Let us pray! Lord Jesus Christ, we have celebrated Your
Holy birth. Your Word has been fulfilled
and we have beheld Your Glory in a babe in a manger. For in finding in the manger the beginning of
the fulfillment of the plan of salvation we now can with Simeon ask that You
let us depart in peace according to Your will.
For Your coming into the World was for all of mankind, including we
saints gathered here at Emmanuel this morning.
AMEN.
It is interesting that this morning,
January 1, 2012 the beginning of the new year we gather to celebrate the
dedication of a babe in the temple in Jerusalem. Seven days ago, we gathered and heard the
celebrated Christmas story of Luke and opened Christmas gifts, ate turkey, ham,
mashed potatoes, green beans, rolls and all the fixings. Yet now, we come to celebrate the dedication
of a child according to the “Law of Moses”.
In the temple Mary and Joseph meet a man
named Simeon, who is a devout and righteous man, upon whom the Holy Spirit
rested. Being led by the Holy Spirit to
come at the same time as Jesus parents, Simeon had been promised “not
to see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ”. And now is fulfilled the promise of God to
Simeon. In his arms he holds the
Messiah, Jesus Christ! For me as Pastor,
when I hold children that God has used me as towel holder to baptize, I can
begin to understand Simeon’s joy in beholding the Gift from God of a child.
Yet this was not any child, this was the
Messiah, the Christ. We heard Simeon’s
ballad we know as the Nunc Dimittis or “Song of Simeon”. This canticle used in the liturgy is a result
of the reformation and its influence upon the liturgical canticles and songs
used in worship. What is imparted,
besought and received is a peace that Simeon receives in holding the long
foretold Christ Child. For the words, “mine
eyes have seen Thy salvation” apply clearly to Simeon’s life and now the fulfillment
of the scriptures is taking place.
But what does that matter for us today here
in Goodland, KS, with snow on the ground, a cold wind blowing off the prairies
and now the first day of 2012? What
matters is that the peace that Simeon felt at holding the Messiah we can feel
as well. This canticle is used most
often during the Vespers service at the end of the service. It is to be a stark reminder for us of the
peace that God gives to us through the birth of His Son and our Savior, Jesus
Christ. In the lowly manger, because
there was no room in the inn, Mary gave birth to Jesus Christ Who came into a
world of His making to save and redeem mankind from sin, death and the
devil. In this one act the plan of
salvation came into action and we now are partakers of it through our partaking
of His precious body and blood. As we
eat His Body and drink His Blood the peace that Simeon felt is given to us as
partakers of eternal life.
We
celebrate the Glory, Honor and praise of Jesus Christ as we remember His being
brought to the Temple in Jerusalem in fulfillment of the Law of Moses. Yet, in His birth, being brought to the
temple and His sacrificial death on the cross for all of us on Calvary, Jesus
Christ sets us free and gives us the greatest peace we could ever hope to feel,
a peace that Simeon felt when He saw, held and sang his canticle of
praise. May we celebrate with Simeon,
Mary and Joseph and understand that this peace is given to all people,
including all of us saints gathered here at Emmanuel on this January 1,
2012. AMEN.
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