|
One Last Chance to Celebrate Christmas
This Sunday we get an extra day to celebrate Christmas when February 2, the day Jesus was presented in the temple 40 days after his birth, falls on a Sunday. The Presentation of the Lord, as this day is known, is the last of the nativity cycle of readings: this cycle begins with The Annunciation (nine months before December 25th on March 25th) — when the Angel Gabriel announces to Mary that she will conceive a son, and runs from Christmas Day through Epiphany (December 6th), and concludes with the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple.
Sunday’s Gospel reading from Matthew tells how Mary and Joseph fulfilled the ancient Jewish custom of Mary’s ritual purification following childbirth (so another name for the day is The Purification of Mary), the offering of gifts in the temple, and the presentation of their newborn in the temple, all of which were to occur 40 days after the child’s birth. Celebration of this day has deep Christian roots dating back to at least 4th-century Jerusalem so it is fitting that we’re observing it at Northmont.
In the gospel story we will hear how the prophet Simeon proclaimed Jesus to be the Savior and, more specifically, “a light to enlighten the Gentiles, and the glory of his people, Israel.” It is, therefore, the custom in many denominations for people to bring their candles to the church today to have them blessed as a reminder, each time they light a candle, of the light of Christ. Consequently, yet another name for today is Candlemas.
Images of light will dominate the service on Sunday. We will begin with a candlelit procession during which the choir will sing Isaiah’s command to “Arise, shine, for your light has come!” The Responsorial Psalm reminds us to “Lift up your heads . . . and the King of Glory shall come in!” We will hear the beautiful G-major setting of the Evensong Canticle, The Song of Simeon (or Nunc dimittis) by Charles Villiers Stanford, and the lovely six-part motet, When to the temple Mary went by Johannes Eccard, both of which directly reference the gospel story. And, yes, we get one last chance to sing Christmas carols!
Whatever its title, The Presentation of the Lord in the Temple or The Purification of Mary or Candlemas, may our remembrance of this special day, be a blessing to your faith.
Merry Christmas!
Stephen
| 
