Slideshow image

Originally published in the February edition of the Anglican Highway

February 2, 2025 in our liturgical calendar is a Holy Day: the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple. In the middle of this year’s long season of Epiphany, when we reflect on our baptismal ministry, our discipleship, this Holy Day jolts us into another image of Jesus’ ministry and connects us to our hope.

Mary and Joseph, following requirements of faithful Jews, bring their firstborn son to the Temple in Jerusalem as an offering to God. Here is the basis for discipleship; they recognize in their baby that life is a gift of God, and they offer this life back to God in gratitude and joy. In the temple, they meet two elders, Simeon and Anna, who greet the child. These two elders who are near the end of their lives had spent years hoping for God’s reign to come. People of prayer, they were alert to God at work, and something in them recognized the hope and promise in the baby Jesus.

Simeon took the child and blessed him, announcing in the words we know as the Nunc Dimittis, from the Latin meaning “Now you let depart.”

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

Simeon has seen in Jesus what he had longed for, and recognizes his life has now been fulfilled. This “Song of Simeon” from Luke 2 is a beautiful prayer of letting go and trust in God. For centuries it has been used for evening prayer each night, in monastic communities and in Anglican prayer books. It is also said as part of the prayers at the time of death. Letting go and trusting in God.

Simeon speaks with deep compassion for Mary, saying “a sword will pierce your heart also”, recognizing that offering their baby to God will be costly.

The other elder who meets Mary and Joseph in the Temple is Anna, a widow, who is described as a Prophet, a truth-teller who sees what God is up to. Upon seeing the baby Jesus she “began to praise God and to speak about the Child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.”

In her book ‘The inner work of Age: Shifting from Role to Soul,” Connie Zwaig invites us into integrating reflections on our life that allow us to let go in peace at the end of life. To find fulfillment in our past work, our failures and successes, or what is unfinished, or what has now changed in meaning as we look back on our past with what we now know. This inner work as we age opens us to a future beyond our own lives. As I have pondered this fine book, I have thought of Simeon and Anna.

As in our own time, there was little of the day to day reality and outward circumstances for Simeon or Anna that would have pointed to God’s reign. Living under the oppressive Roman rule, there was little hope of the peace, freedom and justice that Simeon and Anna longed for. As you look around the state of the world today, where are the signs of hope?

Anna speaks to “all who were looking for God’s redemption.” This phrase intrigues me. It seems that this describes the life of a disciple, a life of looking for God’s redemption, awake to God’s salvation and wholeness, in spite of evidence to the contrary.

The life of the disciple is a discipline of hope in God. How are you “looking for God’s redemption?” To spend our lives looking for the wholeness God intends is not passive, but invites participation. It is, I think, a very counter-cultural way of being. Many in our society have lost hope, either they turn inward in apathy as self-protection from the helplessness of our world, or they live in despair or cynicism. Our call is to speak of hope.

Anna and Simeon are examples of what it means to be daring disciples in our elder years. They catch a glimpse of God birthing something new and trust this, even though they cannot see the road ahead. They see hope in the faithful action of the two young people, Mary and Joseph, offering Jesus to God, despite the presence of Roman dictators like Herod. Simeon and Anna bless this faithful action of Mary and Joseph.

Anna and Simeon model the work of an “elder” disciple when they speak about trust in God’s future. This gives confidence to their community. They witness to God’s faithfulness, God’s promises, even though as yet unseen. It is the work of elder disciples to bless what is coming to birth.

We do not need to see what the church will look like beyond our own time in order to trust that God is at work, that there will be a faithful church. Yes, it will be different; that is where we need Simeon’s faith and ability to “let go” into the new. How do we as “elder” disciples see God in what is emerging? How do we find ways to bless it in ways that encourage a new generation.