{"id":2594,"date":"2019-02-03T23:12:01","date_gmt":"2019-02-03T23:12:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/?page_id=2594"},"modified":"2019-03-04T15:41:35","modified_gmt":"2019-03-04T15:41:35","slug":"sermon-3rd-february-2019","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/information\/sermons\/sermon-3rd-february-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Sermon – 3rd February 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sermons index<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Candlemas – evening<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

Sunday 3rd February 2019<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Candlemas – evening
\nHaggai 2. 1-9
\nJohn 2. 18 \u2013 22<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Revd Preb Maureen Hobbs<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n
\"Maureen<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Today we remember the presentation of Christ in the Temple \u2013 That occasion, a few weeks after his birth, when Mary and Joseph would have brought their new-born infant to the Temple in Jerusalem for the first time in his life. To offer thanks to God for their son and to offer the appropriate sacrifice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nSo far, so relatively normal\nfor any Jewish family. But there in the Temple something\nextraordinary happened, and it all had to do with two elderly people\nwho make their entrance into the story of Jesus and then just as\nsuddenly, disappear again. Simeon and Anna; giving us all reassurance\nthat this amazing nativity is not just about new life and the child.\nOr rather, that it is, but that this has meaning for the old as well\nas those who will live to see the baby grow to manhood and experience\nhis ministry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nI like to think of the parents\nwith their baby \u2013 possibly he was restless and making a noise as\nyoung children will do. Especially when you are in a holy place;\nsomewhere that respectable people come to feel close to God and to\nsay their prayers. You can imagine their discomfort as the old man\nSimeon is disturbed by the noise and comes over to them. No doubt\nthey were expecting to be told off along the lines of \u201cCan\u2019t you\nkeep that child quiet! Remember where you are!\u201d … How many of you\nhad that experience or something similar when you were trying to\nbring a child to church? Probably rather too many!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nBut instead, Simeon asks to be\ngiven the child and make an astounding prophecy over him. A prophecy\nthat we remember at every sung evensong in the words of the Nunc\nDimittis \u2013 Simeon\u2019s song!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nAfter all his years of waiting\nto see the salvation of Israel something about this couple; something\nabout this child among so many, makes Simeon cry out \u2013 Lord, now\nlettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy\nsalvation…. which thou hast prepared to be the glory of thy people\nIsrael.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nThe prophet Haggai wrote of\nthe restoration of the Temple and that its future glory would come \u2013\neven though it had been left in ruins by the invading armies of the\nBabylonians. Now, here is the glory made flesh and blood. Not bricks\nand mortar, not even silver and gold, but human flesh, warm and sweet\n\u2013and yes, noisy!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nSimeon is the first to\nrecognise that the Temple of God is not to be found in any\ncontruction, but in the person of Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nThat is why, years later, when\nother devout jews were asking Jesus for a sign, he could speak about\nthe destruction and rebuilding of a Temple that had nothing to do\nwith visible buildings, but everything to do with his own self \u2013\nhis body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nAnd even though that body was\nto be horribly destroyed and broken on a cross, God would again bring\nabout a miraculous restoration in the form of the resurrection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nChristianity has a huge\ninvestment in buildings. Church buildings have, for centuries been\nthe most significant buildings in our communities. For many the\nentire passage of human life, from baptism to burial, is marked in\none particular building \u2013 that is certainly true here! And even\nunbelievers no less than believers have a certain awe and fascination\nabout these sacred spaces. They embody place, memory and pilgrimage.\nAs landmarks in every community they compel us to define ourselves in\nrelation to the beliefs and experiences they symbolise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nJudaism was no different in\nthat respect. The Temple was one of the three pillars of Jewish faith\nand having their Temple in Jerusalem seemed to be the most important\nthing for them for centuries once they arrived in the Holy Land and\nbegan to unite under their kings. David was the first to conceive of\nbuilding a permanent \u2018home\u2019 for God, but it was his son Solomon\nwho would be the first to realise the vision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nBut maybe the portability and\ntemporary nature of the Tent of Meeting which is what the children of\nIsrael took with them on their wanderings through the Wilderness with\nMoses, maybe that was a better symbol for the God who would always be\nwith them \u2013 wherever their journey would take them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nAnd eventually it is Jesus,\nthe Christ who would become the one to replace the Temple. He is\nGod\u2019s dwelling place for his time on earth. And after Jesus\u2019\ndeath, resurrection and ascension, and the giving of the Spirit, St\nPaul says, \u201cDo you not know that you are God\u2019s temple and that\nGod\u2019s Spirit dwells in you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nSo the future glory of the\nTemple is never to be found in buildings \u2013 as important as they\ncontinue to be to us, but rather in the lives of each one of us here\ntonight. \u201cAnd the latter splendour shall be greater than the\nformer, says the Lord\u201d…..How will you make that glory shine out\nto others in the week ahead?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nAmen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Candlemas – evening Sunday 3rd February 2019 Candlemas – evening Haggai 2. 1-9 John 2. 18 \u2013 22 Revd Preb Maureen Hobbs Today we remember the presentation of Christ in the Temple \u2013 That occasion, a few weeks after his birth, when Mary and Joseph would have brought their new-born infant to the Temple in … <\/p>\n

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