The following transcript was generated using AI from the sermon recording. Some grammatical and transcription erros may be found.
We are nearly done with this Christmas season. The 12 days of Christmas starting with December 25th moving all the way to the Feast of the Kings in Epiphany on January 6th. We have sung carols. We have sung many of them several times. We have gathered at the manger.
We have heard the good news of God taking flesh within our midst. And we have been commanded and told to go and tell it on the mountains. But sometimes it is hard to leave the infant side. When we are gathered in this place, gathered to celebrate the newborn King, we have a sense of purpose. We have been gathered to sing praises to God's name for what God has done through the birth of Jesus Christ.
And that gives us hope because we know why we have gathered. We know why we are here. We know what we are supposed to be doing. But at some point we need to leave the newborn side and go back into the world, much like the shepherds when they returned to their flocks after all that they had seen. At some point we need to go about the very business that we have been called to.
We have to go and do not only what is expected of us, but we have to go and be a part of what God is doing in the world. The story that we read from the Gospel of Luke shows that Mary and Jesus and Joseph have begun that process. Likely, they stayed in Bethlehem for these seven days, and they took the child to the temple to be circumcised, which was expected of the law.
And the name that was given to this child from before he was conceived was announced to the world. much was the custom then for so many infants died in between and so Mary and Jesus going about what is expected of them in the law begin the process of life as they know it but even in the midst of them going about what so many other families have already done and will do in the future
There are two at the temple that recognize Jesus for who he is, the savior of humanity, the light to all people, one who would cause many to rise and fall as they encounter him. These two people had waited lifetimes for this child to be revealed. And the relief that they felt when they finally saw this child is expressed in their words. You can imagine as they were going about their daily lives before seeing this Jesus that they may have been wondering what they were waiting for, what they were doing, what their purpose was.
I mean, to be told by the Holy Spirit that they would not taste death until they saw the child... That's one thing. It's something certainly to trust in. But at some point, you got to wonder, did I understand correctly? We all do when the Holy Spirit speaks to us.
Did I hear the Holy Spirit correctly? Does God really want me to do that? And the longer we have to wait, more often, the more those questions and those doubts arise. We wonder, what am I doing here? What is my purpose?
What has God, what will God use me for? And the two people in today's passages, the scripture makes clear they were advancing in years. And sometimes those questions arise for those in a similar state, those whose loved ones have passed, those whose friends have moved on, those who are wondering what God has in store for them still.
How could God possibly use me? Why won't God take me home as well? And we are given in today's passage this understanding that as long as we are alive, as long as we are called by God, as long as we are in God's midst, as long as we are spoken to by the Holy Spirit, as long as we are taking breath, God has a purpose for us.
And sometimes it's just to wait and to see what God is doing. And other times it is to proclaim what God is doing. For the two people in today's passage, for the longest time, their role was to wait. Their role was to sit patiently, waiting for God to appear. But then, when God did appear, their job was not over.
Their task was not done. Their proclamation to both the child and to the mother and to all of those who had heard it brought amazement. That the one that they had waited for, the one that they had waited for so long, the one that maybe perhaps they had doubts that they would actually get to see, had finally arrived. And their waiting turned into action.
Their waiting turned into proclamation of joy. Joy. Their waiting turned into prophecy of what this child would do, not only for the sake of the mother and the child, but all those who would hear and all those who would hear their story and their story and their story. The ripple effect of these two that had waited so long is felt even to today as we read the scriptures.
The purpose that they had been given, the meaningfulness of life that they had been giving, that they had been waiting so long for, had finally come. And they were only aware of it. They were only made known of it because they had done what God had wanted them to do. They had waited patiently and looked out, kept watch.
And when they saw it, they took action. When they recognized it, We can learn a lot from these two. We can learn a lot from their patience in waiting. For many of us are waiting for God to reveal himself.
Many of us are waiting, like in the Jeremiah passage, for those in exile to be called back. We are waiting for those who have scattered themselves to be drawn in. We are waiting for revival. We are waiting for a rekindling of the hearts of those who not only gather here but those that we reach out to.
And sometimes we ask, what are we waiting for? Why bother? What are we doing here? We get caught in the world's sense of meaninglessness. We feel like we lack purpose.
We begin to doubt and question. And yet we are shown in the Jeremiah passage and in the Luke passage that it is in those moments in the patient waiting in the faithfulness to God that we will finally see the very thing that we are waiting for if we keep ready if we keep watch if we quell the doubts through prayer and trust in God and in that waiting it has to be an active waiting we can't just be going about our business and going through the motions hoping that God will appear.
They were not just going about their daily lives. Anna was said to have gone to the temple every single day, waiting and expecting to see this Messiah. She didn't make it something that she did on the side. She didn't make her faith and her devotion something that she could do on a whim. She made it a part of her life every single day.
So while she was waiting, she was keeping watch actively, seeking out the very thing that God said she would see. We too must keep this vigilance. We must keep watch. We must look for where God is at work in the world and in our church, and we must nourish our spirits in the process.
Our faith as we live it out cannot be something that we just do accidentally. It cannot be something that we just do when we have time. It has to shape who we are, how we live, how we approach the world, and how we look at the world around us. Because if it doesn't, we are likely to miss God in our midst.
If Anna had not been keeping watch so intently and all of the infants that went to the temple every single day or every single year that she happened to be there, if she was not watching out for God, if she was not watching out for signs and wonders from what God was doing, then how would she have noticed this one child born out of so many that she had seen come to be circumcised eight days after being born?
The only way that is possible, the only way that she could have seen it, is through actively watching in prayer. Prayer. keeping her eye out for what God is doing, keeping an eye out for God's voice, speaking inside her to say, that is the one. That is the child that is different. That is the savior of the nations.
And as we wait, as we actively watch, as we nourish our souls through reading scripture, through praying together, through having communion, through shaping our lives around God's will and purposes for us, we hear the proddings of the Holy Spirit and say, this is where I am at work. This is where my redemption is happening. This is where you can join in. This is where you can proclaim to all within earshot that I am at work.
But if we're not watching, if we're not listening, How do we expect to see it? And then when we do see it, when we do see God in our midst, we can follow their example by making it known seeing it celebrating it and speaking aloud for so many to hear that our god is at work our god has arrived our god is not some distant being leaving us to our own devices trying to work out our own salvation but is actively at work in the world with the power of the holy spirit calling all people to him drawing all people to him renewing all people taking all those people who wonder if they have a purpose in this world, all those people who feel left and forgotten and alone, all the people who wonder why God has them around still, letting them hear the good news that God is active, that the Holy Spirit is changing hearts and minds and souls
And that Jesus Christ, Savior of all, who will not abandon anyone to their sin, who died for the sake and the sins of the world, is alive, is reigning, and is calling all people to him. Sometimes all people need to do is hear just a portion of that good news. And how can they hear it? if we don't say it?
How can they see God at work in their lives if they don't know who God is or know what the signs are? But if the people of God who have been attuned to God, who seek to see where God is and what God is doing can say, this is where God is at work and I want you to see it, I want you to know it, I want you to feel it and experience it for yourselves. is when those who do not yet know him will come to see God in their midst and in their lives.
So I hope and pray that we learn from the examples of today's stories that people who waited so long, who perhaps questioned, wondered if God really had spoken to them, wondered if the waiting was worth it, yet still saw that they had a purpose. So they stayed mindful and watched. They prayed at the temple each day. They listened to the proddings of the Spirit. And when they saw God at work, they proclaimed him for all to hear.
May we learn from them. May we follow their example. May we make this our purpose. as we go about our lives this year. And may we see God at work in ways that we could never, ever imagine.