Feast of the Presentation

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Presentation of Our Lord in the Temple, also called the Purification of Virgin Mary, also called Candlemas, because of a procession and blessing of candles that is associated with this celebration in some places.  It is actually one of the major feasts of the church right up there with Christmas and Easter but you probably don't know much about it or rarely have been exposed it because it is always Feb 2, and unless Feb 2 falls on a Sunday we don't usually celebrate it.

But this year it falls on a Sunday so here we are.  And because it falls on a Sunday it kind of disrupts the chronology of the church calendar.  We were just last Sunday talking about the calling of the disciples and now we are back in time to when Jesus was a young child.  Jim noticed a couple of Sundays ago that we still had 2013 up on the reader board and wondered if the Episcopal Calendar was different from other calendars.  Well, the answer to that is, actually it is.

For instance when everyone else is America celebrating New Years on Jan 1, our church calendar celebrates Holy Name Day, 8 days after Christmas, when Jesus was brought to the temple the first time for his circumcision.

Now 40 days after Christmas when everyone else is celebrating Ground Hog Day, or actually today getting ready for the other Major Religious Holiday in America, the Super Bowl, we celebrate The Presentation.

Under Mosaic Law found in Leviticus 12, a mother who had given birth to a male child was considered ritually unclean for seven days, moreover she was to remain for thirty-three days "in the blood of her purification," as it says. So 7 and 33 is 40,  40 days after the birth, is this presentation in the temple of the baby, and offering of sacrifices to celebrate the end of the time.

Candles became associated with this day, a procession of candles, and blessing of candles, thus the name Candlemas, since we are in the season of Epiphany and because of the light imagery in Simeon's response to seeing the child Jesus.  Simeon words have become a regular part of our Evening Prayer service as we remember in the darkness of night:  "A light to enlighten the nations."
But not just light enabling us to see.  It is also about purification, as in our Malachi passage.  Light or fire is also about purification, cleansing, healing, the refiners fire which separates the dross, the impurities, from the pure silver and gold.

Interestingly enough Groundhog Day actually has its roots in Candlemas.   An old English saying went like this:  "If Candlemas Day is clear and bright, winter will have another bite.  If Candlemas brings cloud and rain, winter is gone and will not come again."   Though in the United States, from the German Pennsylvania Dutch tradition, we have the groundhog, in other traditions Candlemas is the day bears or wolves also emerge from hibernation to inspect the weather.  If the ground hog, bear or wolf, sees his shadow he goes back in for another six weeks nap, six more weeks of winter, but if the day is cloudy he remains out as the weather is going to be moderate.

Now this strange mixture of light and dark images as always seemed to be backwards to me.  A clear and bright day rather than being assurances of good weather means exactly the opposite.  The message seems to be don't get your hopes up, this sunny day will not last.  A warning about jumping to conclusions I guess.  Here light seems to signal dark days to come.

Simeon's foreboding words, his prophecy about Jesus, a warning actually to Mary and Joseph actually echo this.  This light that Simeon sees in Jesus will mean upheaval, the rising and falling of many.  Like the Song of Mary, things are going to be turned upside down by this baby.  The rich will be humbled, as well as the poor being exalted.   Depending on whether you are rising or falling, this might not be such good news at all.  The warning of dark days ahead, of suffering to come, takes a poignant personal turn, as Simeon tells, Mary, "A sword will pierce your heart as well."  What is going to happen to this child will break your heart.

On the other hand as the poem about Candlemas says, if it is a cloudy and rainy day, winter has gone away.  The hope is always that light shines in the darkness, that life comes from death, that joy comes in the morning, that Spring follows Winter, that the days of our pain and sorrow will come to an end, and what seems to be meaningless suffering will at least have a purifying effect, refining us as we are tested by fire, purifying us so that all the dross is burned off, and pure silver and gold at our core will be revealed.  This is the hope of a life of penance, of sanctification that we are all called to live.  Interestingly enough, our modern Ground Hog day even has some this layer of meaning that has surveyed.  Take the movie with Bill Murray.  He is forced to repeat the day, Ground Hog day, again and again and again, until he gets it right, until his transformation is complete.

We are also called to see Christ more clearly, love him more dearly, follow Christ more nearly. Seeing Christ more clearly.  Simeon and Anna saw this baby for who he was.  They devoted themselves to prayer and worship, immersed themselves in the worship of the temple.   Anna, an 84 year old woman, who never left the temple, but worshipped there fasting and praying night and day - She reminds me of Julian of Norwich, a 14th Century Mystic who was also an anchorite.  That means she lived a big chunk of her life in a little cubical attached to the church wall.  Imagine living like that.  Well, I can't imagine it really, seems way beyond what I could manage, and I really am not recommending it, but think of her perspective on life, as she was totally devoted to what happened week after week at this altar, the recitation of the story of salvation, the repetition of Jesus' last meal, again and again and again, the breaking of bread and pouring of wine, the sacrifice of this death and the hope of his resurrection was all she knew, what filled all of her days.  Julian knew nothing else but this experience.

