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"Led by the Spirit" - Luke 2:27
Ronald W. Francey
December 30, 1990
. The woman at the church
It's interesting, this life of ours; how we are presented so
many opportunities - opportunities to get to know God - just a
little better - just a little differently than we had before -
when we let ourselves basque in the warm oils of God's Holy
Spirit.
Such was a time for me some ten years ago. I was in my
mid-thirties; some of you might remember that age - remember,
why by that time it would be common knowledge that you, or in
this case me, had become somewhat of a sage - admittedly, it was
a little earlier than was common for one to become a sage; but,
it was a time when people like myself had most things well under
control - or so it seemed.
It was that Sunday morning in church when an elderly woman, a
woman I had often shook hands with during coffee hour - you
know: "Good morning, how are you today?" -it was that morning
when she came kind of hobbling down the aisle during worship,
stood before the congregation with microphone placed awkwardly
before her and gave testimony before God and the congregation
about her faith journey.
She talked in the voice of an old woman; her voice quivered and
cracked - but it did not take long before there was a certain
hush within the congregation. People's coughing and sneezing
stopped; there was no rattling of pages from the church
bulletin.
The woman talked on about her earlier work, her life as a young
woman on an Indian reservation, about her being both a teacher
to the people of the tribe and being taught about their way of
living, their customs, their religion. She talked about her
coming to know God better through the lens of the people with
whom she lived and with whom she worked.
As she reminisced about her life, one could almost feel her
heart quicken, her pulse race for we were with her that day,
during that Sunday morning worship service, some ten years ago.
And so I was slightly humbled that morning, for before her
testimony, she was but an old woman to me; I had only seen but a
shell of a person, a shell of a woman. I don't know how many
other people were so moved by her testimony; or who suddenly saw
her as the person she really was; I suspect I was not alone. We
saw God face to face that morning - some ten years ago.
. What is it that so inspires people - in their lives - for
their lives?
Why is it that some of us seem to have it; you know, this thing
called the Holy Spirit and others of us don't? We can look
around and we can see it on the faces of others, in their
mannerisms, in their words, we can see it revealed in the
nuclear family of others.
We want to be good Christians; we want to share our lives with
God; we want and want and want - and so often nothing seems to
happen to get us any closer to God. How can this be?
. An then came Simeon
Recall the words from Scripture, read earlier:
Luke 2:25-35 Now there was a man in
Jerusalem call Simeon, who was righteous and
devout. He was waiting for the consolation
of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.
It had been revealed to him by the Holy
Spirit that he would not die before he had
seen the Lord's Christ. Led by the Spirit,
he went into the temple courts. When the
parents brought in the child Jesus to do for
him what the custom of the Law required,
Simeon took him in his arms and praised God,
Saying:
"Sovereign Lord, as you have
promised,
you now dismiss your servant in
peace.
For my eyes have seen your
salvation,
which you have prepared in the
sight of
all people,
a light for revelation to the
Gentiles
and for glory to your people
Israel."
When we wonder, in amazement, in awe, when we question "how can
it be?" that that old woman in that church seemed to be so
filled with the Holy Spirit, let us pause to reflect on the
possibilities that scripture opens up to us, that scripture
opens up to us in the story of Simeon.
Many of us often go to scripture for "the" answers; for direct
messages from God as to how we should live, how we should act,
for who we should be. Sometimes we would like the bible to have
an index to help us locate the important message of the hour.
We would like to find a "You shalt ...". We would like to find
the simple answers to the complexities of our lives, to the
complexities of the relationships with family, with friends,
with our own identity.
It is historically common that people have gone to scripture and
have found "their" answers, the ones which justified their
actions, their behavior, the ones which proved their way to be
the righteous way. Leaders of nations, people within the
nations are known to have gone through wars against each other
with bible raised high above their heads, proclaiming that God
was with them and would cause ruin upon God's enemies. The
Holy Crusade, the Civil War are only two such periods in history
where these images are well known. Today we often go to
scripture for us to condemn the life styles of gays and
lesbians, to support the right to life and to condemn the right
to choice, or to support the right to choice and to condemn our
misunderstanding of the right to life.
And so it is that we often dig into the trenches, building our
defenses and planning our offenses with bible held high above
our heads. But you know, God has other ways of making Godself
known to us as well. For it is in interpreting the bible, in
filling in the gaps of stories not yet completed, that we come
to feel the power of God's hidden presence. Such is the case
with the story of Simeon of whom little is known; yet, we know
that Simeon was righteous and devout and was waiting for the
consolation of Israel, that is, for the fulfillment of the
Jewish Messianic hopes.
What was Simeon's waiting like and what does that mean for us
today? We know little about the length of time Simeon "waited"
or what the "waiting" was like. Was it the act of sitting in a
chair in the middle of some room somewhere, waiting for the
Messiah to come? Did he sit there for twenty or forty or sixty
years? Or was Simeon called to action, was he called to search
his whole life for the Christ?
Many of us have wants: perhaps it is a secure reputation; an
honored name; a prosperous family; but, Simeon had a vision to
see the unfolding of God's promise for his people; here was a
vision of the beginning of salvation.
Simeon was led, was moved by the Holy Spirit into the temple
courts and recognized that he had seen God's salvation, that
salvation that had been prepared in the sight of all people - a
light for the revelation to the Gentiles, the non-Jews and for
the glory of God's people Israel. Simeon saw salvation in the
promise of a child, in the promise of a child delivered.
Today, we too can see salvation when we let God touch us through
such times as todays Baptism. Children are the seed that God
has planted; we are called to nurture, to love that seed so that
it can blossom, so it can be all things to and for God.
Simeon says that "you now dismiss your servant in peace for my
eyes have seen your salvation which you have prepared in the
sight of all people." Kit, you too may go in peace for the
times you have held up the many babies, the children before God
and us, you have shown us salvation. You have planted many
seeds, some of which you have but begun to see blossom.
Seeds abound for each of us during our life, each seed needing
love and care to help it blossom. Seeds often are more than
ones given to us personally. This church is such a seed -
planted many, many years ago, this seed perennially blooms. It
has varying seasons; some that seem to be in syncopation with
the coming and going of pastors and their families; some that
seem to flower in the midst of barren, desert sands; some that
spring up over our efforts to support the needy and to campaign
for programs which seek out justice and mercy for all peoples.
When we love, really love, our children who are the baby roots
of the future, then we, too, have seen God's salvation, the
salvation which is prepared in the sight of all people. You
have changed us by your presence, Oh, Lord. Amen.
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