The Place God Calls You To
Sermon for Candlemas, February 4th, 2024
“The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”
These are some of the most famous words from the prolific author Frederick Buechner. An author I commend to you!
Let me repeat those words so we can sit with it for a moment: “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness AND the world’s deep hunger meet.”
Today, in the gospel lesson, we hear the story of Simeon and Anna.
We might imagine that these two people found a sense of deep gladness while dutifully following God's word.
Simeon, according to the reading, hoped for the consolation of Israel and the Holy Spirit was resting on him.
And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Messiah; the person we understand to be Jesus.
So Simeon faithfully waited for the eventual arrival of Jesus, our Lord and Savior. Jesus, the Light of the world!
Anna, also a faithful follower of God, LIVED in the Temple.
The scripture tells us that when she became a widow, she never left the temple but worshiped there, fasting and praying both night and day.
I suppose there could be any number of reasons that Simeon and Anna were so devoted to following God’s will in their lives;
when I reflect on the stories of their commitment to God, I am reminded of the Buechner quote I shared just a few minutes ago.
Let us imagine that Simeon and Anna felt a deep gladness for their commitment to God!
We can imagine their deep gladness motivated them, their willingness to follow God’s will in their lives is profound.
What an incredible story of fidelity to God.
And when we stop and think about what the gospel story is saying in its literal sense, it might all seem a little peculiar.
To better help us understand the situation of Anna and Simeon so ardently waiting for the Savior, I would like to reframe the story another way.
Imagine with me for a moment: one day, you arrive at St. Andrew’s.
Perhaps it is for Sunday morning worship, or you are here to volunteer or participate in an event during the week. And right in the courtyard, you see me setting up a pre-fab home, a tiny home, but a home nonetheless.
And when you ask me what I am doing, I tell you that I will live here at St. Andrew’s and pray night and day as I await the second arrival of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And you see my spouse, Simeon with me!
They are not planning to live on campus with me,
BUT the spirit has told them that the second coming will happen in their lifetime, and they are on campus too because they felt guided by the Spirit to be there!
Take a second and really think about that image and possibility in your head!
What would you think?!?!
It feels fair to say that you might find our behavior to be a little bit odd!
Who could blame you?
So when we look at today’s gospel story in those terms, we might imagine that other folks during biblical times also thought it was odd
that Anna and Simeon were living and spending so much time in and around the Temple waiting for THE baby, the Saviour, to come through the Temple gates.
Surely, Anna and Simeon witnessed hundreds, if not thousands, of first-born male babies come through the temple gates to be presented for circumcision, as was the law.
And we know, because scripture tells us, that Mary and Joseph were regular people from Nazareth, a place, as the Gospel of John points out, many Israelites at the time did not think well of.
Mary and Joseph didn’t have much money, a fact we know from today’s passage because instead of bringing a lamb to the temple as Leviticus 12 demands, they brought a substitute permitted by the law for those who cannot afford a lamb: “a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons”.
Their Temple sacrifice was a small purchase, a very economical one. So how did Anna and Simeon know that this seemingly ordinary couple, with their seemingly ordinary baby, were actually beyond extraordinary?
They knew that while all babies are in fact special, this baby, the Christ Child was extraordinary because their faith was deep.
They knew because their love and gladness for God and God’s will was deep!
And they believed the message that they held in their hearts from God that the Messiah was coming, and that they would one day witness him!
And when Simeon does witness this Christ Child, he is so moved with gladness that he starts to sing! He sings out these words,
"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."
A light for all the world! A candle burning so bright for all the world to see, Jesus, the light of the world. The candle that is Christ that we celebrate on this Candlemas!
And so perhaps it does seem bizarre that Anna and Simeon were so devoted to God that they were willing to spend so much of their lives at the Temple waiting for the arrival of the Christ Child.
But aren’t we also called to follow our hearts? And isn’t it the case that sometimes when we follow our hearts others think we are a little unconventional or surprising?
I cannot tell you how much people supported me uprooting my and my son’s life to move across the country to rural Tennessee for seminary, and I don’t even know how many people were surprised that I would do so…what was I even thinking?
And last week, I had the pleasure of having lunch with our XYZ group and they shared their stories of following their heart, and stories of their kids following their hearts.
These stories made me think about what people must have thought when they moved across the state, the country, the world. And I wondered what they think when their kids say they want to do the same.
In fact, from an early age, we are told to follow our hearts. And as Christians we are told over and again to listen for God’s whisper, and to follow God’s call.
But doing so doesn't always make sense to the people around us. Heck, it doesn't always make sense to us.
It took me over 20 years to say yes to God’s call for me to ordained ministry, because I couldn't believe God would call me: who am I, to do this wonderful work?
It felt wild to me that God was calling me to do God’s work in this way in the world.
So perhaps, Anna and Simeon’s deep commitment to follow the gladness in their heart and follow God isn’t such an unfamiliar idea after all, because perhaps we too have a calling and readiness to follow God!
And our longings, while sometimes astonishing to ourselves and others, are blessings. Blessings of deep gladness!
Irish poet and priest John O’Donohue puts it this way, “blessed is the longing that brought you here and that quickens your soul with wonder.
May you have the courage to listen to the voice of desire that disturbs you when you have settled for something safe.”
Blessed are Anna and Simeon for having courage to follow the desire of their heart to believe in the coming of the Messiah, to believe in the will of God.
Simeon and Anna were basking in deep gladness; they were following their desire to trust God, to do God’s will so seriously that presumably, they didn’t care what others thought because they wanted too badly for the world’s deep hunger to be met.
Which brings us to the second part of Buechner’s quote, where our deep gladness meets the world’s deep hunger.
That deep hunger is for Christ, the light of the world. Candlemas. A mass that, through the image of candles, reminds us that we hunger to see Christ in the world. A worship service that, through the image of Christ as the flame at the tip of a candle brings light into the dark pain and sadness of the world.
There was dark pain and sadness in the world when Jesus was born, and today, there is pain and sadness, too.
We have individual pain, we are witness to communal and national, and international pain. There is a hunger for justice, a hunger for peace.
The hunger for a better world is felt night and day. And we, as Christians are committed to the knowledge that Jesus can satisfy that deep hunger.
As we enter into Ash Wednesday and Lent, let us remind ourselves often of the heartfelt commitment of Anna and Simeon.
Perhaps, we can pray to them for guidance as we set our Lenten practices. May they be blessings to us, as we explore now and in Lent what God is calling us to do, how God is calling us closer to God.
May we recognize the things that stir in us deep gladness. Perhaps it is a desire to read more Christian spirituality, perhaps you feel called to more daily prayer, maybe you feel called into the community in a new way, as a volunteer.
Perhaps your will is to give up a treat, and each time you think of eating or drinking this thing, you pray for God to reveal even more God’s goodness in your life?
Maybe each of us can take time this week as we prepare for Ash Wednesday, and reflect on how we might be witness to Christ, in ways similar to Simeon and Anna.
Perhaps each of us can spend some time praying about how we can follow our deep gladness in such a way that we can shine forth as the light of Christ in this world.
How can we make Christ better known to ourselves and for all the world? Remembering, in the words of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, “we know that darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that!”
