Sermon: "Fulfilling Endings, Hopeful Beginnings"

6th in the "Something to Celebrate" series.
Delivered December 31, 2006 by Rev. George Antonakos.
Other sermons in this series - 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6

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"When the time of their purification according to the Law of Moses had been completed, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, "Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord"), and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: "a pair of doves or two young pigeons." Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Christ. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: "Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel." The child's father and mother marveled at what was said about him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: "This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too."

Well, it's almost over. Here we are on day 356 (365!) of 2006. Tomorrow is not only another day, it's another year. These two days 12/31 of one year and 01/01 of the next year tend to stir up things within us, because they stand as symbols of the old passing and the new coming. They stand as symbols of endings and beginnings and they prompt reflection for us not only of one year, but of the passing of all of our years. A year ago today, there were friends who were with us and they are not with us now. A year from now there are some in our community who are with us today that when 12/31/07 rolls around will not be with us. It doesn't matter if we are young or if we are old for this to be a possibility.

On Tuesday, the day after Christmas my mom called me to tell me of a death in my brother-in-law's family, my sister's husband lost his 38-year-old female cousin on the day after Christmas as she was getting dressed; she just had a heart attack. I hold in my hand the insert from last week's fourth Advent service. We don't say much about this sheet. It just stands as a silent and somewhat sweet witness to our remembering those who have died. In reading the names, because as you read down the names we either see a name or a relationship being expressed. It reminds me of those times when there is a graveside committal service and I start to read names on markers. And as I read this sheet and in those times it has the same kind of effect, it makes me ponder. It kind of forces me to deal with my own life ending, my own years. People have many different ways of coping with the reality of death. We don't think much about it many times. We tend to push it away. Many deny death's reality. They don't want to deal with it at all. Some people right now may be squirming saying "Come on Pastor George, you are kind of being kind of a little morbid here. Tonight's party night." Don't you think sometimes that the partying keeps us from thinking? I mean really, don't you think its kind of a point. It doesn't always have to be, but don't you think sometimes for people that it is a form of denial?

Paul Tournay, a Christian psychiatrist of another generation got at this when he said, "Acceptance of old age is the best preparation for death, but the acceptance of death is the best preparation for old age." Some deny, some give up, some freeze in fear and yet others accept. So if we are aware and we are privileged to reach our graying years, will we come to those last days of our life fulfilled or frustrated? How we live now is a major determining factor in answering that question positively. How we live now determines how fulfilling our ending will be. It's never too late to start working on that. I was reading a passage from Elisabeth Kubler-Ross's book, "Death the Final Stage of Growth" and in it she tells of Mrs. M, a 71-year-old terminally ill patient. One of her recurring statements was this, "If I could only do my life over and know what I know now, I would do it so differently." When she enlarged on this she felt she had wasted her life for the most part. Her life was filled with anxiety due to several failed marriages, several job changes, many moves and there in the hospital reflecting back she saw herself without roots, without friends, without meaningful relationships and now all of that was magnified because literally her days could be counted. Interestingly, when Elisabeth Kubler-Ross invited Mrs. M. to participate in her seminar on death and dying, she felt needed. And so she gave herself fully to the experience and they asked her if you had a second chance what would you do differently. And so due to a renewed sense of connection in those weeks that she could participate she ended up not dying so alone. She died surrounded by newfound friends. Somehow her ending was more fulfilling because she gave what she could at the end small as it may have seemed. How we live now determines how fulfilling and hopeful our ending will be.

Carl Sagan is a person who doesn't seem to have had a fulfilling ending, at least from a spiritual sense. He said at the end of his life in 1996 at age 62 after a two-year battle with bone marrow cancer, "I would love to believe that when I die, I will live again, but it is wishful thinking." And then he quoted Albert Einstein, "I am satisfied with striving to comprehend a portion of the reason that manifests itself in nature." He's not saying he wasn't a person with integrity. He was probably being a person of integrity in stating that, but how different, how different of an experience than the one we read of in Simeon's life in Luke, Chapter 2. He was filled with joy and hope at his life ending because he was assured of God's presence with him. He experienced the immediate reality of God's presence. What would it be like to hold the God-man in your arms? A God spirit; he experienced God with him personally. Why did he recognize this? Other people were in the temple that day. Other people saw a young couple come in with a baby. Why did he get it? What's the difference that made his ending so hopeful, that reduced his anxiety about living and dying?

