“My eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples.” Luke 2:30-31
Dear Redeemer Family:
Do those two verses about sound familiar? They should. We sing them fairly often during the worship services. They are from what is called the “Nunc Dimittis,” or in English, “Simeon’s Song.” When Simeon encounters the baby Jesus in the Temple. The day of that event is celebrated as the Presentation of Our Lord, which happens on February 2nd, or 40 days after Christmas. Yes, it has been forty days since Christmas. On that day, both Simeon and the aged Anna prophesy in the Temple about what Jesus will do.
There is another interesting thing about that day, which I didn’t know until I read that section in the Sundays and Seasons book. Since Simeon also speaks in his song about Jesus being “a light for the nations,” and because an older reading for this festival from Zephaniah contains, “I will search Jerusalem with candles,” the day has also been historically called, “Candlemas.” You may have occasionally come across that word. In older traditions, all of the candles that will be used in the church in the coming year are blessed on this day. That was new information for me! But during the Season of Epiphany, even the light of one church candle may be seen as an epiphany.
There is another significant day in the month of February. That is February 18th. On that day we commemorate the death of Martin Luther in the year of 1546. Luther had been asked to arbitrate a dispute between two people whom Luther knew. For that purpose, he journeyed to a neighboring village. But the weather was poorly on the journey, and Luther wasn’t feeling well already, and he was 62 years of age. It seems from the written accounts of Luther’s friends that he suffered one, or more, heart attacks when he arrived at the village. His last request, as I have mentioned in sermons when the text comes up, was to have a friend of his read to him the 8th Chapter of St. Paul’s letter to the Romans. Shortly afterwards, Luther quietly died, comforted by the words. We commemorate that towards the middle of February, a light going out of our world.
In Christ,
Pastor Rose
