The Lord whom you seek will suddenly come into his Temple

This message about The Lord is from the messenger prophet - Malachi, his name means messenger. Malachi is a messenger of God's love, the whole prophecy is about the abundant, universal, absolute, providential and enduring love of God and how it is made manifest. Behold, says Malachi I am sending a messenger -The messenger is being sent to prepare for a new manifestation of God's love in person in the temple. It is entirely fitting that this reading help us break open the meaning of this feast - this culmination of Epiphany-tide - the season which celebrates the many manifestations of the incarnation, beginning, of course, with the birth of Jesus, followed by manifestation to the shepherds, the magi, the disciples, Jesus' home town, the broader population in Judea: all revelations of the incarnation - God made manifest on earth. This Presentation of Jesus in the temple serves in the gospel of Luke as the place where Jesus is made manifest for all peoples through the testimony of Simeon and Anna.

The Lord whom you seek will suddenly come into his temple

Simeon and Anna are looking forward - seeking, waiting; This is not a passive waiting but an advent waiting: active, alive and anticipatory. They are waiting for "the consolation of Israel" says Simeon -the paracletos of Israel, the helping, the encouraging, the saving of Israel. It is no coincidence that it is the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, who is guiding Simeon.

Anna too is looking for something - waiting for redemption: a term which refers to the freeing of slaves from bondage. This infant, this incarnation of God frees those (as we heard in Hebrews) - frees those who all their lives were held in slavery from the fear of death - so Simeon and Anna are seeking and waiting and...

The Lord whom you seek will suddenly come into his temple:

Simeon rushes to the Temple inspired by the Holy Spirit while Anna spends all her time in the "dwelling place of God" in the house of the lord -truly psalm 84 [we sang together] describes her:

1How lovely is your dwelling place,
     {O LORD of hosts!}
2 My soul longs, indeed it faints
     for the courts of the LORD;
my heart and my flesh sing for joy
     to the living God.
4 Happy are those who live in your house,
     {ever singing your praise.}
7 They go from strength to strength;
     the God of gods will be seen in Zion.

And Anna - the seer, the prophet, does see "the God of Gods" and what strength she gains as she "sings for joy" at the redemption, the freedom from the fear of death, which is offered for all humanity, all purified - refined- made holy by this Epiphany.

The Lord whom you seek will suddenly come into his temple:

Upon arriving at the Temple, Simeon receives the child into his arms-his first testimony then, through a physical action which speaks volumes - he receives the incarnate, the personal manifestation of God of Love, in his arms and says those beautiful words:

'Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word;
30for my eyes have seen your salvation,
31 which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
32a light for revelation to the Gentiles
and for glory to your people Israel.'

This light, this infant named Jesus (God saves) reveals God, reveals the reign- the love- of God that is salvation, freedom for all peoples - Gentiles and Jew.

But Simeon does not stop with this testimony; he continues, acknowledging that while the revelation is made for everyone, not everyone will rejoice - there will be opposition "and the falling and rising of many" -the hope Simeon saw in Jesus hope was not naïve or wistful. It faced reality squarely, even as it continued to love and hope. Jesus, this light, will shine amidst the darkness - revealing the kingdom of God - all are invited but some cannot let go their fear and their power which is predicated upon maintaining that fear in others - they will not to reorient themselves to God as Love - and they do not simply remain unresponsive but actively oppose the light. This opposition will cause division and suffering.

But Luke does not end on this somber note. He continues with the witness of Anna. She praises God and rejoices in the freedom of all who look forward to - who seek - redemption and are set free from fears engendered by too strict application of the law which binds into despair instead of serving as a constructive guide. God does not, however, renew the covenant by breaking the Law. The tradition, the scriptures are not abandoned but are seen by this new light - this light of Christ - and interpreted by the Spirit of God. Jesus is brought to the Temple to fulfill the Law of Moses - not abolish it:

When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem
and
When they had finished everything required by the law of the Lord, They returned home.

So the Law is fulfilled and the prophets give testimony - the law and the prophets - vital to certify the manifestation of the Messiah for Luke and his readers back then. So What? I mean, really - I have tied up many loose ends, put the story that happened so long ago in its context and shown how Luke built on the scriptural tradition - but what does that have to with us?

The Lord whom you seek comes suddenly into his temple

This story has deep meaning and relevance for us today with a vital message about the never ending love of God which calls us and our never ending yearning for God in response. We are the church - ecclesia - called by God; not just once long ago, but here now, every moment of every day. This story echoes with meaning for us and a wonderful way to illustrate this is to recount the story of a service that took place this week, here, in this church, in this chapel.

