Reflections...

A sermon preached at Kowloon Union Church on Sunday 1 January 2012, First Sunday After Christmas, by the Rev. John Le Mond. The scripture readings that day were Isaiah 61:10—62:3; Galatians 4:4-7 and Luke 2:22-40.


There was a man named Simeon
Who was righteous and devout
He was waiting for the consolation of Israel
The comforting of Israel
Sometimes we refer to the Holy Spirit as the “comforter”
This is part of the nature of God
The one who consoles
In this case, the one who consoles was the Messiah
The one who would not only console
But who would save the people.
We know what happened to Simeon
We know that he did meet the consoler.
We know this because we have read the story in Scripture;

But in Simeon’s own lifetime
He did not know if he would actually ever meet the savior of Israel
He had been promised that this would happen,
But he must have had doubts
And so he did not know
If he would be able continue faithfully to the end or not.
He was an old man
Would he live long enough
To meet this special one?
Still, he came to the temple every day
Expecting to see the comforter
He was always ready
Maybe it would be today.
There was also the prophetess Anna
She had been a widow for more than 60 years
And she devoted herself to fasting and praying in the temple.
She also was near the end of her life
Yet she came to the temple every day
Expecting to meet God.
She did not know exactly how God would meet her
But she knew that it would happen…eventually
Simeon and Anna are important figures in Scripture
Not because they spent a lot of time with Jesus
But because represent for us
That same expectation that we have in our hearts
That same desire to see God…face to face
And they did see God face to face.
They were among the first to recognize Jesus as the consoler, the comforter
The one promised to Israel.
Luke tells us that Simeon was righteous and devout
But we can only imagine what living a righteous and devout life
Might have been like for Simeon:
Here was a person who waited patiently for a savior
Yet never seeing that savior.
Coming to the temple every day
And going home disappointed each evening.


It was not so much that others might have laughed at him for his naiveté
But the psychological and emotional struggle within himself
Must have been dreadful.
Still, Simeon waited…and looked
So imagine…imagine how Simeon felt when he went into the temple that day
Imagine what it was that he saw!
Actually, what he saw was another couple and their baby
Nothing more, really.
There were hundreds like them
Coming for a blessing in the temple.
They certainly didn’t see themselves as special
They were quite ordinary…and so was their baby
Yet, at the same time…Simeon recognized something more
In fact, he experienced something more…much more
As soon as he came into the presence of Joseph, Mary and Jesus,
Into the presence of this seemingly ordinary child,
He knew who Jesus was.
He knew that Jesus was not just any child
Simeon had memorized the passage from Isaiah
You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God. (Isaiah 62:3)
These words were in human form before him that day.
Simeon had come face to face with the God of his fathers and mothers
He was looking into the face of the savior God
How could this be so?
He had expected something more
A blinding light, perhaps
A real crown upon the head of the consoler, the savior of his people
Still, there could be no doubt
Here was the comforter
An ordinary baby
In the arms of an ordinary couple
On an ordinary day,
Just like all the others that Simeon had seen come and go.
It had happened so unexpectedly.
Where do we expect to find the consoler?
Today, the world is a religious marketplace
Different ideas about religion are all around us.

Who will we believe?
What will we believe?
Will we be ready when we do in fact meet the consoler?
I remember a conversation I had with a woman a few years ago
About experiencing the presence of God in our daily lives.
She was the only Christian in her family
And none of the people she worked with were Christians.
There were times when she felt alone in her faith
Waiting, longing for the presence of God.
And yet, she said, it was always amazing to her
That when she needed someone to encourage her
God always provided someone,
And it was often surprising just who God chose to encourage her
Sometimes a Christian friend…and they could come together and pray for each other.
Sometimes it was a family member or a neighbor
But sometimes it was someone who was neither a family member nor a neighbor
Sometimes it was a complete stranger
Someone who was not a Christian…who knew nothing about Jesus Christ.

But for her, there was one thing that was always the same
In each of these encounters
When consolation and encouragement were needed
She knew and believed that it was God who consoled her.
Looking back over her life, she said
Most of the situations in which she had experienced consolation were so ordinary
There were no clear religious signs that God was present
Except that…she was comforted
That was the clear sign for her
Jesus continues to take on human form in our world today
And to meet us in the most unexpected, ordinary ways
Sometimes carried in the arms of a young, newly married couple
Sometimes to be present to us in the familiar face of a friend
Sometimes in the touch of a total stranger
Perhaps even in the experience we have with someone we consider an enemy
Jesus continues to enter our lives in such ordinary, human ways
So, like Simeon and Anna, we also wait
Wait for the unexpected
Knowing, believing that our Lord is coming to us
And our Lord does come to us
And we are ready to be surprised.
Where will we meet the consolation of God?
Today, we begin the year 2012
And today Jesus continues to be for us Emmanuel
The Lord with us
Along with Simeon and Anna we wait to see the Lord
We wait for the one who will console and comfort us
Who will touch us, speak to us, walk with us
And with our world
Along with Simeon and Anna we also welcome Jesus into our lives today
Not really expecting to meet God in such ordinary ways
But knowing that it will happen:
As we walk into the church to worship
As we walk into our place of work or study
As we enter the our home
As the door of the bus or the MTR opens to us
We also expect to meet the savior.
And along with Anna, we praise God to all who will listen. Amen.