02.02.2012
In Darkness There is Light – Sermon by the Archbishop of Dublin
Sermon preached by the Archbishop of Dublin, the Most Revd Dr Michael Jackson, on The Presentation of Christ in the Temple, at the service of Readings and Carols to express solidarity with the Irish people struggling with recession at Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin on February 2, 2012.
Readings: Malachi 3:1–5; psalm 24; Hebrews 2:14–18; St Luke 2:22–40.
St Luke 2:32 … a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel …
One of the wonderful things about Christmas is that it need not go away completely. Of course, we pack away the Christmas decorations, we recycle the Christmas tree. Of course, we look wistfully at the opportunities which the Christmas period – now a distant memory in softer focus – gave us. We were able to be more relaxed, to make time to be with family and friends. Of course, we know that January and February drag us reluctantly towards spring. However, as we find, let us say, the sweater or cardigan which we were given at Christmas fitting perfectly as we pull it on one morning, we smile to ourselves and say: Yes, I got that for Christmas. It’s rather nice. Or maybe you decide to polish off the last tiny wedge of Christmas cake – and again a smile curls round your lips and you say: Christmas was nice, wasn’t it?
This spirit of continuity with Christmas itself comes through in the spirit of Candlemas, the Feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple. This is what we celebrate this evening in the cathedral which has for generations been woven into the life of the city of Dublin:
… a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel …
The Star of Bethlehem, shining brightly and leading the Wise Men of the East to the place where Christ the King lay in all his robust yet vulnerable humanity, still gives light, glory and hope. The light is that of radiant humanity with all of the potential of infancy. New life and young life in all its fullness and in all its possibilities presents itself to us in such a way as to draw us into the weave of inter–dependence. We discover that being together is, in fact, rather good because it is a real experience of who we are in our being with other people. The glory is that of earth and heaven combining, of things coming to meet one another which too often are apart. The Temple in Jerusalem combined with the village of Bethlehem in the life of the new Anointed One, the Christ, as it had done so before in the person of King David. The humble and the majestic came together; the generations embraced; and glory, like the light, shone out from these best of human encounters. It is from such human encounters as these that new communities spring – Simeon and Anna, Mary Joseph and the Christ, Israel and the Gentiles. The weaving of human relationships which came about at Christmas is sustained and catapulted forward forty days later.
This evening we gather from right across the length and breadth of this city. We do so in order to express the reality of a community of hope which draws together those who are dispossessed, those who raise the voice of protest, those who make decisions and policy, those who listen to the Word of God and the voice of men, women and children. We all together give expression to the hope which is God’s lasting gift to us at this time, that light and glory will continue to infuse our world as people keep alive the spirit of Christmas and take it up again in the spirit of Candlemas. The light continues to shine; it is not snuffed out by the darkness. Suffering – the sword which will pierce the soul of Mary – brings the voice of realism into what might seem to those who observe the Christian tradition to be a world of dreaming. Light with no darkness at all simply is not, nor will it ever be, an option. Glory with no struggle is not, nor can it, be an option either.
Malachi 3.1: … the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple.