St John the Evangelist, Burgess Hill Candlemas 30.1.22

We come to Church to worship and to be enlightened. Jesus came first to the Temple on this day with those two ends of self offering and edification.

His parents made an offering on his behalf and they heard Simeon's prophecy of their Son becoming 'a light to lighten the nations'.

Candlemas gives us an opportunity to pause and reflect about what we do when we come to this Temple Sunday by Sunday. It is a Temple before it is a preaching house, a place of teaching, yes, but primarily not a place of edification but a place of worship. 

In this Church the worship of the eucharist has been offered day by day with a few breaks since 1863. People in their thousands have joined here to offer the unbloody sacrifice initiated by Jesus Christ we call the eucharist. They've come 'to offer themselves, their souls and bodies as a living sacrifice' with, in and through Jesus Christ.

The West Window, subject of our appeal, has two smaller windows at the bottom designed to emphasise the eucharist in this context. One has the sacrifice of the Cross. The other has the priest at the altar pleading the same sacrifice on our behalf with the text ‘ye do show the Lord's death until he comes’. Praying as we do ‘that my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable to God the Father almighty’. Our response, especially true to this Feast, is ‘may the Lord accept the sacrifice at your hands to the praise and glory of his name, for our good and the good of all his holy church’. 

Today on Candlemas, Feast of his Presentation, on his first visit to the one earthly Temple of his day, Our Lord anticipated his eternal sacrifice. The turtle doves sacrificed on his behalf in that Temple gave way, with all animal sacrifices, to his once for all offering made on a repeat visit to Jerusalem in his 33rd year. They took then no doves but an innocent Lamb, and as they did so the prophecy about his mother Mary in today's Gospel was fulfilled. 'A  sword will pierce your heart'. In St Martin’s Brighton, a Church I know well, that very image of Our Lady is provided at the foot of the Cross, graphically in black and with a sword stuck into her heart.

There is deep continuity between the sacrifices of the Old Testament, the offering of Jesus the Lamb of God, the Eucharistic Sacrifice and our own sacrificial living as Christians. They all hang together. In a culture full of self-interest what we are about this morning is powerfully counter-cultural. Here, in union with Christ, we are offering our souls and bodies to be a living sacrifice.  Sacrifice is at heart about voluntary choice about how we direct our lives - it is about love before it is about death.  It is about joyous living just as sure as ‘God loves a cheerful giver’. It is not so much about forgoing what we desire but of binding our energies to what God desires. 

In this context it is an excellent practice, helping prepare for the eucharist, to start each day with what’s called the Morning Offering. The idea is to sit on your bed as soon as you get up and, whilst letting the blood reach your head, get into gear spiritually by praying something like, ‘Lord, I thank you for who you are and your love for me and all that is. I give myself to you. Take me and use me for your praise and service and the building up of the body of Christ. Come, Holy Spirit'. When you have made such a prayer at the start of the day you recognise spiritual needs and opportunities around you and the hand of God working in your life in the hours that follow. I know this from when I forget to pray it - my day turns rather useless! The Morning Offering is linked to Christ’s Offering and invitation to join in it at Mass where we pray, ‘May he make of us an eternal offering to you’.

We come to Church to worship and to be enlightened.

Part of that enlightenment, as Mary and Joseph found, is the bringing of understanding and hence more creative involvement with the dark times of our life.

We all live with these - bereavement, chronic illness or the necessity to live with unresolved situations where there may be conflict. With Mary and Joseph this morning we welcome holy Simeon's words with gratitude since they speak of peace coming, as it does again and again, through heavenly illumination.

Jesus Christ is the light who lightens all nations and all ages.

May his light shine on us and into our various life situations this morning as we come to worship 'offering ourselves, our souls and bodies as a living sacrifice' with in and through Jesus Christ.

Like Simeon we see in Jesus one who removes the fear of death and promises perpetual light to his family as they travel forward in his light to their fulfilment in the house of the Lord together and forever.

We come to Church to worship and to be enlightened. Our Lord came first to the Temple on this day with those two ends of self offering and edification.

I end with a beautiful prayer of John Donne, sixteenth century Dean of St Paul’s which captures that aspiration: 

Bring us, O Lord God, at our last awakening into the house and gate of heaven to enter into that gate and dwell in that house, where there shall be no darkness nor dazzling, but one equal light; no noise nor silence, but one equal music; no fears nor hopes, but one equal possession; no ends nor beginnings, but one equal eternity; in the habitations of thy glory and dominion, world without end. Amen.

St Richard, Haywards Heath Candlemas 2020

We come to Church to worship and to be enlightened.

Jesus came first to the Temple on this day with those two ends of self offering and edification.

His parents made an offering on his behalf and they heard Simeon's prophecy of their Son becoming 'a light to lighten the nations'.

Candlemas gives us an opportunity to pause and reflect about what we do when we come to this Temple Sunday by Sunday.

It is a Temple before it is a preaching house, a place of teaching, yes, but primarily not a place of edification but a place of worship.

