Who’s preaching New Year’s Day? Are you doing anything to mark the beginning of a new year?
The NL gives us Luke 2:21-38 and the lovely story of Simeon and Anna.
Simeon says this:
‘Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace,
according to your word;
for my eyes have seen your salvation,
which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles
and for glory to your people Israel.’
Will you be using one of the musical arrangements of the “nunc dimittis” (now you dismiss) in worship? Any great arrangements you have to share with us?
Luke does not record Anna’s words as he does Simeon’s (and all women say ‘big surprise’). What do you think she might have said?
Where is the Spirit leading you this week? Please share your ideas, your questions, your Time with the Children ideas, and anything else that might be helpful.
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Marci Auld Glass is the pastor of Southminster Presbyterian Church and lives with her husband and sons in Boise, Idaho. She is a graduate of Trinity University and Columbia Theological Seminary. She serves on the Clergy Advocacy Board of Planned Parenthood and the Mission Agency Board of the Presbyterian Church USA.
Marci blogs at Glass Overflowing and is among the contributors to the RevGals book,There’s a Woman in the Pulpit (SkyLight Paths).
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Here’s my sermon from the last time this text came up.
https://marciglass.com/2014/12/27/goin-to-the-temple/
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I am a minister of visitation and this Sunday I’m preaching from Isaiah 60:1-6 and Matthew 2:1-12. As I reflected upon Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” and the road not taken in the story of the Magi, I will invite us to look at the roads not taken in our lives. It is also a Communion Sunday for us so I will invite people to think about their past, present, futures with the choices we make. Any ideas come to any readers’ minds? May you each and all continue to reflect upon the gift of Christmas, however, you incorporate that Gift into your lives and share with others.
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Sounds great! The RCL post will be on the blog in a few hours and I’m sure they will have ideas for Matthew’s passage if nobody offers any here before then.
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Thanks….
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doing Anna and Simeon…and Mrs Louise Binck, a woman in my “growing up church” who was old….but fast. she could get to a visitor before the last organ note had sounded. faithful, righteous- and a one woman welcome team. She would invite visitors home for lunch after Sunday worship. She and her husband Donald didn’t have any children, but she loved and welcomed everybody. Louise was a widow for a long time, and was at the church whenever it was opened- and if it wasn’t opened, she was outside, planting flowers and pulling weeds.
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That’s great. What a lovely story.
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A beautiful woman and touching.
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What a great idea to name a real life Anna! I my do that with Dorothy in our congregation.
There are monologues from Anna and Simeon in Iona’s A Star Filled Grace that I am planning to use but haven’t thought any more about what I need to say.
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That’s a great resource. Thanks for bringing it to mind.
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Still not fully sure other than to look at what are resolutions for us in our faith journey? A&S knew the past but they weren’t stuck there, they could see the new beginning that was about to unfold in the life of Jesus. What’s the new beginning that is about to unfold in the congregation I’m serving as well as in each of our lives? I’m using an adapted version of Wesley’s Prayer of Renewal by Richard Bott as found in “Gathering” resource for the UCCan on page 37 (also I think at his site http://www.richardbott.com) One of the choir is going to sing as the sung benediction “Song of Simeon” 903 Voices United by Rae E. Whitney (words) and Orlando Gibbons (music). I’m finding both Spill the Beans and Clergy Stuff helpful in my reflecting.
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Great ideas! Thanks for sharing them!
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the courage to dream dreams as we cross the threshold of a new year… with ageing congregations sometimes older people need to be affirmed because we always ‘want’ younger people. Simeon and Anna provide a wonderful example of the courage to go on dreaming and hoping….
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so true. This passage works well with New Year’s Day.
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I went with the idea of – what legacy do I want to leave in 2017? Do I want to be like Mary and Joseph, who honoured God for what they’d received. Or Simeon and Anna, who in waited faithfully and expectantly in prayer and worship, and responded to God’s faithfulness with praise. I finished with the Nichole Nordeman song, Legacy.
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