This Is the Feast

Simeon's song is the opposite; he sings of the loneliness and anxiety of waiting being transformed into the calmness of peace, engendered by Christ's coming in the flesh.

Now is the day of salvation; now the long wait has changed.

No longer is it purely future; the key part of that future is now breaking into and reshaping the present situation for Simeon and Anna as they look and wait, and worship.

And we hear this with more than antiquarian interest.

The “Now” of Simeon's song affects us as it did Simeon.

We have a pile of anxieties and problems that threaten to overwhelm us.

Murder and mayhem, wars and rumors of wars, death and destruction fill the international airwaves.

Illness, frailties, heartaches, disappointments pile up for us as individuals.

And every grouping in between the individual and the international scene is just as conflicted.

We do so very much need to hear the same reassurance that Simeon heard, that we can live in peace, despite all those things, because of Jesus' love, actions, and connections he forges with us.

The problems do not go away, but we have now a different frame of reference for dealing with them:

“Your Word has been fulfilled.”

You, Lord, keep your promises.

It may not be on the time-schedule we would wish, but the promises are kept.

The long-awaited promised salvation of the world has been embodied in the infant whom Simeon holds in his arms.

He is reflecting thought from the Old Testament:

Isaiah 52:10, and Psalm 98:2 which note that the Lord will show his saving power before all the nations...

Isaiah 42:6, which announces that those addressed are to be God's covenant is for all the peoples, they are to be a light to the nations...

Each of the four canticles in Luke 1 and 2 have found homes in the church's liturgy.

The Benedictus is at Morning Prayer, the Gloria in Excelsis is used in Holy Communion, and the Magnificat, Mary's song that we explore next week is in Evening Prayer.

So, when would we like to use this canticle of Simeon, the Nunc dimittis?

The trustful serenity of Simeon's song makes it especially appropriate as the day ends, and so it has been used late in the evening since at least the 4^th century and probably much earlier.

It is the last portion of the prayer office we call Prayer at the Close of the Day, (also known by its Latin name, Compline).

A century ago, this office which was of course used in the monasteries across the centuries was revived and began to be used at retreats and conferences.

Its quiet spirit endeared it to many, so that when LBW was in process of development, the office of Prayer at the Close of the Day was included in a Lutheran worship book for the first time.

[Before that time, the Nunc dimittis had been added to Evening Prayer, so that it would not be forgotten.]

It has become our local custom to use Compline at the close of each Congregation Council meeting, led by one of the members, and at other classes and events when we can.

The melodies in LBW were written to be sung without accompaniment, so that the office can be used anywhere, by any grouping of people.

“Depart in peace” is the key phrase which leads us to consider using the Nunc dimittis at services of commendation of the dying as well as at funerals.

We can face whatever comes our way, in life and in death, with the confidence that the Lord's promise is out there in front of us, beckoning us to its fulfillment.

One of the hymn versions of the Nunc dimittis that we sing today [LBW339] captures this sense well.

Its first stanza paraphrases the canticle, and then the second stanza continues the reflection:

2.Then grant that I may follow

Your gleam, O glorious Light,

Till earthly shadows scatter,

And faith is changed to sight;

Till raptured souls shall gather

Upon that shining shore,

Where Christ , the blessed daystar,

Shall light them evermore.

Included in the bulletin today are two more texts to consider.

The first, I Leave as You Have Promised, Lord, is a loose paraphrase of the Nunc dimittis, in a single stanza.

It uses as its melody the one written by Martin Luther to go along with his hymn-version of the text.

The second text on that bulletin page is Luther's, given in a 19^th century translation.

It seems to have been written for the Feast of the Presentation, February 2, 1524.

The appointed Gospel reading for that day is of course the verses from Luke of Jesus being presented in the Temple at 40 days old, and being greeted as they enter by Simeon and Anna.

Luther lived each day as though it might be his last, and indeed it could.

Since he was excommunicated and banned by empire and church, he could have been assassinated at any time, and the perpetrator would have been congratulated and rewarded rather than punished.

He also was plagued with several physical ailments which often had him despairing of life.

The attitude of calm trustfulness which we hear in the Nunc dimittis and in the hymn version Mit Fried und Freud,” In peace and joy I now depart,” is also to be heard in the Small Catechism's Morning and Evening Prayers which both conclude with these sentences:

“Into thy hands I commend my body and soul and all that is mine.

Let thy holy angel have charge of me, that the wicked one have no power over me.”

Calm, warmth, trustfulness, anticipation...these are the words to describe the tenor of the Nunc dimittis.

There is one more place for them to find place for expression, and this is at the end of the Holy Communion.

The Orthodox churches use it at the end of Divine Liturgy, and in the west, the Mazarabic (Spanish) rite used it, but not the Roman rite.

Luther dos not mention it, but other orders for worship developed in the early years of the Reformation adopted it.

It has been a permitted but not required element in our worship since then.

It can be a fitting conclusion to the Service, expressing the fullness of satisfaction in receiving God's salvation personally, and knowing that it is also intended for the whole world.

It also reminds us of Jesus' own practice, that before going out to the events of that fateful night, Jesus and the disciples sang a hymn together in the Upper Room.

Now is the day of salvation.

Now the peace of God is given, the peace which passes all understanding.

When we use the Nunc dimittis at the end of Liturgy, therefore, we are recognizing that this is the framework of our lives together in worship:

we began with the peace for which we pray in the Kyrie, and end with the confidence that it is and will be given, in God's good time and ways.

Mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before us.

In thanksgiving, let all say

Thanks be to God. Amen.

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.