In this Chapel the worship of the eucharist has been offered day by day for over 80 years. People in their thousands have joined here to offer the unbloody sacrifice initiated by Jesus Christ we call the eucharist.

They've come 'to offer themselves, their souls and bodies as a living sacrifice' with, in and through Jesus Christ.

Today, his first visit to the one earthly Temple of his day, we recall that event as a prefiguring of Christ's eternal sacrifice. The turtle doves sacrificed on his behalf in that Temple gave way, with all animal sacrifices, to his once for all offering made on a repeat visit to Jerusalem in his 33rd year.

The priests and people then took no doves but an innocent Lamb, and as they did so the prophecy about his mother Mary in today's Gospel was fulfilled. 'A  sword will pierce your heart'. In St Martin’s Brighton, a Church I know well, that very image of Our Lady is provided at the foot of the Cross, graphically in black and with a sword stuck into her heart.

We come to Church to worship and to be enlightened.

Part of that enlightenment, as Mary and Joseph found, is the bringing of understanding and hence more creative involvement with the dark times of our life.

We all live with these - bereavement, chronic illness or the necessity to live with unresolved situations where there may be conflict. With Mary and Joseph this morning we welcome holy Simeon's words with gratitude since they speak of peace coming, as it does again and again, through heavenly illumination.

Jesus Christ is the light who lightens all nations and all ages.

May his light shine on us and into our various life situations this morning as we come to worship 'offering ourselves, our souls and bodies as a living sacrifice' with in and through Jesus Christ.

Like Simeon we see in Jesus one who removes the fear of death and promises perpetual light to his family as they travel forward in his light to their fulfilment in the house of the Lord together and forever.

I end with a beautiful prayer of John Donne, sixteenth century Dean of St Paul’s which captures that aspiration: 

Bring us, O Lord God, at our last awakening into the house and gate of heaven to enter into that gate and dwell in that house, where there shall be no darkness nor dazzling, but one equal light; no noise nor silence, but one equal music; no fears nor hopes, but one equal possession; no ends nor beginnings, but one equal eternity; in the habitations of thy glory and dominion, world without end. Amen

Candlemas & Education Sunday 1st February 2015

Today we combine the Feast of the Presention with Education Sunday.

As Mary and Joseph presented their Child to God so we present the 130 children of our School to him and seek a blessing on our stewardship.

It is occasion to reflect upon the work of education.

The Gospel of the Presentation ends with the statement in Luke 2.40 that the child Jesus grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.

Education is linked to growth in mind, body and spirit.

Our children probably get less of a balance here than they did in past generations. Time given for physical exercise and Christian formation is lost to mental training and with some good effect. We have reason to be proud of our school with its record for academic excellence.

Today's full liturgy involves the procession of candles during the singing of the canticle Nunc Dimittis in today's Gospel which speaks of the Light to lighten the Gentiles.

Education is similarly about illumination. My alma mater, Oxford University, has as its motto Dominus illuminatio mea. Words from the 27th Psalm The Lord is my light.

In Christianity the pursuit of truth is seen as inseparable from Truth's quest of us so that as we seek truth the pathway finds illumination.

Our own growth with Our Lord in wisdom is a lifelong process that will end with the Beatific Vision 'the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ' (2 Corinthians).

The children in our school have unprecedented access to human knowledge through the great library of the Internet. One of the ongoing works at our school is to develop the IT department with this in mind.

We seek increased wisdom for our children and increased knowledge can be of service. Indeed education requires a solid acquirement of knowledge.  The wise prioritising of such knowledge is at the heart of a good education. Some say the Internet is causing a loss of basic wisdom and that is probably true of some users even if for others it provides access to education unknown in past ages.

As we present the work of our school to the Lord at this morning's eucharist we might for discernment that builds wisdom out of knowledge. Recognising that education is of mind, body and spirit we would seek for our children the best challenges to stretch them in all three areas  - mental, physical and spiritual.

For ourselves too this morning we could reflect on our own ongoing formation and the things we allow to influence our thinking and to serve our physical and spiritual well being.

What use is a daily paper or news feed? What use do I put it to? How often do I reflect upon it or pray about it?

What books, radio series, TV programmes or web resources might build wisdom? For us, unlike children in school, there is choice, but to be educated we need to be decided about the issues we pursue that will touch body, mind and spirit for good. Unlike children we have no class to interact with educationally unless again we choose to interact with others.

This morning we celebrate the Lord's Presentation in the Temple. The liturgy of the day encourages us to present our whole life - body, mind and spirit - in union with him seeking in exchange divine illumination.

The holy eucharist is such an offering. In it Jesus continues to be offered in the Temple of his Church and we, our needs and those of our School, with Him.

In it this morning may we find something of Simeon's 'light to lighten the Gentiles', 'the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ' (2 Corinthians).

Candlemas 2014

We come to Church to worship and to be enlightened.

Jesus came first to the Temple on this day with those two ends of self offering and edification.

His parents made an offering on his behalf and they heard Simeon's prophecy of their Son becoming 'a light to lighten the nations'.

