Happy New Year 2012

Today I am privileged to be allowed to give the sermon at Community of the Savior! What a great way to start a new year. Here is the gist of what I contemplated:

20/20 Vision

[take glasses off]
When I was in the 7th grade, I began to notice that I was having difficulty seeing the blackboard in class. I used to squint my eyes to see what the teacher was writing. I sat near the blackboard. I waited until the bell rang to copy the next day’s assignment which the teacher always wrote on the blackboard. I was pretty functional. I understood what was going on in class, I could do my homework. It wasn’t so bad.

[put glasses on]
Eventually my parents caught on and took me to the eye doctor and I got my first pair of glasses. I was amazed at what I had been missing! I could see every leaf on the trees around me. I could recognize friends waving at me from the other end of the hall. It was wonderful to be able to see clearly. I am thankful for glasses.

[take glasses off]
Sometimes I wish I had glasses that would let me see clearly into the spiritual realm. There’s some pretty crazy stuff going on out there. Awhile back, people were falling on the floor laughing in the name of the Holy Spirit. Then there’s that whole ‘name it and claim it’ movement, and the healing crusades where some people get healed and others don’t.

What about the several hundred different Christian denominations out there, not to mention the differences between congregations of the same denomination – mega, seeker, contemporary, traditional, liturgical, casual. Who is right? Where is God in all of that?

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could put your spiritual glasses on and look at Pittsford and see God’s salvation at work. [put glasses on] Oh, look! That’s of God. You could look at downtown Rochester – and see where God’s saving grace is at work – and it may not even be all that church connected.

More than just seeing where God is at work, we would know how we can be part of the work of the kingdom and not get ‘taken in.’ I don’t know about you, but I want to be in sync with God’s work. I want to see clearly what God’s intentions are for this area and for my life and ministry.

My desire is to be involved with work that has significant and eternal value, not just 9 to 5 time clock punching. I want to know that when I stand before God, he will say “Well done, good and faithful servant,” and that I won’t be embarrassed because I kept missing the boat. I don’t want to miss God. I want to cooperate with God at work in my world. But how do I know I am on course?

The good news is, God does want us to see his salvation at work in the world. He does want us to guide us in our work for the kingdom. God has given us lots of avenues of guidance. One of the most important is his Word. We can pray for guidance. We can talk with godly men and women we know. We have the church to teach us God’s truths.

But sometimes, even with all of that, it feels like we just can’t quite see the writing on the blackboard. Sometimes it feels like the trees are big green blobs and we can’t see the leaves clearly. How do I know when I am in sync with God’s plans?

Today, in our gospel story, we meet 2 people who clearly saw God at work in their world. They didn’t miss God. In fact, they actually saw God. Ask yourself, “If I had lived in Jerusalem when Christ was born, would I have known?” How did Simeon and Anna know where to go and what to look for? How did they come to be in sync with God’s plan of salvation? What special inside track did they have? What were their spiritual glasses made of?

First, let’s look at Anna. Anna was a ‘get up close to the blackboard’ kind of person. She spent all her time in the Temple worshiping God, praying, fasting, hearing the scriptures read – doing all those spiritually formative activities that we learn about today. Richard Foster would have been proud of Anna!

That’s the first key. We must want to see God at work in the world. We must want to know what is written on the blackboard. We must be willing to do what it takes to get close to the blackboard.

In the 1980s I lived in the Saratoga Springs area and attended a small church that taught about divine healing. There was an older woman and her adult daughter who attended faithfully. The daughter had been blind from birth. Yet she never went forward to pray for sight. One day I had an opportunity to ask her about it. She told me that she did not want to see! Imagine that! I was flabbergasted. Why on earth would anyone choose to remain blind when they might be able to see?

She explained that she would have to completely relearn how to think, how to navigate, how to live. I still didn’t understand what she meant, so she gave a few examples. I attend this church because for me it’s closer to my house. In reality, there is a closer church, but I would have to walk there. It would take me 25 minutes to navigate the 3 blocks. But in a car, I can get to this church in less than ten minutes. For me, this church is near and that church is far.

Near and far would take on completely different meanings! As would colors and faces – the reality would not match my imagined truths. I wouldn’t know who anyone is anymore. I would have to get a job – my whole life would be altered. I’m just not interested.

How does a sighted person convince a blind person that seeing is better than being blind?

That’s the second key: We must be willing to change based on what we see, even if it’s challenging.

There is much to be said for centering our lives around the things of God and getting close to God’s blackboard. Anna was willing to it. Because Anna spent time immersed in the things of God, she didn’t have to imagine what the salvation of the world would look like. She found herself at the right place at the right time and she recognized what was happening.

When Anna woke up that morning, did she feel a stirring inside? Did she know that the salvation of God would come into the Temple? Did she know she was looking for a baby and not a grown man?

