Thank You for Coming

Luke 2:22-40, Psalm 148

December 28, 2008

Rochelle A. Stackhouse

“To those who have seen the child, however dimly, however incredulously, The Time Being is, in a sense, the most trying time of all.” W. H. Auden wrote those words during the Second World War in his Christmas Oratorio. Much of that part of the poem reflects on how hard it is to live in the “now, but not yet,” the time of waiting for God’s will, revealed in Jesus, to be fulfilled, the “peace on earth, good will to all people” part. It is trying to remember that all this that we celebrate on Christmas occurred 2000 years ago and yet, peace on earth and good will to all people still seems a dream; we are still waiting, and times are trying.

So today, we are given a gift to help us in trying times, waiting times. Simeon and Anna at the Temple greeting Jesus. They saw a baby and proclaimed loudly that they had seen God’s salvation! Anna praised God. Simeon said he could now die happily.

Does anyone else think this a bit odd? They had seen a child. Not a great warrior. Not a great philosopher. Not a priest. Not a politician. Not a poet. Not a social worker or scientist or negotiator or teacher or any kind of person we might think could save the world. This baby couldn’t even walk or talk or feed himself! And his parents were nobodies from the sticks: not educated or powerful in any way.

And yet, and yet. Simeon and Anna saw something and believed something more than what they could see with their eyes. They imagined what might be possible; they believed what God promised even when they had not experienced the fullness of that promise. Both of them died before Jesus even hit puberty. They believed what God promised even when they had not experienced the fullness of that promise, and because they believed, they rejoiced.

And so, like saying grace before you have eaten a bite of your meal, they said thank you. Thank you, God, for coming. They joined their voices with generations of the faithful before them, like the Psalmist who wrote the thank you prayer we read this morning, and said, “Thank you” for something they had not yet fully received. They were not deluded or fools; they were not pie-in-the-sky idealists or Pollyannas. They were not using their religion as a crutch or a shield from reality. They trusted, because they had seen God act before in so many ways in their lives. They believed what they had not yet seen fully realized.

Thank you. This year, that’s what I want to say the week after Christmas, and not just to people who gave me presents.

Thank you, God, for coming.

Thank you for giving us this hope that the world can become new, like a baby.

Thank you, that where we think there are ends, that’s where new beginnings arise.

Thank you that the scoundrels, the greedy ones who devour without care do not have all the power and definitely do not have the last word.

Thank you that you continue to create in people the desire to help, to love, to give.

Thank you that you continue to inspire people to create beauty in music, in art, in dance, in theatre, in poetry.

Thank you that over 2000 years, despite our failings and our sorrows and our immense capacity to mess it up, your church has not become irrelevant or dead, but that people continue to seek you out, to listen to the old stories and create new ones, to bring their children, like Aidan, for baptism in the hope that maybe, just maybe, your presence in their lives will make a difference.

Thank you for continuing to push us, not to be all that we can be, but to be better than we think we can be.

That’s what I praise God for the Sunday after Christmas. Now I invite you to join me. Like Simeon and Anna, you have gathered at a place of worship this morning. You are in the presence of Christ. You know that all we hope for each Christmas has not yet been fulfilled. What do you see that makes you thankful that God did come, that gives you hope that the Jesus project continues? Turn to your neighbor and tell them.

Did you hear some things that make you want to praise God, like Simeon and Anna?

Yes, the Time Being is a trying time in so many ways. But we continue to get glimpses of hope, of joy, we touch a reality breaking into the trying reality we experience that makes us want to shout, “Thank you!” along with Simeon and Anna. Come to Bethlehem, or New Haven, or Hamden, or North Haven, or Washington, or Beijing, or Havana, or Harare, or Sarajevo, or Juarez, or anywhere in the world, and see, him whose birth the angels sing. Come adore on bended knee, Christ, the Lord, the newborn, grown up, crucified and risen King. Gloria, in excelsis Deo, Gloria, in excelsis Deo!