Presentation of the Lord OR a Tale of Five Carols

Today on our last Sunday in Epiphany (still technically part of the Christmas season) I have been thinking about Christmas carols. I wonder how you would respond if asked about the earliest Christmas Carols - one of the earliest ones in English we still sing today is “God Rest ye Merry Gentlemen” - it goes back at least as far as 1650. Or we could go back further - into the middle ages “In Dulce Jubilo” is still sung by cathedral choirs today and you can hear some glorious recordings of it. We can go back even further and find Christmas songs in Latin dating to the 4th century. Today I want to suggest we go back even further - to the 1st Century. Would it surprise you to find there are Christmas songs in the Bible? And how many do you think there are …

In Luke’s Gospel the first one is Mary’s song - the Magnificat. It’s found in the first chapter. Mary visits her pregnant cousin, Elizabeth who feels her baby move “Leap for joy” and blesses Mary and the baby she carries. Mary responds to those words of Elizabeth’s with her song.

Later in the same chapter there is Zechariah’s prophetic song of praise, the Benedictus when he named his son, John.

We only have a brief excerpt of the next song - in chapter 2 there is the song of the angels the Gloria in Excelsis when they announce Jesus’ birth to the shepherds.

Today we have the fourth of these Christmas songs it’s in our Gospel reading - the song of Simeon which we often refer to by its Latin title “Nunc Dimmitis”. This song has been said and sung for centuries. It was a traditional part of evensong services and is frequently used in funeral services. Perhaps not what would have leapt to mind as a “Christmas Carol”.

Mary addresses God as “Saviour”, Zechariah uses words like favour, redeemed and salvation. The angels sing about peace and God’s favour. There is a sense from Mary & Zechariah’s songs about God’s faithfulness and trustworthiness. Both Zechariah and Simeon use images of light in their songs. None of these Christmas songs tells us the whole story, but, if taken together, they summarise a good deal of the gospel message. None of them mention stars, stables, mangers, shepherds or wise men; they take us beyond the physical symbols to the real meaning of Christmas and Epiphany.

Simeon in his song picks up many of the themes the others mention - there is peace, salvation, light, revelation, faithfulness, glory and God’s favour.

Salvation is a big word in scripture and one of the key words in Luke’s gospel but there are so many possible meanings. For first century Palestine salvation looked to be military and political. Saving an occupied people and overthrowing the oppressor. Mary’s song describes salvation-as-reversal - it does include the liberation of the powerless but also the feeding of the hungry, the reversal of rich and poor, changes of status. Zechariah links salvation with forgiveness of sins, the angels sing of peace and Simeon of light - revelation is a part of that salvation offered by God.

God is the one who is the author of salvation, it is a mark of God’s mercy and God’s favour and reflects God’s very nature. Jesus’ name means salvation and Jesus’ life illustrated that salvation. Later in Luke’s gospel we see that salvation means wholeness and justice on an individual and societal level. And one of the most revolutionary aspects of salvation is that the offer of salvation is universal - no-one is excluded. Mary’s and Zechariah’s songs focus on Israel but the angels sing of peace on earth and Simeon of revelation to the gentiles. Salvation is so much bigger than “I’ve been forgiven for my sins and now I go to heaven”.

For first century Palestine, salvation was about freedom from servitude to Rome, economic freedom, and their identity as Israel, the people of God. I wonder what salvation looks like in 21st century NZ? To those who have been colonised it could mean overturning the effects of colonisation, indigenous rights, indigenous language, indigenous identity and indigenous pride. In our world where the gap between rich and poor is getting wider and wider it might mean overturning economic systems that rely on oppressing the poor.

For those suffering from illness - salvation may mean healing, wholeness, a peaceful death in the arms of a loving God… Repentance, forgiveness and restored relationships with each other and with God are a part of God’s marvellous salvation.

In a world where so many just feel they don’t belong salvation can mean a healing of identity, becoming part of a community of love, acceptance and inclusion.

In our opening hymn we sang “visit us with thy salvation” and “let us see thy great salvation” - what did we mean by that? In Church it is easy for words like salvation to just slip off the tongue - it is such a familiar word? I would invite us all this week to meditate on salvation - what does it mean to me, to us, to our community, to our country, to our world? Perhaps then, like Simeon, we could then say “my eyes have seen your salvation”.

If you get the chance to watch someone creating a stained glass window - they start with setting the lead into the window to be the framework for the glass that has been stained. Before - there was a plain window next there is a riot of colour and shape - it tells a story while it sparkles with light and colour.

Luke has put his lead around the window - what coloured glass will he use to fill it in? He is telling us the story of the Messiah, the saviour, the true king of the world (unlike Caesar). Does he fill it with glowing royal colours making us think of future glory, world domination, power and majesty?

No - Luke chooses somber colours to fill in this story - this is different sort of kingdom to that of Caesar, to the the political fiefdoms we see around us, to the powerful and exploitative multinational corporations so happy to exert their power at the expense of the poor and vulnerable.

This final Christmas carol, the song of Simeon is followed by a prophetic oracle in dark tones indeed. He speaks of opposition and a sword piercing Mary’s heart. This Messiah, this king is very different indeed. Already this is becoming a story about suffering. The world of Simeon is a world where suffering has become a way of life, waiting in hope for redemption. Here is God’s redeemer but God’s way of dealing with suffering is to share it himself, becoming the suffering servant from Isaiah’s prophecies.

Luke invites us to continue with the story - watching to see how these prophesies play out and, spoiler alert, Jesus IS rejected by the city to which he offered peace. The sword that pierces Mary’s heart also pierces the side of her son in death.

The rising and falling in Simeon’s song echoes the great reversal Mary sang about in the Magnificat. The light, the revelation is for all the world. The true glory of Israel is to have been the bearer of promise; it is from Israel that the true king, the suffering redeemer comes.

There is, perhaps, a fifth Christmas carol here. We don’t know the words or the melody, we don’t even know its name - but it is sung by Anna the elderly prophetess. Responding to the revelation of the redeemer and to the words of prophecy about his rule and his suffering. Anna praises God and tells the story to everyone looking for redemption.

Today as we celebrate the presentation of Jesus in the Temple, we consider five early Christmas Carols, reflecting on the true meaning of Christmas; hope fulfilled, salvation and reversal, forgiveness and mercy, glory and peace; then Simeon’s song followed by a poem mixing the messages of peace, salvation and glory with opposition and suffering.

Anna’s song is unwritten - is that the song of the church through the ages? Is that the song we sing today? The song of praise to God, the song telling the story of God’s love and salvation, of peace, mercy and forgiveness, of the way God surprises us, of suffering shared and of hope. The song we sing with our voices and our lives.