Thankful Memorial, Chattanooga
February 2, 2020
Year A, The Presentation

Malachi 3:1-4
Psalm 24:7-10
Hebrews 2:14-18
Luke 2:22-40

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Remember those emergency warnings we used to get on t.v.?  You’d be watching a show when suddenly the screen would switch to this rainbow of static color, there’d be three loud beeps, and a voice would say “We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming to bring you this announcement.”

Today, February 2, is sort of like that.  It’s an important Sunday this year for reasons that have nothing to do with football.  Every year, on February 2 the Church celebrates the presentation of Jesus in the Jewish Temple by his parents and on the rare occasion that this day lands on a Sunday, our celebration of it interrupts our regularly scheduled Sunday programming in Epiphany. 

The feast of the Presentation is celebrated forty days after Christmas because, according to Jewish law in Jesus’ time, a couple’s first-born son was to be brought to the Temple forty days after his birth to be presented to the Lord, and with offerings, the couple would give thanks for the birth of their boy.  Forty days was also the time allotted for a woman to become ritually cleansed before re-entering the Temple after childbirth.  So, today marks a big day for Mary, too, who is presenting herself and her son to the Lord in a rite of thanksgiving and purification after a safe delivery (and yes, first-born son and the implicit “impurity” of womanhood, motherhood and childbirth are all aspects of ancient patriarchy).  It is during this ritual event that Simeon and Anna, two prophets in the Temple, recognize this forty-day-old child as the Messiah and proclaim him as the light of the world. 

All of these events take place at one moment in Jesus’ early life and it is such an important moment that it interrupts our regular celebration of Epiphany.  We pay attention to these special events on this day through our collective prayers.  In our Candlemas Procession this morning, we prayed that, just as God revealed the light of Christ to Simeon, we also might have that Light in our hearts and in our lives.  We prayed before the statue of Mary that, since Mary gave birth to Jesus – human and divine – we may continue to hope for and rejoice in our own salvation through him.  And finally, we prayed in our Collect of the Day that, as Jesus was “this day presented in the temple, so we may be presented to [God] with pure and clean hearts by Jesus Christ.” 

Some years ago, I used to regularly work-out to some in-home videos.  One of the ones I liked the best was hosted by a woman named Ellen.  Ellen was big on what she called “mind-body wellness.”  Working out is not just about being physically fit, but emotionally energized, too.  And throughout her videos, Ellen would always use this phrase: “Lift your heart up,” she’d say.  You’d be squatting or jumping or lunging or stretching and she’d ask, “Is your heart lifted?”  Ellen wanted your body to be aligned, with your chest out a bit and your neck long and your shoulders back and down, no matter what other movement was happening, mostly so that you get a proper workout, I think.  But, Ellen also claimed that keeping your heart lifted maintains good posture and promotes energy, good health and that “mind-body wellness” even after you’ve finished and moved on with your day. 

“Lift your heart,” Work-out Ellen would say.  And every Sunday at the Eucharist, we say it, too: “Lift up your hearts.  We lift them to the Lord.  Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.  It is right to give God thanks and praise.” 

I don’t know if what Ellen says about heart-lifting promoting mind-body wellness is true, but I do know that when we lift up our hearts to God here, every Sunday, it certainly does promote our spiritual wellness.  When we lift our hearts to the Lord every Sunday in our spiritual work-out, we present ourselves to God.  This is the reason why some folks remain standing instead of kneeling during the Eucharistic prayer, so that their hearts remain lifted up, presented to the Lord.

But, it’s not really us presenting ourselves, but Christ presenting us.  As Mary, herself purified, presented Jesus in the temple, so now, every Sunday, Jesus presents us, here in God’s temple at Thankful.  And because we are presented by and through Christ, that “refiner and purifier,” we are able to lift up hearts made pure and clean through Him.  We come to the altar, not cowering in fear of retribution or burdened with the worries of our world, but assured of God’s mercy and forgiveness, in thanksgiving and praise for our right relationship with God and the grace by which we are able to be in service to the Light of the world, lifting up our hearts to the Lord. 

And it is right that we should lift up our hearts in praise and thanksgiving, because when we do, we prepare ourselves to receive the body of Christ in communion.  Just like the prophets Simeon and Anna in the Temple, every Sunday, we, too, find that God has revealed to us the Light of the world in the person of Christ Jesus and we are invited to hold out our hands and receive him.  And because we have been purified by Christ, presented to the Lord with hearts lifted in thanksgiving and praise, we are able, through grace, to receive that precious Body with joy, and “to praise God and to speak about [Jesus] to all.”

So, you see, today we interrupt our regular observance of Epiphany to celebrate this special day, the Feast of the Presentation of our Lord in the Temple.  But, as it turns out, we’ve been celebrating it all along.  Each Sunday, though we may not realize it, is a Sunday of the Presentation.  Each Sunday, like Mary, we are purified through Christ, cleansed from sin.  Each Sunday, like the baby Jesus, we are presented to the Lord, lifting up our clean and pure hearts in thanksgiving.  And like Simeon and Anna, each Sunday, we stretch out our hands and receive the body of Christ with joy and praise for our salvation, the “light for revelation… and for glory to [God’s] people.” 

So, come.  Let us be presented to the Lord.  Lift up your hearts.  It is right to give God thanks and praise.  Amen.