Luke 2:22-40
Simeon and Anna, great people in Luke. We only have this story in Luke. It appears Anna and Simeon waited in the temple their whole lives just for this moment. Just so they could bless this child. In the midst of terrible trials, the darkest days of Israel, they waited for this moment. What would it be like to know your whole calling was to wait for a day when you would bless another? Do we even think of how we might bless another. Yet blessing is one of the richest things we can do as a Christian, as a community, to offer someone who needs it a blessing.
First I want us to imagine the times this happens in. There should be plenty of other things to do. This time in the history of Israel is a time of bondage. They have been conquered and placed under Roman rule. They cannot just do what they want, when Rome conquered they took slaves, conscripted people to fight in their army, levied taxes on the population, and put in rulers who were more concerned with power and wealth than with the lives of the people they ruled.
The big faux pas' of Rome were to misunderstand what a true Jew was and what worshiping one God meant. They put in Herod, who was not a full blooded Jew. He was only half, which would make him an unacceptable ruler. The other one was in every place they conquered Rome required a statue of Caesar in the temple. This was okay with other places because they had more then one god and not the God who required no graven image. This never sat well with the Jews.
So there is much to bemoan, criticize, be angry about, and run a revolt for. These people, Anna and Simeon waited their lives to bless this one. This baby.
What is blessing? Well, look up the definition, it is extensive, blessing can be a noun or a verb. Prayer, grace, grateful, sanction, support, and the rite to confer divine favor are just a few. Then look at the fleshing out of these: prayer for favor or protection, grace before a meal, something we are grateful for, giving someone sanction or support. Then look at all the synonyms associated with each, when you get done reading you have around 50 or more words associated with blessing. Blessing is a broad word.
Simeon and Anna offered blessing to the one who blesses us. So might it be important to bless others? Today is a strange day. we have this feast day of the presentation and we stray from the regular readings to once again remind us even in bad times God reaches out to bless us. Anna and Simeon took it up as their lifelong goal. We should too. It is broad enough for us to reach out and bless others. This world needs blessing right now. Blessing to remind us of whose and who we are. Blessing to reach across the divides, which are nothing in comparison to the divides Anna and Simeon faced, and still they hung onto the promised blessing.
Blessing fills our days with joy. Blessing helps to remind us we are not as bad off as we think. Blessing helps us to cross the lines we create in order to divide one another: Black, white, brown; republican, democrat, independent. Blessing erases all these and claims us once again as relations, children of God. We need to live into this now more then ever.
Some say it is in counting our blessings, others in giving the blessing. What is most important is we don't loose sight of blessing and it's worth tied to all our worth. We are blessed to bless others. We have the capacity to imitate Anna and Simeon and the gift of blessing in our lives. Be a blessing your whole life long. It's divine, it hallows us and creates sacred space in the midst of all we can find wrong with our world and with one another. Look at one another, and give the blessing you were meant to create in a world that has forgotten what it means to see it.
Simeon and Anna, great people in Luke. We only have this story in Luke. It appears Anna and Simeon waited in the temple their whole lives just for this moment. Just so they could bless this child. In the midst of terrible trials, the darkest days of Israel, they waited for this moment. What would it be like to know your whole calling was to wait for a day when you would bless another? Do we even think of how we might bless another. Yet blessing is one of the richest things we can do as a Christian, as a community, to offer someone who needs it a blessing.
First I want us to imagine the times this happens in. There should be plenty of other things to do. This time in the history of Israel is a time of bondage. They have been conquered and placed under Roman rule. They cannot just do what they want, when Rome conquered they took slaves, conscripted people to fight in their army, levied taxes on the population, and put in rulers who were more concerned with power and wealth than with the lives of the people they ruled.
The big faux pas' of Rome were to misunderstand what a true Jew was and what worshiping one God meant. They put in Herod, who was not a full blooded Jew. He was only half, which would make him an unacceptable ruler. The other one was in every place they conquered Rome required a statue of Caesar in the temple. This was okay with other places because they had more then one god and not the God who required no graven image. This never sat well with the Jews.
So there is much to bemoan, criticize, be angry about, and run a revolt for. These people, Anna and Simeon waited their lives to bless this one. This baby.
What is blessing? Well, look up the definition, it is extensive, blessing can be a noun or a verb. Prayer, grace, grateful, sanction, support, and the rite to confer divine favor are just a few. Then look at the fleshing out of these: prayer for favor or protection, grace before a meal, something we are grateful for, giving someone sanction or support. Then look at all the synonyms associated with each, when you get done reading you have around 50 or more words associated with blessing. Blessing is a broad word.
Simeon and Anna offered blessing to the one who blesses us. So might it be important to bless others? Today is a strange day. we have this feast day of the presentation and we stray from the regular readings to once again remind us even in bad times God reaches out to bless us. Anna and Simeon took it up as their lifelong goal. We should too. It is broad enough for us to reach out and bless others. This world needs blessing right now. Blessing to remind us of whose and who we are. Blessing to reach across the divides, which are nothing in comparison to the divides Anna and Simeon faced, and still they hung onto the promised blessing.
Blessing fills our days with joy. Blessing helps to remind us we are not as bad off as we think. Blessing helps us to cross the lines we create in order to divide one another: Black, white, brown; republican, democrat, independent. Blessing erases all these and claims us once again as relations, children of God. We need to live into this now more then ever.
Some say it is in counting our blessings, others in giving the blessing. What is most important is we don't loose sight of blessing and it's worth tied to all our worth. We are blessed to bless others. We have the capacity to imitate Anna and Simeon and the gift of blessing in our lives. Be a blessing your whole life long. It's divine, it hallows us and creates sacred space in the midst of all we can find wrong with our world and with one another. Look at one another, and give the blessing you were meant to create in a world that has forgotten what it means to see it.
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