Tag: Presentation of Jesus at the Temple
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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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“For My Eyes And For My Mind” – A Sermon On Luke 2:22-40
“For my eyes and for my mind.” Nearly every week for two years I heard Jimmie say those words. She was a parishioner at my previous parish. Jimmie was almost completely blind. She was confused and losing her memory. Every week her caregiver would bring Jimmie to church for the healing service. Every week she 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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Showing Up – A Sermon on Luke 2:22-40 for the Feast of the Presentation
What good is it to us if Simeon receives into his arms the child Jesus and we do not? What good is it to us if Simeon’s eyes see salvation and our eyes do not? What good is it to us if Simeon is free to go in peace if we are not? 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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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
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Blessing Candles on the Presentation of our Lord
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
Interrupting the Silence 