Tag: Candlemas
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Keeping Our Appointment With Life – A Sermon On Luke 2:22-40
“Shut up. Suit up. Show up.” Those six words are the daily mantra of a psychologist named James Hollis. He says them to himself as he rides the elevator down to his car each morning. (Hollis, Living Between Worlds, 132) With the first he’s telling himself “to stop whining and complaining” (Ibid.). It’s his recognition Read more
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Do You Have A Secret? – A Sermon On Luke 2:22-40
Many year ago, at the suggestion of my priest, I did some work with a counselor. During one of our meetings the conversation lulled and he asked me a question. “Mike, do you have a secret?” Tears filled my eyes. I had butterflies in my stomach. And my heart was pounding. I nodded, whispered yes,… Read more
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Blessing Candles on the Feast of the Presentation (Candlemas)
Forty days after Christmas the infant Jesus was presented in the temple of Jerusalem and placed in the arms of the old man Simeon (Luke 2:22-40) who declared: 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 Read more
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A Blessing Specific to the Feast of the Presentation
The Book of Occasional Services, one of the liturgical books in the Episcopal Church, offers several blessings specific to seasons and feast days. It does not, however, offer a blessing specific to the Feast of the Presentation, a major feast in the liturgical year. The following blessing has been prepared based upon the collects and Read more
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Arvo Pärt’s Nunc dimittis
Nunc dimittis, the Song of Simeon, from the Feast of the Presentation: 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 Read more
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A Life that Fits – A Sermon on Luke 2:22-40 for the Feast of the Presentation
I recently heard a man say, “I feel as if I have dropped into my own life and it fits.” It made me smile. It was such a great description. I think we all want to be able to say that. He went on, however, to say that it wasn’t about his family, his work, Read more
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A Blessing for the Feast of the Presentation
In a previous post I wrote about blessing candles on the Feast of the Presentation of our Lord in the Temple. But what about a blessing specific to the feast itself? The Book of Occasional Services offers several blessings specific to seasons and feast days. It does not, however, offer a blessing specific to the Read more
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A Blessing of Candles for the Feast of the Presentation
The Feast of the Presentation, celebrated on February 2, is one of the major feasts in the church year. It is sometimes known as Candlemas or the Feast of the Purification. This feast is celebrated forty days after Christmas and commemorates the presentation of Jesus and the purification of Mary in the Jerusalem temple (Luke Read more
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Blindness and Seeing, A Sermon on Luke 2:22-40
Let me tell you a little bit about Simeon, some things you may not know, some things that might surprise you. Simeon is often identified as one of the seventy Hebrew scholars who translated the Old Testament from Hebrew to Greek, what we know as the Septuagent. He surely was aware of Malachi’s prophecy, “The Lord Read more
Interrupting the Silence 