Well, I want to share with you what I think are Simeon's ABC's of living and dying. The first thing is; is awareness. He was aware of the one to whom he belonged. To whom do you belong? Football players have a certain vernacular, another way of asking that question. I am not sure if it borders on vulgar or not, but they smack one another down on the field and they stand over top of each other and say, "Who's your daddy now?" Who do you give an account to now? Now you know the guy lying on the field is not submitting to anybody, but seriously, to whom do you belong? Do you belong to anyone? Is anyone the master or are you the master of your own faith, a captain of your own soul as one poet said?

Simeon's awareness of the one to whom he belonged made a difference in his ending. You see it says that he was a righteous and devout man. Devout means that he practiced disciplines according to the Law. His senses were trained. And he says when he holds the baby Jesus in his arms, he says, Now Lord, now your servant, your doulas, the four words in Greek for slave he uses the one that is the lowest of the low, the lowest slaves, he says, your slave, your servant, Master, despota, where we get our Greek for despot from. We think of despot in a very negative and pejorative sense, but in this context he is saying, I am completely, I am your servant, I am completely dependent upon you. I belong to you and I am aware and now that I see what you have done, I can depart in peace and in wholeness. Just as a child's fears are calmed by his or her parent because of their close proximity so Simeon's anxiety was calmed by the awareness that he belonged to God.

This stirs up that reminder that we have often and many times heard of the first question of the Heidelberg Catechism, "What is your only comfort in life and in death?" The answer,

That I belong; body and soul, in life and in death not to myself, but to my faithful savior Jesus Christ who at the cost of his own blood has fully paid for all of my sins and has completely freed me from the dominion of the devil; that he protects me so well that without the will of my father in heaven, not a hair can fall from my head;
and B that everything must fit his purpose for my salvation, therefore, by his Holy Spirit he also assures me of eternal life and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.

We often fail to ask the second question. We just kind of end with the first question as though that's it. The second question is, "How many things must you know that you may live and die in the blessedness of this comfort?" Three is the answer. First, is the greatness of my sin and wretchedness. Second, is how I am freed from all my sins and their wretched consequences through Jesus Christ and third, is what gratitude I owe to God for such redemption. To whom I belong; the awareness of whom I belong will make a difference now and at the end.

So, do you know that you are God's property? Do you act as though he is your master? Are you making sure you consult with him in all matters? Do you live as though you know that God cares about every detail of your life? Jesus taught it was so. Every hair of your head is numbered. Do you give all your strength and your love and your commitment to him as best you are able by the Holy Spirit? That makes a difference. So that's the A.

The B is that Simeon believed; not only was he aware of the ones whom he belonged, but he believed that God would keep the promises that had been made. In Verse 25 it says that was looking; he was waiting for the consolation of Israel. What was he waiting for? Maybe he was waiting for some kind of political reality to take over; that the Jewish nation was again under dominion of others. Maybe he was waiting for that or maybe he was waiting for something else, but whatever he was waiting for he was longing and hoping for a future that was much better than the present. He wasn't obsessed with time running out on him. He was focused on the promise of God, not just to himself, but to God and God's people, and not just to God's people of Israel, for all the Gentiles. He was thinking about the whole world that was going to be affected by the birth of this child he was holding in his arms. A good sign that you will be able to depart in peace is that you've grown beyond yourself and do you want to know some evidences of growing beyond oneself? Here's a few. A capacity to feel pleasure in the pleasures of other people. A capacity for concern about events not directly related to our self-interest. A capacity to invest ourselves in tomorrow's world even though we won't be around to see it. A capacity to hope.

Pastor Smoot used to share a definition of hope that many of us remember. It's not just the belief and a fulfillment of a wish, his definition was much better.

When we live with a constant expectation of good from the hand of God, that's hope. A constant expectation of good from the hand of God.

