Christmas I

Luke 2:22-40

2:22 When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord

2:23 (as it is written in the law of the Lord, "Every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord"),

2:24 and they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of the Lord, "a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons."

2:25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him.

2:26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Messiah.

2:27 Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him what was customary under the law,

2:28 Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying,

2:29 "Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word;

2:30 for my eyes have seen your salvation,

2:31 which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,

2:32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel."

2:33 And the child's father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him.

2:34 Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, "This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed

2:35 so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed--and a sword will pierce your own soul too."

2:36 There was also a prophet, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, having lived with her husband seven years after her marriage,

2:37 then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped there with fasting and prayer night and day.

2:38 At that moment she came, and began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.

2:39 When they had finished everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth.

2:40 The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.

Dulverton Sermon

The liturgical context of Anglican worship today depends on where you attend and when. There are three alternatives.

At this service we are observing today as the First Sunday of Christmas with a gospel reading from  Luke 2.22-40 and we find ourselves in Bethlehem with the shepherds visiting the new born Jesus in the stable.

Today Bethlehem, an Arab town, is no easy place to visit because of the Israeli barricade and army check point to be negotiated first. Some of the locally hand carved nativity scenes on sale to the pilgrims who get through have the barricade between the shepherds and the infant Jesus. It is a reminder of the continued need of our prayers for the negotiation of a permanent middle east peace.

William Temple described the Christian Church as "the only institution existing primarily for those who do not belong to it". The modern equivalents of the shepherds aren't found in church very much these days. There is need for penitence about the modern church's desertion of the hard working, down to earth, agricultural and industrial workers of our land. We are far and away too upper and middle class as a church. All credit to currently despised anglo-catholics that they tend to be in the vanguard of those serving working class communities where others choose not to live and work. They deserve our praise and support especially as the recession and unempllyment hits their communities hard.

Those who worshipped in this chapel at the earlier Book of Common Prayer Holy Communion marked today, 28th December, as the Feast of the Holy Innocents and took the story of Herod's massacre of the infants in Matthew 2 as their gospel. Breugal in the 16th century translated the scene into his time and place and remins us that wherever, and whenever, infants are sacrificed on the altar of adulrt ambitions the massacre of innocents is relived. It is a story that calls us in our day to penitence and prayer for the victims of the abortion industry, and of war and famine too.

Those who have go to the local anglican churches to worship - St Martin, St Michael, St Saviour - will find themselves immersed in the liturgy for the Feast of the Holy Family and take their gospel reading further into Luke 2 than we have gone. They will go with the holy family to present our Lord in the temple at Jerusalem, and then on to Nazareth where he grew to maturity. Our Lord was born not in isolation but in a family and was nurtured in that context for 30 of his 33 years. The family is still the bedrock of life and society. It is a day for thanking God for him, and ourselves, amid the blessings of family. Her Majesty made this point very well in her Christmas message. Christian Aid's Christmas appeal is for families torn apart by poverty and injustice. As well as thanksgiving we are called to compassion and generosity towards those less fortunate than ourselves in divided and destitute families.

As we worship this morning before the manger scene and at the altar let us not only adore Christ in Himself as God come among us but in the people and places of our contemporary world too.