I can imagine her finding a perfect vantage point, eagerly searching the faces of the crowds who came and went, people about their everyday business? With all the noise of vendors hawking their wares and animals bawling and dust flying and kids shouting and parents scolding, how did she recognize Jesus when she saw him? How did she know?

Anna was a prophetess. That meant that before the Holy Ghost had been given to the world, before Jesus was glorified, before Pentecost, before God sent the Comforter, the Teacher, the

Helper, her life intersected with the Holy Ghost. Prophets were people who were given special insight into the work of God by the Holy Spirit. I believe that the Holy Ghost guided her, helped her to see God at work in her world.

But maybe Anna is an aberration. After all, not many of us can spend every moment in the Temple! Our Scripture this morning tells us that the Holy Spirit rested on Simeon, who was not a prophet. He did not spend every waking moment in the Temple. He was a righteous and upright man. He was devout. He was immersed in spiritually formative behavior.

Verse 27 tells us that Simeon, guided by the Holy Spirit, came into the temple when the parents brought in the child Jesus for dedication.

That’s the third key: we must be willing to do what the Holy spirit tells us to do, even if it doesn’t make sense.

What would have happened if Simeon had questioned what the Holy Spirit was telling him to do? What if he had reasoned it through? He could have said, “Look, the Christ is supposed to come from Bethlehem. I should pack my things and go there, right? How does it make sense for me to go to the Temple? I have been there a hundred times and didn’t see the salvation of God.”

It reminds me of when I first got my GPS. I bought it for a cross country trip I needed to make, but I wanted to try it out around town first to see how it worked. So I plugged it in and programmed it for home when I was at the mall. I knew perfectly well how to get home. I knew a number of ways in fact. I had driven it hundreds of times. So when TomTom told me to take an exit I had never taken, I refused to believe him. I thought he was crazy or broken.

I argued with him and went my own way. Patiently, Tomtom told me to turn around at the first opportunity and go back. When it became apparent that I was not going back, he just rerouted and gave me new directions that were also not familiar to me.

I tried this on several occasions, always with the same results. Tomtom was just plain wrong. Finally, I decided to try things Tom’s way. What could it hurt? I could always find my own way home. After all, I knew the territory. Imagine my surprise when I discovered a shorter route with less traffic! Turns out Tom knew what he was talking about after all!

Simeon trusted the guidance of the Holy Ghost. He responded to that still small voice whispering to his heart. He got up, went to the Temple, searched until he found what the Spirit had told him about. He was at the right place at the right time to see God’s salvation.

Think about it. I am sure Jesus was not the only baby in Jerusalem being circumcised that day. When my first son was born, we lived in a small village with a small hospital. On the day he was to be circumcised, I wandered down to the nursery to check it out. There sat the doctor all gowned and masked, the nurses assisting. Just behind the station where he was working stood a lineup of baby beds filled with boys waiting their turn. There must have been several dozen.

Imagine what it must have been like in a big city the size of Jerusalem! There must have been many babies coming that day. How did Simeon know who to look for?

Was there a halo of light over Jesus head? Did his parents send out baby dedication announcements so Simeon and Anna would know the right day and exact time? I don’t think so. The Holy Ghost guided them. That’s how they knew. They had Holy Ghost glasses that helped them see clearly beyond the common activity of the everyday into the realm of the eternal.

Simeon held Jesus in his arms and proclaimed “Lord, I can die happy because I have seen your salvation.” He was in sync with God at work in his world. He had obeyed the Holy Spirit, and he knew he would hear “Well done, good and faithful servant.” He had not missed God.

Simeon and Anna were in sync with God’s plan because they were centered on the things of God and because they were guided by the Holy Spirit.

They wanted to see God. They were willing to change according to what they saw. They were willing to do what God asked of them. They looked at life through the lenses of daily spiritual formation and the guidance of the Holy Ghost. It was 20-20 vision.

We too can be centered on the things of God. We who have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us ought to be even more able to clearly see what God is doing in our world and to know what He is calling us to do.

The Chinese have declared 2012 the year of the dragon. I think we should declare 2012 the year of Clear Vision for God’s people.

This year, every time you put your glasses on, remind yourself to stay centered on the things of God and pray for Holy Ghost guidance.

Every time you see someone else wearing glasses, remind yourself to stay centered on the things of God and pray for Holy Ghost guidance.

Every time you take your glasses off, remind yourself to stay centered on the things of God and pray for Holy Ghost guidance.

Together let us make this a year of clear vision and great progress for the kingdom of God. Like Anna and Simeon, may we find ourselves in the right place at the right time to see the salvation of God at work in our lives, in our church, in Pittsford, in Rochester, in New York, in the United States, in the world.

Amen.