A woman was considered unclean for forty days after the birth of a son. Once the forty days were over, she and her husband were to take the child to the temple in Jerusalem, where they were to offer up a sacrifice of thanksgiving for the child. If they were rich, they would be expected to sacrifice a lamb. If they were poor, they would be asked to sacrifice just two turtle doves or two pigeons.
Mary and Joseph went from Bethlehem to Jerusalem for this rite of purification. They held their newborn baby in their arms with all the anxiety of young parents, wondering if they were doing OK, if the baby would be OK.
I remember taking our son Luke to a restaurant when he was just a few weeks old. We were so young and inexperienced that we left before even eating. We did not know how to keep him quiet, where to change him. So we just went home. But Mary and Joseph had to walk. They could not just turn around and go home. Bethlehem is a good few miles from Jerusalem. Once they reached the temple, there was no turning back.
And then they saw him. The old man. He came up to them with such a look of intensity in his eyes. This was Simeon. God told him that he would not die until he saw the Messiah, the Lord's annointed. And God told him to go to worship that day. And so there he was, looking all around, waiting for Jesus. We dont know how many years he waited but we do know that he stayed alive just for this reason, just to see this Messiah.
Did Simeon know that it would be a baby? Was he looking for a child?
We will never know. But we do know that he came to the Temple expecting to see God's annointed one and he did see Christ. He recognized him.
I can just picture the old man, the look on his eyes as he sees that baby, the one he has been waiting for.
There is a beautiful picture of the Dalai Lama on the Internet. He is standing beside a metro car in a subway station underground. There is a baby boy in his mothers arms seated inside the car by the window. The baby is leaning into the window, smiling at the Dalai Lama and the Dalai Lama has his hand to the window, with this playful look of anticipation and joy on his face, as if he has never seen anything more beautiful than that child.
"Now, I can die," Simeon says, "for I have seen this child."
Simeon came to the temple expecting to see God.
Why did you come here today? Were you expecting to see God? Were you expecting to have your life changed forever, to catch a glimpse of God's will for your life? Simeon not only prayed deeply, but he took the next step in a life of prayer, the courageous step that most of us are terrified to take. After he prayed, he EXPECTED and WAITED for God's promise. But often we do not dare to expect so much of God. Often, we are satisfied with a beautiful piece of music or a piece of inspiration from a sermon. Often we come to church out of habit or some deep sense of hunger, but rarely do we dare to expect so much of God.
Why do you come to church? What are you hoping to find? Can you articulate your expectations? What do you long for, hope for, dream for? If you do not name your hopes and dreams and desires to God, how will you know when you have been heard? How will you know when your prayers have been answered?
Nehemiah's heart was broken over the state of the holy city of Jerusalem. After the exile, the city was ruined, the walls torn down and the remnant of Jews that remained were hungry, afraid and beaten down by foreigners. Nehemiah cried out to God to help rebuild the walls of the holy city. He prayed hard and then Nehemiah, just like Simeon, waited, expecting an answer. This time, God answered Nehemiah's prayers by sending him back to Jerusalem to raise the money and build the walls himself.
God's answer to Nehemiah was to enlist his help. He became the very one to answer his own prayers. He became the agent of God's will.
What do you want from life? Do you want to see the hungry fed? Do you want your family to be healthy and loving? Do you want peace in the world? Simeon had the courage to ask God to see Christ and then to wait and go to worship expecting to see Him. Nehemiah asked God for his city and then answered when God asked him to go there himself and help rebuild it.
Today is our Annual Meeting here at the Cathedral. Since the 1840's, this Cathedral has been worshipping God here in downtown Jacksonville, Florida. We have built schools, housed hundreds of elderly who live on little or no income, we have fed the hungry, built homeless shelters, taught art to thousands of children in the public schools who would not have had art without us. And yet, it is never enough to thank God for all that we have been given. Our greatest challenge to this date is that we dream too small. We expect too little. We dont dare enough.
After four years as your Dean, I am convinced that this Cathedral is a giant which has only partially awoken. We need the courage of Simeon, the motivation of Nehemiah. We need to have the audacity to say to ourselves that we expect to see God here every Sunday and that this radical encounter is going to shape us in such ways that we are no longer concerned with survival but with the doing of the gospel in profound ways.
This country is divided and enslaved by fear, fear of a weak economy, fear of never finding solutions to our problems, fear of terrorism and fear that we have seen our peak that our days as the leading country in the world are numbered. This city is blighted in the downtown. It is worse than any other city in Florida. We have not yet succeeded in finding a way to revitalize our core. We are struggling.
What do you ask of God today? And if you dare to pray boldly and specifically, are you also willing to be part of the solution? Are you, like Nehemiah, willing to work to rebuild relationships and strive for a better city? We are all so busy, busier than ever before. But we do have choices. And if we do not choose how to live our lives, our lives will live us. If we do not ask God for specific goals and expect and wait for an answer, we will spend our lives spinning our wheels and worrying about next steps.
This Cathedral has the capacity to lead this city. We have the capacity to light our building, reroute traffic, create jobs, envision a changed downtown. But we must believe that Christ is among us. We must come to church EXPECTING to see God and have our lives changed. And we must be willing to accept the challenge that comes when God takes over our hearts.
This place is a birthplace for ministry. It is a heartbeat that keeps this downtown alive. And when you walk into this beautiful sanctuary, expect to see God.
