Portraits of Faithfulness – a Sermon based on Luke 2. 22-40 resurrected from the archives and edited to be presented on Sunday, December 31, 2023 at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Scranton, PA. A friend who was scheduled to preach at Covenant was taken ill and called from a hospital Emergency Room on Friday night to ask if I could fill in! Thanks to the archives, otherwise known as the preacher’s barrel, I was able to rise to the occasion.
Fred looked like the child of a Cabbage Patch Doll and Teddy Roosevelt. He was short and stocky without a hair on his head. He had rimless glasses that seemed a half an inch thick, a perfectly trimmed mustache and a smile that radiated a jovial spirit. He and his much taller wife sat in the pew in front of my family until the sad day when he retired and moved to Arizona.
George
always reminded me of the title character in the old comic strip “Bringing Up
Father.” He had wonderful, white curly hair and a ready and firm handshake
which he used daily over at The Dancy Funeral Home where he had un-retired as
the greeter, doorman and sometime limo driver.
George and his wife Florence sat just behind our family in church, until
my college years when George died and Florence moved to a nursing home.
Ruth
sat nearby too. She stood all of four
foot ten, though I always thought she would have gained a few inches if her
legs hadn’t been so bowed. Ruth was a
widow and the owner of an old, you-provide-the-power lawn mower I pushed for
several years up a backyard slope that rivaled some of the slopes between here
and the hospital. I could always count on an ice cold Coke and a couple of
Oreo’s about midway through an afternoon’s mowing. Ruth spent her last years down the hall from
my grand-mother in the nursing home, remembering neither her steep back yard, nor
the boy who mowed it.
These three stand in for many I could name and describe who were old enough to be my grandparents when I was a little guy going to church with my parents. Fred and George and Ruth always made it a point to say hello and ask what was new. They were part of the older population in the congregation that let us little people know that we were welcome in God’s house. Their presence and their attention helped reinforce the weak spots in an identity under construction.
There is something wonderful about the connection that gets made between age and youth within the larger family of faith. There is an almost unseen gift exchange that takes place when the enthusiasm of the very young and the experience of the well-seasoned sit down together and have an opportunity to get to know one another.
John
was co-chair of the Pulpit Nominating Committee that called me to two churches
in New York State in 1978. His
grandchildren lived way out in Arizona, and if he got to see them once a year
he was lucky. One year on the First
Sunday of Advent we had a tree trimming party that included an opportunity to
make the ornaments which would adorn the tree in the sanctuary.
There
was a little boy there who had come with his grandmother and older
sisters. His father had left them all
years before. This little guy cried out
for attention in every way imaginable, which is a polite way of saying he was
a handful, which is a polite way of saying he was a little hellion.
When
I saw his grandmother bring him into the room, visions of disaster danced in my
head. My fears were relieved when the
little tyke gravitated to old John. For
the afternoon, John had a surrogate grandson and the boy had the experience of
an older male who lavished attention on him. When I looked over later, he was
seated on John’s lap as together they made ornament after ornament, oblivious
to the others in the room.
You
might say that all of these people I’ve told you about were in the right place
at the right time. The wisdom and experience of age as the example and the
guide for the energy and potential of youth.
The influence exerted, the feelings of warmth and acceptance
communicated, and the relation-ships built within the larger family of faith are not
to be underestimated.
Those
of you who manage to get three generations together over a meal on Sunday are
blessed with a time and place to impart the wisdom you’ve garnered across the
years. I look back with fondness to the
Sunday routine of my youth, with a rotating cast of grandparents and great
uncle’s seated at the table telling stories.
Owing to our having moved hours away from siblings and grandparents, we
were not able to offer that same blessing to our girls But we found a way to
make up for it at holiday time and on vacations with aunts and uncles and
cousins. Now, thanks to social media,
those relationships continue on an almost daily basis.
