*Rev. Sandy Lacey*
*December 27, 2020*
* We do not hear about Simeon and Anna very much. Truly Advent people, they are the poster children for watching and waiting for the Christ to be born. And they waited a very long time, never giving up hope for the Messiah to be born. Great and good for them, but why are they invading our Christmas celebrations if they are advent people? Well, they are here because Jesus’ parents, Mary and Joseph, value and follow their religious traditions and rituals. They took the baby Jesus to Jerusalem to present him, along with an offering, for the ritual of purification, according to Jewish custom and tradition. It begs the question in our day – if they had not done so, would Jesus have been okay? Would he still be who he is? Would it somehow have damaged him if his parents had simply not bothered with the trip and practice? Would everything have changed? I speculate probably not, but he and his parents would have missed out on a blessing.*
* Rituals are important for us as we navigate our life journeys. Can we live without them? Sure! Surely, the many self-identifying religious “nones” in our country and world clearly tell us that you can live without the importance of worship and ritual. But just because we **CAN **does not mean it is in our best interest to do so or in the best interest of our children. Our sons are with us today and I remember a time in which they could not have cared less about ritual and worship – complete with eye rolls, heavy sighs, and arguments on any number of Sundays as we prepared to attend worship. But Mike and I chose to persevere because we thought it was important to model for them the importance of ritual and worship, even when they (and sometimes we) did not feel like doing it. Why? Let me make a case for it as we end this year and begin a new year within a few days. *
* I do not know about you but I find that life is hard sometimes. Surely, this year has taught us that! Many of us are without steady income and we have been unable to visit in the usual way with family members and friends we love. Life can be hard sometimes. One of the good things about ritual and worship is it forces us to come together to support one another. Granted, many of us are coming together these days and the past few months through the computer and phones. When life is hard, we need each other. When I think of how life can be challenging, I think of the movie, Little Miss Sunshine, in which everything goes wrong including the fact that your boss and job is a pain, your brother-in-law moves in with you after being discharged from a psychiatric facility after attempting suicide, your teenage son is going through some serious angst, your father-in-law has been kicked out of the nursing home, and your less-than-graceful young daughter wants to enter a beauty pageant – across the country. Occasionally, everything can go wrong and then your car horn won’t stop beeping in addition to everything else. Worship and rituals performed in worship bring us together in the community of faith so that we can support one another through those really tough times. It helps us to know that we are not alone in the struggles of life, that God is with us and is loving us through them. And as one of my clergy friends said on Wednesday, rituals help us through the rough spots; in fact, they carry us.*
* Rituals are also important to help us mark different stages of our life: births, baptisms, confirmation in which we stretch toward independence, celebrating covenantal relationships, nourishment at the Table to remind us of who we are and whose we are, and weekly reminders of God’s love and grace in our lives. Just like graduation is an important mark of transition from adolescence into adulthood and semi-independence; worship rituals mark the importance of sabbath rest, communal life, and discipleship. They remind us that there is a healthy rhythm to life. *
* Rituals are important for truth-telling also. Notice that Simeon in our passage today blesses the family, says some really great things about Jesus and what he will do, while not sugar-coating the challenges they will face. “Mary, a sword will pierce your heart.” It is as if he told her, “the truth is that this is going to be hard. You will be sharing him with the entire world and at some point he will, in effect, deny the importance of your role as his Mom by saying that anyone who believes in him and follows him is his family.” Friends, we need to hear the truth spoken to us, even if it hurts. We need to be told that strength and success is redefined in Jesus, that it is not all about numbers, big money, and who has the loudest voice and the biggest sword. Strength and success is defined by self-sacrifice and love, so much so, that if we choose to follow Jesus, we may lose our lives too. We need to hear that God’s ways are different from our ways. Rituals tell us the truth, even when the truth is unpopular and difficult to hear.*
* Lastly, I would remind you that rituals are important because they launch us toward being the people we were created to be. And that is the point – to be who God created us to be. Rituals root us in our communal life together and they confront our self-centeredness, remind us of the truth of our lives, and help us mark important transitions. They remind us, most importantly, that we are wholly dependent upon God who created us, redeems us, inspires and sustains us in good and challenging times. Rituals made a difference in Joseph and Mary’s life and I know they will make a difference in your life. AMEN. *