Simeon

If I’ve climbed those steps once, I’ve climbed them a thousand times.

And though the novelty’s worn off, even after all these years there’s still a thrill as I hitch up my cloak and make my way up and through the Gate Beautiful into the wide open spaces of the Women’s Court.

I never hurry these moments. They’re worth savouring. Besides which, at my age there’s not much chance of doing anything in a hurry.

When I walk inside the temple walls, I always get a strange feeling, like I’m being embraced by the building; drawn to its heart like a mother wrapping her arms around her children and drawing them in.

I’m home. This is where I belong.

In part it’s the familiar faces that make me love this place – the friendships formed over long years. People like Anna, Sybil and Cleopas have become a second family to me.

And then there are the smells; outside in the Gentile court it’s like a market, with people selling animals for sacrifice. But in here it’s different.

The smell of burnt offerings and the heady fragrance of incense wash over you the moment you set foot in the inner courts. The scents of earth and heaven mingle in this holy place, where God is palpably near.

People know that here, they’re within a hairsbreadth of mystery. They speak to one another with a quiet reverence. At least, the sensitive souls do; there are always a few around who seem to like the sound of their own voices.

And so I pass my time here.

Sometimes I sit and watch the comings and goings, or listen to the Levite choirs leading worship on the inner steps.

Sometimes I listen to the Scribes and Pharisees debating in the covered collonades, and maybe even throw in my tuppenceworth if I feel I’ve got something worth saying.

But more often than not I go to my work of prayer in the Court of Israel, within sight of the Altar and the Sanctuary.

I can’t tell you the hours I’ve spent here; and strangely, none of them seem a burden because they are a labour of love – a choice that I’ve made with my life.

Outside these walls, men seek revolution. They urge us to fight, or flee to the desert in disgust at what Rome is doing to our country. But this is not the answer. Too easily we have given into violence. Too easily we have given up on God.

And so I wait. And I pray.

I remind God of his promises, and of his character.

Didn’t he promise to make Abraham a great nation? Hasn’t he promised to redeem and save his people? Will the God of all the earth stand by and see his own people crushed underfoot by the might of the Empire?

It seems that way. But some of us keep hope. And I have more reason than some to do so, for today I saw the Lord’s salvation with my own eyes, just as he promised me.

They were an unremarkable couple, at first sight. He was quite a bit older, she young enough to draw glances from one or two of the women.

They’d come for the rituals – the dedication of their month-old son, and the purification of the mother after childbirth. I couldn’t help but notice that they passed two pigeons over to the priest for the offering, rather than the lamb required by the law. A sure sign that they were poor.

But the Spirit compelled me to go and speak with them. Just as the building draws me in, this little family drew me in, and I knew that God was bringing us together for a reason.

I held my arms out, asking to hold the child, and the mother looked at me hesitantly for a second or two, sizing me up, before handing him over.

Dear Lord! I’d forgotten what a newborn feels like in your arms. No heavier than a couple of bags of flour. And yet I sensed that this little one would one day draw all of us into his gravitational pull. However unlikely it seemed, I knew that this was the child we’d all been waiting for. This was God’s Messiah.

Here at last we had tangible proof – flesh and blood proof - that God had not forgotten us. Liberation would come, though maybe not as some expected it. For this child would become a rock on which some would build, and over which others would stumble. He would bring salvation to Israel, but he would also be a light to the Gentiles. And before the end, I said, holding the woman’s gaze, he will bring you great sorrow to match the joy you now feel.

Some folk cling to life, for life is all they have. But those who have God don’t fear life’s ending, for they know that all our times are held within God’s hands.

So now I can go in peace, for all my waiting has been worthwhile. God has kept his promise. I have seen his Saviour with my own eyes.

Everything we know about Simeon is contained in the few verses we read together this morning from Luke’s gospel. Even the other three gospels don’t recount this story.

We don’t know what he did in life, whether he was Jerusalem born, or even how old he was, though we assume he was in his later years because having seen Jesus, he pronounced himself ready to leave this world.

But despite the lack of source material there’s still a lot we could learn from Simeon today.

Sermons have been preached on his refusal to lose hope; his faithfulness in prayer and worship and his remarkable sensitivity to the Spirit. But I’m going to keep those topics for another sermon. Or maybe even another three sermons.

Today I want us to reflect on one simple fact. Although Simeon’s one of the unsung heroes of the Nativity, he had a very important role to play in assuring Mary and Joseph that they were on the right lines. Because by the time of this story it’s a few weeks into their life as parents, and those are some of the most wonderful but trying weeks that any of us ever live through.

I’ve often thought that it would be an interesting exercise to write a monologue about how Mary was feeling at this point in her journey. I wonder if some of the shine and the glitter was beginning to wear off a little.

When you think about it, she’d had some amazing experiences - when Gabriel spoke to her, and her cousin Elizabeth fell pregnant too in strange circumstances. But as is the way of things, in the bump and grind of life, these things tend to dull in the memory.

We’re forty days on from Bethlehem, and it’s worth remembering that on that first night she didn’t see the angelic choir that we read about in Luke’s gospel. She just saw these dazed shepherds stumbling into the stable to have a look at her newborn baby.

