The service celebrates the story in Luke, chapter 2, of what happens when Mary and Joseph present the baby Jesus at the temple. The main characters are the holy family, of course, but all the lines go to an old man named Simeon, and an old woman named Anna. He has come to the temple every day for years, having been told that he'd not die before seeing the Messiah. She has lived in the temple fasting and praying for years. Each one recognizes the baby, and Simeon gets to sing a song we call the "Nunc Dimittis" that I've performed with choirs at every evensong for 40 years:
Lord, you now have set your servant free to go in peace as you have promised. For these eyes of mine have seen your salvation which you have prepared for all the world to see: a light to enlighten the Gentiles, and to be the glory of your people Israel.
20 years ago, I set those words to music for choir and organ that I'm still very proud of. Composers I love have set these words to music that can bring tears to my eyes, but they invariably set the long sentences as long lines, and I, for one, gasp in the middle of the phrases.
So I imagined the old man out of breath after rushing up to the family: Lo-ord (breath) you now (breath) have set your servant (breath) free (breath) to go in peace (breath) as you have promised. The accompaniment plays with the first notes of his melody, slowly at first, building to rapid arpeggios, a glittery vision of world-wide salvation.
Fr. Roger Allen delivered a very simple sermon that captured my imagination. "What if Simeon had taken the day off? What if Anna had been looking at something else?" That got a laugh. But then he asked us what we're looking for, and will we miss it? I've not stopped thinking about that in the 24 hours since.
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