Struggles with Suffering

Now I am not saying anything I have not said before, in fact I have even used some of the illustrations before - eg the Ray Harryhausen reference - but why this sermon for The Presentation of Christ has felt so difficult to write is a surprise to me.  Perhaps it is the way I've felt the need to put lots of things I have discussed over years into one place.  Also, I seem to be 'outing' myself as an uber liberal - but I am not too concerned about that...

The Presentation of Christ



Presentation (2014) Year A RCL Principal
A Sword Will Pierce your Own Heart also
God is here!
You’ve already heard that phrase a few times this morning.  That bold proclamation which is the foundation of today’s Gospel reading – when Anna and Simeon encounter the baby Jesus and proclaim ‘God is here’ – both in word and in action.  Simeon through the words we have come to know as the Nunc Dimitus, Anna with words of praise and speaking of all that the child would accomplish.
 
These proclamations, which are – Luke is keen to point out – fully the work of the Holy Spirit (a theme that will crop up again and again in Luke’s Gospel)  burst in on the activity of Joseph and Mary as they seek to fulfil the holy law and offer the sacrifice due.  God is here.  God is here in this child, in this place, in this activity, in the promise of who Jesus is, in the embracing of those outside of the expectations of the day (notably the gentiles), in this act of taking, blessing and sharing.   [more]

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