As far as we know, she didn’t see the star of Bethlehem that night and there’s a good chance she hasn’t met the wise men by this stage either,  because a close reading of the texts suggests that they turned up with their gifts much later on when Jesus was a toddler.

Forty days is a long time with a newborn baby. Mary would have been sleep deprived and sore. She’d have had bags under her eyes. If she was like you and me, she’d probably have been grouchy when the baby refused to settle, or got her up yet again in the middle of the night demanding another feed.

I’d guess that stars and angels and prophetic words might have felt like they belonged to another world, in those times. Like all young mothers, but even more so I think, she badly needed some encouragement

And then comes Simeon; stepping out of the shadows with these timely words, reminding her just who she’d been carrying and nursing. It was exactly what she needed.

Luke tells us that Mary and Joseph were amazed by Simeon’s words, and they weren’t so much amazed at what he had to say; it was the very fact that somehow, this complete stranger, knew what they had gone through, and realised that God’s hand was on this child’s life in a unique way. This was another, timely confirmation that God was in control.

And though, for the first time, we hear the overtones of the sorrow which marked the end of Christ’s life, Mary and Joseph were glad of this sign that God was with them. Glad that Simeon had fulfilled his role in this part of the drama.

And that’s all we hear of him. He disappears off the stage, content to have seen what he’d seen and done what he’d done.

It’s a blessed thing to be content with the roles you’re called to play in life. And even if those aren’t the so-called starring roles, they’re important all the same.

And it’s important that they’re recognised and acknowledged. These little things that go on in the background are significant, and yet it’s in the nature of things that we don’t notice them until they’re not done.

It’s amazing the number of little jobs that need to be done to make a church like ours tick over, week by week. I sat down and wrote a list of all the little jobs that get done in our church week in and week out, year in year out by our Simeons. It might surprise you to discover just how many little jobs there are.

And this morning I want us to remember and give thanks for all these unsung heroes; all of these Simeons, who serve God and his church with great faithfulness and yet rarely get the credit they deserve.

Those who

·        Decorate the church at Christmastime

·        Keep the church and hall clean and tidy

·        Come over early on Sunday mornings to make sure the heating’s on and the Hall’s ready.

·        Help Allan lead our worship in music, through choir, BBC, Worship Music Group.

·        Take readings and prayers on Sunday mornings, or welcome folk as they arrive at church.

·        Prepare teas and coffees, soup and sandwiches in the Hall after church.

·        Run and support the Traidcraft Stall

·        Cater for the different meetings we have within the church throughout the year.

·        Organise and run our social events

·        Write articles for, and produce our church magazine

·        Take part in the rota to give people lifts to church

·        Visit faithfully in their districts or in their neighbourhood.

·        Produce banners to beautify our church

·        Promote fellowship and service through the Guild.

·        Keep careful track of our finances.

·        Deal with the mountain of administration that every church attracts these days.

·        Keep up to date with the ongoing maintenance of church, hall and manse.

·        Give the choir a sweetie to suck before they enter the church!

·        Prepare and lead our work with children - Sunday School, 1-Up, Kirk Klub, Creche and Mainly Music.

·        Organise the Christian Aid Collection and Shoebox Appeal, and those who take part in them.

·        Organise meetings within the church, both formal and informal

·        Keep accurate records of all our formal meetings, and maintain our roll and baptismal register.

·        Produce publicity when we have an event coming up

·        Open up their homes so that others can come and enjoy fellowship there.

·        Pray faithfully for the work of the church, both at home and in the prayer meeting

·        Give faithfully and regularly to the work of the church

·        Provide flowers so the church is nicely decorated each Sunday.

·        Maintain the Glebe.

·        Work to keep the church informed about what’s going on within the parish

·        Turn up to things that the church or the minister is putting on because they want to be an encouragement.

·        Prepare orders of service and powerpoints.

·        Operate the laptop computer on Sundays

·        Visit the bereaved, sick and housebound.

·        Bake for different church groups.

·        Help at Coffee Haven.

·        Take services at Balmedie House

·        Organise duty rotas

·        Make in-kind donations to the church

·        Those who help with the Harvest display and distribution.

·        Those who set out the church for communions, and help clear up afterwards.

·        Remind us of the world-wide connections of the Christian Church

·        Offer their artistic and creative skills to the life of the church,

·        Those who notice the newcomers and make them feel welcomed.

Now add that up, and that’s a lot of people. And if you didn’t recognise yourself in any of those categories, let me know and we’ll soon find a job for you! And if I’ve overlooked something, please forgive me, but I wanted us all to get home before Hogmanay!

We rely on these folk, and this morning I simply want to thank them all for the faithful service they offer to Christ’s church in all these different ways.

And as we prepare enter another year, I want us to remember that whatever we do in God’s service, we shouldn’t do in our own strength, but in the strength that comes from close fellowship with God.

Simeon was a man who was in tune with God’s spirit. Maintaining that relationship with God is our first and most important work, and from that everything else should flow.

That child whom Simeon blessed didn’t come to offer his body and blood so that you and I could maintain a building, or run an institution. He came so that men and women could be reconciled to God and learn to live in harmony with his Spirit.  

That is our life’s work, and if we do it well, when our time comes - like Simeon – we’ll be able to say “Lord, you have kept your promise; you may let your servant go in peace”.