Candlemas gives us an opportunity to pause and reflect about what we do when we come to this Temple Sunday by Sunday.

It is a Temple before it is a preaching house, a place of teaching, yes, but primarily not a place of edification but a place of worship.

On this site the worship of the eucharist has been offered for half the Christian era. People in their hundreds of thousands have ascended this hill to offer the unbloody sacrifice initiated by Jesus Christ we call the eucharist.

They've come Sunday by Sunday, as the Prayer Book says, 'to offer themselves, their souls and bodies as a living sacrifice' with, in and through Jesus Christ.

Today, his first visit to the one earthly Temple of his day, we recall that event as a prefiguring of Christ's eternal sacrifice. The turtle doves sacrificed on his behalf in that Temple gave way, with all animal sacrifices, to his once for all offering made on a repeat visit to Jerusalem in his 33rd year.

The priests and people then took no doves but an innocent Lamb, and as they did so the prophecy about his mother Mary in today's Gospel was fulfilled. 'A  sword will pierce your heart'.

I saw last week in Gran Canaria that very image of Our Lady at the foot of the Cross, graphically in black and with a sword stuck into her heart.

We come to Church to worship and to be enlightened.

Part of that enlightenment, as Mary and Joseph found, is the bringing of understanding and hence more creative involvement with the dark times of our life.

We all live with these - bereavement, chronic illness or the necessity to live with unresolved situations where there may be conflict. With Mary and Joseph this morning we welcome holy Simeon's words with gratitude since they speak of peace coming, as it does again and again, through heavenly illumination.

Jesus Christ is the light who lightens all nations  and all ages.

May his light shine on us and into our various life situations this morning as we come to worship 'offering ourselves, our souls and bodies as a living sacrifice' with in and through Jesus Christ to whom be glory now and for ever. Amen.

Candlemas 8am 27.1.13

Today we anticipate for pastoral reasons, linked to Education Sunday, what the Prayer Book calls the Purification of Saint Mary the Virgin or the Presentation of Christ in the Temple. This festival which we are allowed to transfer from its set day of 2^nd February, celebrates the baby Jesus being taken to the  Temple  in  Jerusalem forty days after his birth to complete Mary's ritual purification after childbirth, and to perform the redemption of the firstborn, in obedience to the Law of Moses which indicates this should take place forty days after birth for a male child, hence the Presentation is properly celebrated forty days after Christmas.

Upon bringing Jesus into the temple, the family encounter Simeon. The Gospel records Simeon had been promised "he should not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ" (Luke 2:26). Simeon prays the prayer we now use at evensong or compline that’s known as the Nunc Dimittis, or Canticle of Simeon, prophesying the redemption of the world by Jesus:

Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace; according to Thy word: for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people: to be a light to lighten the gentiles and to be the glory of Thy people Israel (Luke 2:29-32).

In addition to being known as the Purification of Mary or Presentation of Christ another traditional name for today is Candlemas referring to the practice whereby later on this morning the priest blesses candles in a  place apart from Church – the school in our case - for a re-enactment of Christ’s entry into the Temple, symbolised by our Church building.

As we bless the candles we’ll be singing the Nunc Dimittis which contains Simeon’s prophecy that Christ’s salvations is to be a light to lighten the gentiles and to be the glory of Thy people Israel.

All celebrations of the events which have brought us salvation through the life, death and resurrection of Christ are given so we may apply them to our lives.  Just as each eucharist recalls Christ’s death and resurrection so we die further to sin and rise more to the life of the Spirit so the church’s calendar of feasts is given us to engage with the historical events to find truth to imitate and fresh hope.

As one ancient prayer used in contemplating today’s mystery of the Presentation puts it grant that we may imitate what it contains and obtain what it promises.

What truth is there to imitate in this morning’s celebration? We find a well expressed truth to take to heart in the Collect which prayed: as thy only-begotten Son was this day presented in the temple in substance of our flesh, so (may we) be presented unto thee with pure and clean hearts. In other words help us to be presentable. Just as on Friday night I searched out a bit of tartan to make me presentable at our Burns Night so our being presentable before God requires a discipline of self-examination to make sure we come to his altar with pure and clean hearts.

What promise is there for us to obtain in this celebration? I would say that the ceremonial entry into Church we’ll enact later on anticipates our entry through the gates of heaven into paradise, into the house of the Lord. Our Anglican funeral liturgy encourages the recitation of those words of the Nunc Dimittis in today’s Gospel: Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace; according to Thy word: for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation.

Like Simeon we see in Jesus one who removes the fear of death and promises perpetual light to his family as they travel forward in his light to their fulfilment in the house of the Lord together and forever.

I end with a beautiful prayer of John Donne, sixteenth century Dean of St Paul’s some of you may know: Bring us, O Lord God, at our last awakening into the house and gate of heaven to enter into that gate and dwell in that house, where there shall be no darkness nor dazzling, but one equal light; no noise nor silence, but one equal music; no fears nor hopes, but one equal possession; no ends nor beginnings, but one equal eternity; in the habitations of thy glory and dominion, world without end.