It calms our fears when we believe in hope. Hope recognizes that tomorrow will be good. It's what Jesus was saying to his disciples, "Now you have sorrow, but I will see you again and your sorrow will be turned to joy and no one will be able to take your joy away from you." You see how we live now, how we relate to our world today determines how fulfilling our ending will be. So here's the question, not just who is your master? What do you long for? For what do you hope? Like Simeon, when it's for the promise of God fulfilled in your heart and others longing for their salvation, you will be aging well, when you care about the next generation you are aging well, when you can look back on your life and not look on it with despair or disgust or disillusionment you will be aging well and part of the way to do that is to believe in the promises of God made known to us through Jesus. Just the fact that we do believe is a confirmation that God is faithful and he will continue to be faithful.

That's the B, aware that he belonged, believed in God's hope and promise and C, he received the comfort of the Holy Spirit. Three times in three verses Luke mentions the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was upon Simeon. The Holy Spirit revealed something to him. The Holy Spirit moved him; made him move into the temple. See the main source of peace in Simeon's heart was the inner work of God's Spirit, much more than just physically seeing the child, which is why Paul said later, "God sent the spirit of his Son in to our hearts; the spirit who calls out and makes us call out Abba, Father." When we repent of sins and believe in Jesus, we have his death and his life as our death in our life.

Don't miss the language in this text about purification and consecration. Think about this for a minute. The reason that Mary and Joseph had to come to the Temple; there were two reasons. One was that according to the law after the birth of a son a woman had to wait 33 days and then come and present an offering, a burnt offering and a sin offering for her purification. They were supposed to bring a lamb, but if they weren't wealthy enough they were to bring two pigeons or two doves and that is exactly what the text says. One was offered in one way and one was offered in the other and then right in the parentheses when it is talking about all this purification it says they came to consecrate the first-born male to God. So think about this; here they are surrounded with this whole sense of being purified and consecrating their son and at that moment Simeon picks him up and says, "Now Lord, now Lord, I can depart in peace because here is your salvation for my purification, for my cleansing, for my being able to be set apart for you now and in the life to come."

I only know of one other person who held Jesus while he was in a helpless state. It was on the day that he died. Joseph of Arimathaea asked for his body. He took it down off of the cross, wrapped it in linen and laid it in the tomb that no one had ever been placed in. Both, two men, one holding the sense of hope; one holding with a sense of despair, but it's the same Lord Jesus and that hope was realized in ways that they couldn't even imagine in two days and then subsequently in all of his appearances Jesus was raised from the dead. He overcame death so that all who would embrace him and hold him into their bosom will find new life. The Holy Spirit is the one who reveals this to us; that nothing will separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ our Lord. There is the ABC's in a nutshell. Nothing will separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

So what are you facing as 2007 gets underway? Are you anxious? Do you feel stressed? Are you suffering? Are you grieving? Are you fearful? In the News and Views article that I wrote today, I reminded us of something again that Pastor Smoot used to do on the evenings. Many of you know and have been to the Watch Night Services. We no longer hold them, but I thought what a great day to resurrect a hymn that we always used to do. I want to ask you to take that hymn right out of your bulletin if you would. It's an insert. It's not in our new hymnal. It's number 420 in the old red hymnal. And for some of you this may not be a familiar hymn, but it's a very interesting way that it lays out, because the first line of the hymn asks a challenging question, questions that are very pertinent for being on the threshold of a new year and then in the second stanza that question is answered in a very hopeful and confident way. As we sing this song, as we sing this hymn may it allow us to be able to say with Simeon, Lord now your servant can depart in peace. I can depart in peace today from this sanctuary, because I know Jesus is with me. I can depart in peace on my last day, because I know that Jesus will be with me. Let us worship God through expressing these questions and answers, as the heart of God's faithful with openness, even if hope is deferred with openness that hope will be realized in Jesus Christ.

Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your love and grace. We thank you for the example of Simeon. We thank you that he was able to hold Jesus, but we are able to hold him too, even more, he resides in the heart of all who will receive him; to all who will express their dependance upon the God who has brought such a great salvation. Help us to live in his peace even now, in Jesus' name. Amen.

© 2006, Rev. George Antonakos
Central Presbyterian Church, Baltimore, MD 21204 410/823-6145
www.centralpc.org