Older
adults have seen the world change in many ways, some for better, some for
worse. Willingly or reluctantly we have
had to adapt. The younger ones among us will
yet witness many changes. Learning what
the older generations have survived may help them discover how to be like the
willow that bends in the storm instead of the maple that gets blown over.
Our
reading today from the Gospel of Luke provides what William Arnold considers to
be case studies on how faith and faithfulness are passed along. Reflecting on a case study has several
benefits, says Arnold: “We may be reminded
of realities and resources that have faded into the background of our
experience and memory. …a case study can
re-sensitize us to issues with which others are struggling and, at the same
time, bring to mind other resources that may be helpful in understanding more
deeply what is going on. A case provides
an opportunity to gain new angles of vision on a particular human
experience. It there-by enables us to
generalize and add to our repertoire of knowledge and resources to offer
others. And,” Arnold concludes, “it
widens our capacities as we proceed along our way of caring for ourselves and
others.”[i]
The
first case study in our reading today centers on Joseph and Mary as they bring
Jesus to the temple for the first time.
The man and the woman charged with the care and nurture of the Messiah
are shown to be faithful in their religious duties, by attending to the rituals
their religion prescribed in connection with the birth of a child.
Today, when a child is born there are a number of rituals which mark a child’s entrance into the family and the community. A name is given and placed on a birth certificate, a social security number is assigned before the child leaves the hospital, notifications take place, in the form of the first “selfie” with mom and dad, and a stork sign on the front lawn. And if part of the family of faith there is a bris or a Baptism or a Dedication acknowledging that this child is a gift of God and lives under God’s care.
In Jesus’ day the rituals that marked the child as a gift of God were remarkably similar. On the eighth day after birth, a male child was circumcised, designating the child to be a member of the cove-nant community of God’s people. Then, on the fortieth day, a first-born child was presented at the Temple as a gift of God…actually as a gift to God, which parents symbolically bought back with a sacrifice.
Mary and Joseph show themselves to be faithful by offering the gift they could afford …the poor person’s offering of “two turtle doves.” William Arnold notes: “The birth of a child, regardless of family resources, brings with it responsibility.”[ii] Dismiss the myth that Jesus arrived with his knowledge of the scriptures and God’s ways fully formed. For Jesus to experience life in every way as we know it, it was necessary to him to learn the same way we do.
The
ways of the faithful would be observed and practiced and explained in the
home. “These verses may serve a pastoral
purpose,” says Bill Arnold, “reminding all parents of the responsibilities that
come with the birth of their own ‘special child.’[iii] I would add this: parents can never assume that somebody else
will train up their children in the way they should go. Sunday Schools, youth groups,
Vacation Bible School, and Church Camp are supplemental resources to what a
child must learn in the home about life and living faithfully. Parents, at their best set the limits, set
the example, explain the reasons and exhibit the wisdom.
The second case study in today’s reading involves Simeon. The first gift Simeon brings our way is his vigilance and patience. He waited his whole life to see the Messiah before he died. James Howell reflects on this: We do not like to wait. We want to move, fill the time, stay in control, rush to the next titillation—and in our inability to be still and know that God is God, we miss God.”[iv]
“Simeon
waited, not for minutes or months but decades,” Howell reminds us. The Savior arriving as a baby that must learn
to crawl and walk before he can run…is also a call to recognize that God works
in a mysterious way and that way often takes a long time!
Imagine the look of relief and wonder on the old man’s as he takes Jesus into his arms and begins to speak words that confirm what the angel told Mary, and the dreams revealed to Joseph about their son. Simeon had answers to the ‘what child is this’ question we sing in this season. He and Anna represent the larger family and community of faith that play a role in the life of a child. They stand like Fred and George and Ruth to remind us of the truth contained in an old African proverb, that it does take a village to raise a child.
Again
we turn to William Arnold, who writes:
“At the birth of every child, there is a wider company of persons who
have hopes and fears for the future.
