Sermon for Candlemas 2025: It’s All Related

Hebrews 2:14-18; Luke 2:22-41

The Rev. Paul D. Allick, Church of the Advent, Feb. 2, 2025

I come from a large extended family. It is a vast network of

siblings, first, second and third cousins, elders, young people, and

babies. We are all connected to varying degrees.

The family lives in two clusters: one in Montana and the other in

North Dakota. I am one of the very few members who moved

away. I’ve lived far away for a long time. I am grateful for

technology that makes it easy to be in touch.

This extended family orientation has shaped my work as a parish

priest. I see my primary role as the one who brings people

together. What are the life stories God has brought together in

this parish? How do we fit together to be the Body of Christ?

The impact of all the other administrative and liturgical tasks

depends on the strength of the relationships. The work is

relational because our mission is reconciliation. We cannot begin

the work of reconciling all people to God and each other in Christ

without building healthy relationships.

The whole body is called to this work. Building healthy

relationships is always a two-way street.

For some the idea of family is not comforting. This is why it is

important to remember that Christians have a second family to

lean on. At our baptism we were adopted as Jesus’ siblings and

he loves us as his own flesh and blood.

As we heard from Hebrews, “Since God's children share flesh and

blood, Jesus himself likewise shared the same things.”

In our Gospel Lesson, we hear an important family story.

When Joseph and Mary bring Jesus to the Temple, there are two

elders there waiting and praying.

Anna and Simeon are not resting on their laurels nor glorifying the

past. Their prayers and hopes are set on the future. They are

waiting for the Sign that future generations of God’s people will be

set free from the bondage of sin. That they will find healing from

the generational scars of having lived in exile and the current

anguish of living under an occupation.

The Holy Spirit told Simeon that he would not die before he had

seen the Messiah. When he sees Jesus, he knows instantly that

this is the one that has come to save the entire human family. A

light to enlighten all the nations.

Anna has spent decades praying and fasting as she awaits the

Sign from God. When she sees Jesus, she knows instantly that

he is that sign of redemption.

Notice Luke gives us information about Anna’s family line. That is

what happens in cultures that value extended families. She

comes from a long line of Jesus’ cousins.

Her father Phanuel is named after a place important to their

ancestor Jacob. In Genesis 32 after Jacob spends the night

wrestling with God, he names the location Penuel, meaning “I

have seen God face to face, and yet have lived.”

Anna is from the Tribe of Asher, Asher meaning the happy one.

Put it together: “I have seen God face to face and lived! I am the

happy one!”

Some have also seen in this story two of the Lost Tribes of Israel

coming home. Ten of the Twelve Tribes were lost after the Exile.

Now two of the lost branches of the family, Simeon and Asher

come together. They stand in the Presence of God Almighty in the

Temple and God incarnate in the person of the infant Jesus.

It’s all related. It all means something. We are all related. That all

means something.

Our salvation is primarily individual. We each must decide to

accept Jesus as our savior. For us this happens at Baptism and

Confirmation. But once we accept Jesus the ongoing process of

redemption is relational.

We need each other. We need to know each other’s stories. We

need to know the family story to make sense of who we are and

where we are heading.

Each of us is light shining before God. Shining upon each other.

Shining amidst the whole human family as a witness to God’s

Redeeming and Liberating Love in Christ Jesus.

In the 12th Century, Cistercian Abbot Guerric wrote,

“Today as we bear in our hands lighted candles, come to (Christ)

and be enlightened that you do not so much bear lamps as

become them..., May there be a lamp in your heart, in your hand

and in your mouth: let the lamp in your heart shine for yourself,

the lamp in your hand and mouth shine for your neighbors. The

lamp in your heart is a reverence for God inspired by faith; the

lamp in your hand is the example of a good life; and the lamp in

your mouth is the words of consolation you speak.”