For those of you who are newcomers I will explain that St. John houses in its nether regions - a wonderful fount or source of Love called the Well/La Source. The Well is a day program for woman and children in need. This past summer, while the space for the Well was being renovated the women had to meet elsewhere for a number of months. During this time of upheaval, 8 women of the Well died. This was an unprecedented number in so short a time and caused immense grief in the community. What made it even more unsettling was that when ever a woman of the Well dies a memorial is held in this chapel and that was not possible. Immediately upon their return planning and preparation of the memorial service began.

This week the chapel was filled with women, their families and friends, staff from hospices, male and female, Christian and those of other faiths - all gathered together to call the names of these women and release them {from the hearts of their loved ones} to their eternal home. Each woman was called by name into the circle - unique remembered individuals: emphasizing what we have been hearing over the past Sundays - how God called Samuel, how Jesus called his disciples, how Luke names Simeon and Anna - all called by name, called in love, to free them -and so each of these women - Noanie, Diane, Pauline, Luvey, Gail Joyce, Rosanne, Denise - were called into this circle of sisters and brothers. {Using symbols of water, purple hearts, butterflies, flowers -along with memories, poems, readings and prayers} - the service was a living remembrance. Amidst the celebrating and grieving there was Epiphany - God was made manifest once again in the faces and voices, in the words spoken aloud and those held within hearts too full to speak - The Lord whom we seek was suddenly here - in this Temple in the Temple of each person, young old, male, female, people of faith - in this chapel, in this church, in this city in this world - God is made manifest continually amongst us. God does not simply call us one time by our names - Behold says Malachi I am sending you a messenger - a message - of Love - unreasoning, irrational, abundant, ever giving Love that is offered continually. There are messengers all around us, among us - within and without this church and within without our Christian faith - and we are all seeking - all an advent people - we only emphasize the anticipatory waiting at Advent - but we wait in the same way Simeon and Anna waited, in the same way that all people have waited and continue to wait - - with anticipation, with hope -responding and turning to God again and again. We are not waiting for death to be with God and enjoy full life only then - No! We anticipate the kingdom of God {the reign of God which is love} NOW already, so near that we can taste it. We are each called individually, by name, as were those 8 women, - lovingly known, each of us, lovingly held by, as Hebrews describes him - our merciful high priest - who continually ministers to us. We are all priests in that same order - worshippers of God, ministers to each other, to ourselves and to the world. We do this everyday in our lives when we live out the good news that the kingdom of God is at hand. As we serve each other and grow ourselves in the knowledge and love of God - God is made manifest over and over again. We seek and see God, we receive God in all humanity, in all living beings, in all creation - we are eternally "Epiphany-ing" - seeking and seeing manifestations of God with us - Emmanuel - transforming ourselves as a reasonable, holy and living sacrifice -refined not by throwing away bits of ourselves -any more than Jesus threw away Mosaic Law - Jesus' life, death and resurrection: that paschal mystery of dying to fear and rising to a new life of abundant love - is not realized by casting away the traditions or the scriptures but by fulfilling them and seeking to understand and live them by this new light with a timeless guide - the Holy Spirit- Using our reason, guided by the Spirit, we refine: the tradition, the scriptures and ourselves -concentrating the best of who we are of what they are -concentrating /consecrating -Making holy - sacri fici- a living sacrifice. Made holy as we gather each week to give thanks -Eucharist - thanksgiving - for the love that we celebrate together - For the living memory that is not one event, dead in the past; some macabre reenactment of a Last supper - but a living, creative memory -celebrating the mystery of our faith - renewing our baptismal vows{dying to fear and rising again} as we take the flesh and blood of Christ and are transformed.

We reach out to receive each other, guided by the Spirit to embrace the stranger and find we are receiving and embracing God, just as Simeon received the infant Jesus. We are embracing God with praise and thanksgiving as did Anna - thanksgiving for our freedom to become more what we were created to be, thanksgiving for this never-ending, continually recreating Epiphany.

It is like we are all bells - in different shapes sizes materials - all with our own unique sound to add to the arrangement all stilled waiting - God sends out a note and we resonate, amplifying the sound with sympathetic vibrations and creating at times consonance and another times dissonance but trying to listen to the orchestration of the Holy Spirit and ring true, ring clear that the whole world might tremble with the reverberations.

The Creator whom we all seek comes suddenly, continually, everlastingly into that divine dwelling place within each of us and all creation.

Or as Malachi would say:

The Lord whom we seek
will suddenly come into his Temple