“At the very time Simeon was praying, she showed up, broke into an anthem of praise to God and talked about the child to all who were waiting expectantly for the freeing of Jerusalem.” (Luke 2:38 MSG)
We are in that long week between Christmas and New Years, aren’t we? The one where we all lose track of days and calories and calendar appointments? The holidays are winding down. We’ve been to church, we’ve worshiped at the manger and we want to walk away different but we may not know how. We want to begin a new year, a new decade more whole than we were the last one.
We may find such a position exhilarating or we may find it intimidating. I’ve wondered, how does God want us to approach the coming days, year and decade? What heart posture is He hoping for?
There are three small scriptures in Luke that have always offered me solace. The story of Anna, the prophetess and my namesake, steadies me often on this journey of life. Through loss and what others would characterize as loneliness, Anna stayed in the Temple. She poured out a lifetime of praise and prayer and fasting. She put all her hope in the arrival of the Messiah and she was not disappointed.
In the weeks that followed that first Christmas, when Mary’s days of purification were complete, the small family made their way to the Temple to make their appointed sacrifice. Through Holy Spirit happenstance, the holy family encounters both Simeon and Anna, a godly man and righteous woman. These two God-seekers immediately recognize the hope of the world they held in their arms.
Today I believe Anna’s response in the light of a whole new season is just right for us. Anna showed up. She praise God for the past and she looked to the future with full expectation.
If we are being honest, each of these activities may involve more inertia than we are ready to offer.
Showing up is the first step and sometimes the hardest. Staying home is the easiest way to insulate ourselves from the potential insults and injuries of engaging with others.
We may also find it difficult to praise God if the past few months or years have been painful, lonely or particularly trying.
We might struggle to stoke hope for the new year and the new decade if hope has been dashed against the rocks before.
Beloved, it is when we are tempted to stay home, to silence praise and to let hope extinguish altogether that these activities are most crucial. Today I am praying today for the re-ignition of presence, praise and hope. How can we move forward without these elements?
Anna had spent by far the better part of her life in Temple service. Though her original dreams shattered when her young husband died, she had found joy and purpose in Temple life. She waited expectantly through eighty-four new years before she saw the summation of her expectations. Yet she held Him in her hands; the hope she’d whispered for eight full decades filled her arms and her heart completely. She is the woman who speaks to us from the immediate days following that first Christmas. Her instructions still stand today, 2020 years later.
Face the new year with the same brand of faith as the old prophetess. Show up. Praise God for the past and look forward with expectation.
Lord, please produce courage in us. Give us the gumption to keep showing up. May we page back through the pages of our story with gratitude, seeing clearly all the ways You intervened, offering protection and provision. May we also possess the conviction to look ahead with expectancy as Anna did. She knew she had see her Savior and thus the salvation of man was nigh. We have seen You at work in our lives, may we walk in the living hope of Your return. Amen.