salvation which Simeon spoke, and we are called to share in that
great work.
So we celebrate the light of Christ this Candlemass
and we take the risk to stand out as lights in the darkness.
We do this knowing the danger, and which took Jesus to the cross.
This Candlemas as we move into Lent and onto
Holy Week and Easter let us ask God
to challenge the thoughts of our
hearts and enable us to shine with the light of his love.