{"id":1201,"date":"2023-02-02T14:10:23","date_gmt":"2023-02-02T14:10:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uniofglos.blog\/chaplaincy\/?p=1201"},"modified":"2023-02-02T14:10:23","modified_gmt":"2023-02-02T14:10:23","slug":"waiting-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/chaplaincy\/2023\/02\/02\/waiting-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Waiting"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

At that time there was a man named Simeon living in Jerusalem. He was a good, God-fearing man and was waiting for Israel to be saved. The Holy Spirit was with him\u00a0and had assured him that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s promised Messiah.\u00a0Led by the Spirit, Simeon went into the Temple. When the parents brought the child Jesus into the Temple to do for him what the Law required,\u00a0Simeon took the child in his arms and gave thanks to God:<\/p>

\u201cNow, Lord, you have kept your promise,
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0and you may let your servant go in peace.
With my own eyes I have seen your salvation,
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples:
A light to reveal your will to the Gentiles
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0and bring glory to your people Israel.\u201d<\/p>

The child’s father and mother were amazed at the things Simeon said about him.\u00a0<\/p>

There was a very old prophet, a widow named Anna. She had been married for only seven years and was now eighty-four years old.\u00a0She never left the Temple; day and night she worshipped God, fasting and praying.\u00a0That very same hour she arrived and gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were waiting for God to set Jerusalem free.<\/p>adapted from Luke 2.22-40<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

That reading, set for today, tells the story of Mary and Joseph bringing the baby Jesus into the temple to present him to the Lord, as the Jewish law said should be done.  They are met by an old man, Simeon, who takes Jesus in his arms and says some amazing words of prophecy – this child will become a light for the Gentiles. That\u2019s why today is called Candlemas, and in the past on this day the candles of the church were blessed – a celebration of God\u2019s light shining out in Jesus to all people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So light is one theme in our reading. But there is another theme – waiting. Simeon is an old man who has been waiting for God to bring salvation to Israel. Anna is waiting too, in the temple every day, waiting for this day when she will meet the one she has been waiting for and tell everyone about him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wonder what you are like at waiting? Do you find it easy? Or are you impatient? Are you impatient for the weather to get better? Someone was telling me the other day how they found it very hard to wait for their assignment marks. Sometimes in a work situation or a home situation we are just waiting for something to shift. Sometimes it\u2019s more internal\u2026 We have a friend who is in hospital at the moment, just waiting to see a way forward because her mental health is so bad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Waiting can be hard. It can feel like we are just passive. \u2018There\u2019s nothing to do but wait\u2019 we say. But I think that Simeon and Anna point us too another sort of waiting. They are not just waiting for something to happen. Waiting has become the way that they live – an expression of their faith. They are waiting in hope, open to what God will do. They are waiting with others – with all who are longing for God to bring freedom and new life. They are waiting \u2018on the Lord\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a lovely verse in the prophet Isaiah that says \u2018those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simeon and Anna were waiting on the Lord – offering themselves, their lives, their time – making a space of trust and hope in which God can act – always on the look out for what God will do. That\u2019s why they are able to recognise the significance of this moment when Jesus is brought into the Temple. Their waiting has found its fulfilment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are lots of situations where waiting is very hard. We have another friend who is coming to the last days of her life, and her family have been waiting with her – and friends like us have been waiting at a distance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But maybe whatever the situation, there is something we can learn from Simeon and Anna. Our waiting need not just be passive. If we bring our longing to God, and put our trust in him, then we are creating a space in which God can be with us, even in the waiting. By \u2018waiting on the Lord\u2019 we allowing him to be the one who gives us strength and lifts us up. We are no longer waiting alone – we are waiting with God and he is waiting with us – and in that waiting time we may see, like Simeon and Anna, a spark of light even in the darkness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You might like to spend a few moments waiting on God, maybe bringing to mind people or situations, or your own needs, where waiting is hard\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wait on the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait on the Lord<\/p>Psalm 27.14<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.<\/p>Isaiah 40.31 <\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Lord of love, when we are forced to wait, and it is very hard, help us to learn to wait with you, and open our eyes to see that you are waiting with us.<\/p>

We think of those we know waiting at the moment, waiting for healing, for release, for what they know is coming\u2026 and those around the world waiting for peace, for justice, for a better life. Lord, give us the strength to wait with them in solidarity, and so reveal the longing of your love.<\/p>

Lord of the years, may we follow the way of Simeon and Anna, and live our lives always waiting and looking for your saving love, trusting in the hidden movement of your grace, and with our eyes and hearts open to all that you are doing.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At that time there was a man named Simeon living in Jerusalem. He was a good, God-fearing man and was waiting for Israel to be saved. The Holy Spirit was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":1202,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reflections"],"blocksy_meta":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/chaplaincy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/chaplaincy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/chaplaincy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/chaplaincy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/53"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/chaplaincy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1201"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/chaplaincy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1201\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/chaplaincy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/chaplaincy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/chaplaincy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/chaplaincy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}