TOMORROW, the ninth Sunday before Easter, is also the day we observe the presentation of Christ in the temple. In the Gospel we are told of Mary and Joseph bringing the child Jesus to the Temple in Jerusalem. There they met one named Simeon. Simeon was just and devout, and in constant prayer awaiting the coming of the Christ. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Christ. When Mary and Joseph brought in Jesus, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God:
Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
You now dismiss your servant in peace
For my eyes have seen your sal vation,
Which you have prepared in the sight of all people,
A light for revelation to the
Gentiles
And for glory to your people Israel.
That little meeting of the faithful in the Temple was brimfull with the joy of those knowing they were participating with God in building the kingdom of faith hope, and love. . . a deeply satisfying experience. As Simeon took the child in his arms, he was overwhelmed as he beheld the One for whom he had been waiting for so long . . . there before his eyes.
As in every generation, they valued close contact with God's kingdom in giving them the vision and strength to meet each day. Then as now, they were always engaged in the battle against wrong and evil:
Yet with the woes of sin and strife
The world has suffered long;
Beneath the angel-strain have rolled
Two thousand years of wrong.
One just could not imagine that Mary, Joseph, or Simeon would ever say there was no need to present themselves at the Temple, where the essential faith in God is regularly nourished. They were there to graft themselves and the Christ into that way of life. When Jesus said "Where two or three are gathered together in my name," he saw that believers would have the need to meet in prayer regularly. When He said of Holy Communion "Do this in remembrance of me" he expected His followers to see the necessity of communion with Him and one another.
In the Epistle to the Hebrews, we have advice to believers: "Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together." Simeon continued yearning and praying for the coming of Messiah. He lived to see it happen, and rejoiced greatly. He faced the facts. Deeply aware of the pressure of evil in the world he prayed earnestly, and his prayer was granted. He could have said "I am only one person. I'll make no difference".
As we face the facts in our day - dismay among the nations, bewilderment . . . fear and hatred ascendant . . . frightening threats in environment . . . broken homes . . . ethnic cleansing . . . the sufferings of children, to mention some, we can learn from Simeon on facing facts. He prayed all the way until in the nunc dimittis he gave thanks for:
Prayer that soars on high
Through Jesus, to the throne,
That moves the hand which moves the world,
To bring salvation down.