Some will remain silent and watch from afar. Others, like Simeon, will step forward and be
devoted enough to tell parents what lies deep within their hearts.”[v]
Living day in and day out with a child sometimes blinds a parent to the true potential of their child. Sometimes a parent thinks they know a child and can’t or won’t see changes that come along with growth and maturity. With the best of intentions a parent may limit the possibilities open to a child by doing too much for them, not letting them experience the lessons learned in the school of hard knocks or by not encouraging the child to stretch and try things that are challenging instead of safe and easy.
That’s
when the insightful word from an outsider, a Simeon or an Anna can make all the
difference. The grandparent, teacher or
neighbor sees something in the child the parents have over-looked. That friendly word of encouragement or
caution from the wise ones around us can be a tremendously helpful gift.
Simeon
told Mary and Joseph some wonderful things about Jesus…but he also told them
some things they might not have wanted to hear.
Yes, Jesus was going to be the bringer of salvation…but not everyone was
going to accept that gift of living with God here and now, now and always. Someone
has described Jesus as the great magnet of history…drawing some near, while
repelling others. Simeon let Mary and
Joseph know that the road ahead for them and for Jesus was not going to be all
joy with a sound track of angel choruses.
That little bit of reality therapy may have been just what they needed
to prepare them to take seriously the need to flee to Egypt when Herod sought
the child’s life.
Some
people take offense when a teacher or a super-visor or a trusted friend offers
constructive criticism or honest advice.
William Arnold suggests we see such input as a gift, noting that “every
parent, in order to fulfill the responsibilities of parenthood, needs to have
someone prepare them for the difficulties that are likely to lie ahead. It was
the good fortune of Mary and Joseph to have such a person come to them early in
their parental life.”[vi] Give thanks for those who speak the truth in
love!
Anna
provides the third case study of faithfulness. William Herzog points out that
“Anna’s name in the Greek is Hannah,” noting that Luke has used the story of
Samuel’s birth to Hannah as a template for telling of the birth births of John
the Baptist and Jesus.” The last line of today’s reading, about the child
growing in wisdom and God’s favor are direct quotes from the Old Testament
story of Samuel. Herzog says: “What
these events share is the sense that God is doing something new to facilitate
the fulfillment of God’s purposes in history.
If Simeon spoke to God and then to Mary and Joseph, Hannah speaks to
“all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.”[vii]
Anna takes her place alongside the shepherds who also made their discovery
public.
Anna’s
praises shine a new spotlight on the life Mary and Joseph have been entrusted
to shape and nurture in faithfulness. Anna joins those new parents and Simeon and
all the Freds, Georges and Ruths we’ve been privileged to know, as examples of
faithfulness. As we reflect on them from
afar, we see once again that following the faithful path, doing the right
thing, speaking up with words of comfort and challenge are not guarantees that
every step on the journey will be easy.
There’s a lot of waiting involved.
Yet don’t lose sight of Anna’s praises. Along with Simeon, she attests that Jesus is the One to pin all our hopes on. There will be times along the way when the going is far from easy or pleasant and the choices are hard. Still, Anna’s aged voice sings of the joy that is experienced along the way, and which awaits at the end of the journey.
So on we go…into the new year…into the future that awaits us, doing our part as members of the family of faith, to be the Fred and George and Ruth who offer encouragement and insight to those with whom we share the journey. And as we go, let the words a morning prayer speak to us and for us:
[i] William V. Arnold, Feasting on the word, Year B, Vol. 1; (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2008) p. 164
[ii] ibid., p. 166
[iii] ibid.
[iv] James C. Howell, Feasting on the word, Year B, Vol. 1; (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2008) p. 166
[v] ibid. Arnold
[vi] ibid. Arnold
[vii] William R. Herzog II, Feasting on the word, Year B, Vol. 1; (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2008) p. 169
[viii] Morning Prayer Concluding Prayer #6, Book of Common Worship Daily Prayer, (Louisville, KY, Westminster/John Knox Press, 1993), p. 39
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