Thinking about today, The Feast of the Presentation, called Candlemas, I was eager to see this incident in the life of Jesus in various art forms. And I was not disappointed. There in exquisite illuminated manuscripts, enamels, ivories, carvings and one superb Greek icon were many representations of the Presentation. In each there were five figures: Mary and Joseph, the child Jesus, Simeon and Anna. What I learned again from the artistic representations was that this feast was one of the Twelve major feasts in the Eastern Church from at least the Fourth Century and was known as the Hyperpante or the Meeting. This Gospel incident in particular was seen as the recognition of the divinity of Christ.

We know this feast by at least three names in English, its Greek name adding a fourth. I grew up using the English 1662 Book of Common Prayer in which the 2nd of February was known as the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In the contemporary Australian Prayerbook it is known as the Feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple and in our own book, simply The Presentation. Both are correct because Mary was obeying the Law concerning the purification of women after childbirth and the parents were also obeying the Law concerning the dedication of the first born to God. But in case you are already confused we give the Feast its popular name, Candlemas, rather like we call the Feast of the Nativity of Our Lord, Christmas. Candlemas is a medieval nickname for the Feast arising from the practice we have already observed of blessing candles and of carrying lit candles in procession.

And then we have that Greek name meaning meeting.

What is going on here? Well already I have said there was purification going on as well as presentation both of which were a fulfillment of the requirements of the Law. And that fulfillment says much about Mary and Joseph. They were obedient Jews who practiced their religion with care. Their obedience links them with other holy figures from the Hebrew scriptures and especially Hannah and the infant Samuel who was presented to the Lord in the Temple. Remember Mary at the time of the visitation to Elizabeth sang the Magnificat, which is based on Hannah's song. But it is the Greek name which is perhaps the most important clue to what is happening. Hyperpante, the meeting, describes this remarkable encounter between the new parents and their baby with the two, old, prophetic figures, Simeon and Anna.

The scriptures both Hebrew and Christian are full of encounters between various people in which somehow God is revealed. Think of Abraham and Sarah and the three strangers/angels in which the promise of a son and a dynastic future is given; think of Moses encountering God in the Burning Bush and discovering his vocation; think of Mary and the angel Gabriel at the Annunciation; or Peter, James and John with Jesus, Moses and Elijah on the Mount of the Transfiguration; and of Paul with the Risen Christ on the Road to Damascus. These revelatory encounters are the very stuff of our Salvation story in which this encounter or meeting we celebrate today stands. These encounters which are so significant remind us of our daily encounters with people. What sometimes seem like happenstance, a chance meeting on the subway or in the street, or with a colleague at work or wherever may be a moment of revelation, a moment when somehow our eyes are opened in a new way. I was thinking that the other night when I heard on the network news about a man who stopped his car to attend and care for a woman who had been abandoned in the woods in the snow barefoot and miles from anywhere. It was a real Good Samaritan moment. That man became for that woman a sort angel of mercy.

This meeting we celebrate to day is potent with meaning as both Simeon and Anna, these two faithful Jews, recognize the Lord's Messiah in their midst. Like Mary and Joseph they are religious people, faithful to their tradition; obedient to the Law; faithful and watchful. There is here not only a meeting, an encounter between people but also a confluence of the old and the new. Here the best of the Old Covenant recognizes that God is doing a new thing in their midst, fulfilling years of prophetic witness and yearning. These four people, Mary, Joseph, Simeon and Anna, in their own ways remind us that there are many ways to good religious practice whether it be for them as observant Jews or for us as observant or practicing Christians. Mary and Joseph came: they brought themselves and Jesus to the temple to worship, to make an offering, to dedicate their child. What is the saying, “being present or turning up is most of what is required”?

I often think we underestimate the fact of being in church as Christians. We often are tempted to judge the experience by the quality of the music or the sermon or the liturgy. Not that they are not important. But by being present; that is bodily present; standing, kneeling, sitting, listening, singing, receiving communion; being identified physically with the Christian community, is important of itself. I do think that applies to prayer also. Just placing ourselves in prayerful mode for a time: relaxed, attentive, bodily open to God as it were, takes us a good deal of the way to real spiritual encounter. It is rather like “putting ourselves in the way of the Spirit.” Well Mary and Joseph, no matter what their private thoughts were about all this, did come and did do in obedience to the Law of the Lord.

And what about Anna, that old lady who hung about the Temple night and day. Such people can be a bit of a trial sometimes especially when you are in a hurry to close up or whatever. But Anna whose words are never recorded reminds me of those faithful ones who watch and wait without saying much. Some say most of life is about waiting around. I was thinking of that as I waited five hours in Immigration recently for my “advanced parole” paper which allows me back into this country when I travel overseas. I try and think of the Annas of this world when I am stuck in a long line in the 31st Street Post Office. Rather than getting annoyed and impatient, I try to pray or at least think of those people who are on my heart and mind. Anna in her patient and expectant waiting is an important model for us. And last but not least Simeon who was a person of the Spirit not only turned up at the appropriate moment but was able to discern what was happening and to articulate it in his famous song, the Nunc Dimittis, which we heard sung at the beginning of this service. As people of faith we hope and pray that we may have the spiritual discernment to respond at the right moment.

But there is one other person present in this incident known as the Presentation of Christ in the Temple and that of course is the infant Jesus. And while all the key players, Mary, Joseph, Simeon and Anna have their important place, ultimately they are there to witness to Jesus the Christ. And it is Simeon's words which are crucial here: “for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared for all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.” Simeon discerns the moment and recognizes what is happening and who the child is: Emmanuel; God with us; God incarnate is in their midst.