People did come to her for prayers and wisdom.  Actually during a time of serious illness while she was still living at home, she had incredible visions which she recorded in her Showings, Revelations of Divine Love.  God lighted her whole being.  One of my favorite of her visions was her image of the whole world as a hazelnut held in the palm of God's hand.  She also had this incredible feminine image of God.  She talks about all of us, the whole world, even all the tension and discord of our diversity, struggling like Esau and Jacob, all existing in the womb of God, waiting to be born as a new creation.  She has some very graphic images of the suffering of Christ and the suffering of the whole world, but then she also has this wonderful line which TS Eliot quotes in the Four Quartets, "All shall be well and manner of thing shall be well."

This feast day of the Presentation, or Purification, actually was elevated from a minor feast to a major feast back in 6th century when the Candle light procession was credited with delivering Constantinople from a devastating plague.  It also sometimes gets merged with the Feast of St Blaise which is tomorrow, Feb 3 in which candles are used as a part of prayer of healing for throat ailments.  Lots of images of how candles are not just about shining a light, but have healing, purifying power as well.

So the story of St Blaise goes like this. Blaise was a doctor by trade and became a bishop in Armenia.  This was back in the 4th Century, and during a time of persecution he was being taken into custody, and a mother, whose only child was choking on a fishbone, threw herself at his feet and begged him to help. Touched by her grief, he prayed, and the child was cured. Consequently, Saint Blaise is invoked for protection against injuries and illnesses of the throat.  Even today some priests will pray, calling upon St Blaise, with two candles, which are crossed and held against the throats of the people being blessed.  Given the fact that so many of us have been sick lately this might be a good use of our time as well.

Lots of different superstitions, folk lore and practices get attached this day.   Candlemas is traditionally the day you bring in the cows in order to prepare the fields for planting.  It is a day to spread ashes in the fields to ensure a better harvest, or to place ashes on the roof to keep away evil spirits.  Newlyweds used to jump over a fire during Candlemas, both a purification and preparation for their life together.  I guess if they were able to risk being burned by the fire, they were able to take whatever was to come in marriage as well.

Lots and lots of images with various meanings, that lead to a multitude of traditional expressions  Some times it gets rather confusing all of the meaning that can be loaded into just one day.   Just look back into the history to see what has happened on Feb 2.   Just to name a few.  On Feb 2nd 1916 German Zeppelins dropped 400 bombs on Great Britain.  Buster Keaton was fired from MGM in 1933. Babe Ruth was elected into the baseball hall of fame in 1936.  On this day in 1943 the Germans surrendered to Russia.  GI Joe action figure was released in 1964.  1971 Idi Amin declared himself president of Uganda. On Feb 2nd 1990 South Africa lifted the ban on the African National Congress and announced that Nelson Mandela would be released.  Airplanes were highjacked, presidential campaigns launched, storms devastated the county side, epidemics raged and needed medicine arrived in Nome Alaska by sled dogs. Super Bowls are played, babies are born and people die . . .  and also on this day, a long time ago, a woman brought her baby son to the temple for a blessing.

Through all this wild cacophony of events, through all the strange and wonderful happenings here on earth, through all the joys and sorrows, risings and fallings, triumphs and sufferings, though all this messy, crazy life that seems impossible to understand, to make any sense of when taken as a whole even just on one day - through it all we catch the clear vision of Anna who has her eyes only on The Lord.  And we hear the words of Simeon who was told by God that he would not perish until he saw the coming of the Messiah.

Lord, you now have set your servant free *
    to go in peace as you have promised;
For these eyes of mine have seen the Savior, *
    whom you have prepared for all the world to see:
A Light to enlighten the nations, *
    and the glory of your people Israel.

 

May we too, see this everlasting and eternal light shining through all the cloudy and rainy days!  May we know the purifying power of this eternal flame that burns in the heart of the creation.  May we see this Christ, this Savior that God has prepared for all the world to see.  May we on this day, and day by day throughout our lives, see him more clearly, love him more dearly and follow him, wherever he leads, even to the sword that pierces our own hearts, may we follow him more nearly.  May we be guided by this light, so that either way, clear and bright, cloudy and rainy, whether winter is  going on or coming to an end, we will know that All Shall be Well and All Manner of Thing Shall be Well.