However I shall never forget Candlemas in the parish where I served my curacy. It was an anglo-catholic parish in a blue collar neighborhood where we tried to maintain all the catholic essentials. The church was fairly ugly modern but with lots of large windows making it a bright, light space, with a decent altar with a tabby and six as we used to boast. The volunteer sacristan had gone to great pains the previous Sunday to prepare the church for Candlemas. There were tall new beeswax candles in place on the high altar as well as new candles on the shrines and on the credence table. I think Candlemas fell midweek.

What we had not counted on was the weather. The day before the feast and on the day itself the temperature rose into the 90's and low hundreds. The setting sun beat down on that altar through the large clear glass windows. When we came to the church to prepare for the evening mass on the Feast we discovered a surrealist scene. All the candles had collapsed in the heat and literally flopped over rendering them useless. The sacristan rushed about and replaced them with whatever stumps he had and of course the show went on. We had the full works with the blessing of candles and procession like tonight but in extraordinary heat since there was no air conditioning with sweat pouring from our brows. No wonder I developed a certain aversion to Candlemas until I experienced it afresh in the Northern winter.

For in its winter setting Candlemas makes huge sense as a feast of light. At the heart of the Gospel Simeon says in the unforgettable words of the Nunc Dimittis “a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.” Those words set to music in hundreds of Evensong service settings form the climax musically. The full significance of this Jesus whose birth we celebrated at Christmas is proclaimed throughout Epiphanytide concluding with Simeon's song tonight. Jesus is the Light of the World, the one whom God sent to dispel the darkness of sin and death and to bring light and life to all. Note that Simeon the righteous and devout Jew speaks first of Christ as the light to the Gentiles and second of him being for glory to God's people Israel. The sense is that as the light is shared with all so the light bearers, the people of faith are glorified. It is an important reminder to us as people of faith that glory comes to us as we share and proclaim the faith to the world; as we participate in the mission given us by Christ.

Simeon continues with his blessing of Mary and Joseph and the prediction of the suffering associated with the Christ child. What is so important to note here is that in Luke's infancy narratives as in Matthew the whole gospel reality is present in them. Not only do they proclaim the full significance of the Christ child as the Savior of the World and of the universal nature of his salvation but also that suffering will be part of this salvific process. Matthew deals with the universal significance of the Christ child with the Coming of the Magi. Luke puts the subject on the lips of Simeon and then fulfills it in the body of his Gospel and the in its accompanying Acts of the Apostles.

With regard to the issue of the suffering of the Christ Matthew has laid the foundation for this in the Slaughter of the Innocent Children of Bethlehem whereas once again Luke uses Simeon to predict the suffering of the Christ. What is important to underline when reflecting on the Christmas story and the Infancy narratives that they are not some discreet part of the gospel story containing the nice bits as it were which can be appropriated without the rest but that the Infancy narratives themselves contain the whole gospel. As Simeon proclaimed this Christ child brought by his faithful parents to be presented in the Temple in accordance with religious law is the whole Christ, the one who by his Death and Resurrection will bring Salvation to humankind.

But I am a people person by nature so I must speak of the characters in this gospel text. Mary, Joseph, Simeon and Anna are all good, devout, and faithful Jews who embody the best of their religious tradition. They themselves are important “bridge” figures in the gospel, linking God's continuing saving work with humankind. Mary and Joseph bring the Christ child to the Temple in Jerusalem in obedience to the law of Moses offering the appropriate sacrifices. In so doing they encounter two remarkable people Simeon and Anna both of whom were righteous and devout and waiting for the fulfillment of God's promises. Their faith was grounded in the tradition but always anticipating the future. They were prepared and ready, watchful and patient: in a way they are classic Advent figures. All four of these people speak to me of the essential continuity between the old and the new, between God's covenant with Abraham and God's new covenant made through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. The essential link between the two is the Spirit of God which for Luke is clearly at work here. Both Simeon and Anna are spirit-filled people who recognize Jesus as the Spirit-bearer of God. It is a good exercise to reflect on the Simeons and Annas that we have encountered in our own experience; often older people although not always; people who by their quiet ministry, by their their steadfast and attractive faith, by their hopefulness in God's future, encourage and sustain us.

This group of remarkable people are models for us who gather this morning to celebrate Candlemas. They remind us of the need for faithful obedience to God's commands; for belief in God's future; for patient but eager waiting for the fulfillment of God's promises; and for the spiritual discernment to recognize the Light of Christ in ourselves and others and to proclaim it and live it with confidence and joy.  Amen

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