[Propertalk] Fwd: Sermon Resources for January 1 - Part 2

[Joe Parrish]

A New Beginning
My colleague John Rottman has said that since this passage always occurs in the Church Year and in various Lectionary cycles so close to the end of the year, he has often seen some similarity between the old man Simeon beholding the infant Jesus and the typical cartoon sketch we often see around New Year's Day in which the Old Year is portrayed as a haggard, worn-out looking old man with a long white beard even as the New Year is portrayed as a fresh-faced newborn baby in a diaper.  That cartoonish way to picture the close of a year reminds us that any given block of 365 days contains more than its share of ups and downs, trials and tribulations, good things and bad things such that if a year's worth of global events really were able to be incarnated inside one single person, that person would look pretty well beat up and done in come December 31-a far cry from the full-of-promise baby New Year he had been twelve months before.

Although this is just a picturesque way of envisioning Simeon's encounter with the baby Jesus at the Temple-and one that springs from a temporal coincidence of when the church tends to look at this text that has little to do with the text proper-nonetheless there is a sense in which Luke is telling us that one long period of the history of God's people is now coming to a close and a new era-a new beginning-has shown up in the form of that infant Jesus.

Scott Hoezee, Comments and Observations
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Not Exactly What Was Expected

In the 14th century the Italian artist named Lorenzetti painted the scene Luke tells us about in our passage for today. Simeon and Anna are gathered at the altar. Mary and Joseph look on in amazed silence. The prophetess Anna has her eyes fixed on the child. Simeon, with a solemn look on his face, stares down at the baby in his arms. Yet the baby Jesus at the center of the picture surprises everyone. They all seem to gaze awestruck at him as Lorenzetti has him sucking his thumb!

The family may marvel, the aged Simeon and Anna may prophesy, but this little child-this thumb-sucking baby Jesus-is not exactly what was expected.

Bill Hayes, Is It Good News Or Bad News?
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Courage to Face the New Year
 
There is an odd little carol which is sometimes sung on this first Sunday after Christmas.  It begins: 
 
            There's snow on the mountain and ice on the pond, 
            The Wise Men are home now in the back of beyond. 
            The Shepherd's have left us; the heavens are dumb; 
            There's no one to tell us why Jesus has come. 
 
It ends: 
 
            But God's in His heaven, and Jesus has come 
            To show every sinner he's welcome back home, 
            To be this world's Saviour from hunger and fear, 
            And give us new courage to face the New Year. 
 
We have courage to face this New Year because of Jesus. He is Immanuel-God with us and for us. 
 
James D. Kegel, The Rest of the Story
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It Is Jesus!
 
The great philanthropist Stanley S. Kresge was often in the company of college presidents or other fund-raisers asking for endowment or financial aid. During the course of discussion, Mr. Kresge would always ask one question, "Do you think the world is better today than it was 2,000 years ago?" I'd like to ask you that question today. Is the world any better after 2,000 years since Christ came?
 
I say to you on this closing Sabbath of the second millennium, that it is Jesus Christ and his teachings that lie behind all the efforts at social reform. It was he who put an end to slavery. It was Jesus who abolished the gladiatorial shows of ancient Rome. It was Jesus who elevated the status of women. It was Jesus who sanctified childhood. It was Jesus, who by his emphasis upon the worth of human personality conferred on us our liberty. It is Jesus who has given us a new way of life, a new standard of conduct, a new power for living. Christ can save our world when Jesus is born again in the hearts of men and women.
 
William K. Quick, Seeing and Believing (Luke 2:22-40), on The Protestant Hour
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A Sight for Certain Eyes
The boy Jesus was a powerful and expected sight for certain eyes born of devout and unwavering faith. It has been said that Harriet Tubman was known to wait in train stations without the aid of train schedules or knowing when the train was coming. When asked why she would do that, she simply said because she knew the train was coming. In an age where people want to know, in an age of GPS, in an age of PDA's and all information load, this may sound strange, but what does it mean to wait without a schedule but to be certain that the train is coming? Could it be that Tubman knew that the station was the place to be when waiting for coming trains? Might it have been that Tubman recognized that the tracks had already been laid outside the station for traveling beyond where her stationed eyes could see?

Likewise, Simeon and Anna were stationed in the very place, the temple, where certain eyes were able to see and recognize the boy Jesus for who he was and is--the Messiah! We know that not all would or could not see Jesus as the Messiah. Experience had clouded their expectation, but this text calls us to expect to experience and to express what the Lord has shown us in the midst of all else. The world would not recognize him as the Messiah, certainly not a man on a donkey from an off-the-beaten-path like Nazareth. What a word!!! What a sight to see consolation and redemption in a baby that was yet gurgling. How it must have been for Joseph and Mary to see and hear what they heard! The text says that they were amazed!

Ozzie Smith, A Sight for Certain Eyes
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The Nature of Salvation
 
There is something surprising, unexpected about the appearance of salvation, something which contradicts pious opinions and intellectual demands. The mystery of salvation is the mystery of a child. A child is real, and not yet real, it is in history and not yet historical. It's nature is visible and invisible, it is here and not yet here. And just this is the character of salvation. Salvation has the nature of a child. 
 
Paul Tillich
 
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Forgive Us Our Christmases
 
Is it just me or does it seem to you as well that with each Christmas the activity surrounding the holidays just gets more and more hectic? It is not difficult to lose one's perspective at Christmas.
 
I recall the story about an 8-year-old girl who had a most disappointing Christmas. She didn't get the gifts she hoped to receive. She got into arguments with her older brother. Her mother walked into their play area to find her fighting with him and she was blamed. She took her anger out on the cat and found herself in bed that night earlier than usual. When she prayed the Lord's prayer as was her custom she said, "and forgive us our Christmases as we forgive those who Christmas against us."
 
Mike Motsko, Characters of Christmas: Simeon and Anna
 
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Mary's Suffering
 
There are two well-known pictures, each with the same title, "The Shadow of the Cross." One by Holeman Hunt depicts the interior of a carpenter's shop, with Joseph and the Boy Jesus at work. Mary is also present. The Boy Jesus pauses in his work, and as he stretches himself the shadow of the cross is formed on the wall. The other picture is a popular engraving which depicts the Infant Jesus running with outstretched arms to his mother, the shadow of the cross being cast on the ground by his form as he runs. Both pictures are fanciful in form, but their underlying message is true. If we read the Gospels just as they stand, it is clear that the death of Jesus Christ was really in view almost from the outset of his earthly appearance. At first sight there seems little in them about his death, but as we look deeper we see more. It was part of the divine purpose and plan for him from the first, and very early we have a hint of the cross in the words of the aged Simeon to the mother of our Lord: "A sword shall pierce through thine own heart also."
 
James W. Cox, The Minister's Manual 1985, New York: Harper, 1984, p. 70.
 
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The Light That Brings Discomfort
 
In 1992 a lighthouse was built in Santo Domingo, capital of the Dominican Republic. This is one of the poorest areas in the world. The lighthouse was constructed to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the arrival of Christopher Columbus. 150,000 people were evicted from their homes in a shantytown to make room for it. The intensity of its light means that electricity is rationed throughout much of the city. The light that brings security for some brings discomfort for others...
 
The conclusion to this illustration and many additional illustrations and sermons for the entire year can be accessed at www.Sermons.com.
   

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