The week between Christmas and New Year is visitation week. Did you visit, welcome family to your home, travel to see others? We traveled to New York to visit my parents this week. Quick trip, Tuesday to Thursday. 48 hours, action packed. I saw both of my grandmother’s this weekend. I can’t tell you the last time that happened. My mom’s mom is 86 and lives near Rochester. We have not been out there in many years. She came to visit on my mom’s 60th birthday, with my mom’s two sisters. My boys have not seen Grandma Morse in a few years, or maybe its better to say that my grandmother has not seen my boys in a few years, never saw Elijah. Only in pictures. I feel bad about this, but getting together is not easy. We go to my parents, two hours east of the rest of my mom’s family. They would have to come to us. They don’t. We’re only in NY once or twice a year for a few days. A narrow window for family to gather. My boys all have blankets knitted by my Grandma Morse. They are their traveling blankets, for snuggling on long car rides. That’s their connection to her.
I also went to visit my Dad’s mom. Grandma Lenahan is in a nursing home. It’s a beautiful new Jewish home north of Utica. I was pleased with the place. She has a large single room. It was decorated for Christmas with poinsettias. She has a board filled with family pictures, including my boys. She is very frail, unable to speak. Although she was alert enough to acknowledge us when we came in. After a few minutes of talking, I told her about the boys, the church, our house. My dad reminded her of the time when I ran away from home and landed suitcase in hand at my grandma’s house. She lived next door, had to walk through a three acre field. I was 7 and angry because I kept falling off my new two wheel bike. Grandma Lenahan was known as candy grandma, because she had cocoa puffs and lucky charms.
I’m not so good with one way small talk. She could, at best, look at me and mouth a word or two I could not understand. So I decided to get a bible and pray with her. She is a devout Catholic after all. I suspect t she has prayed for me in her life. So I prayed with her, read Psalms and other scriptures, prayed for her health, commended her to God’s eternal care. I may not see her again before she dies. I’ve never prayed with my grandmother before. My dad didn’t know if she receives regular spiritual care or visitation from a priest. She is taken to mass sometimes, he thought. I couldn’t think of anything else to do with her but to pray. Its what I do when I visit the elderly and infirm. I was glad I saw her…glad I saw both of my grandmothers this year. My parents were, too.
It’s a new year and, in church at least, it is still Christmas. I know that the world outside has moved on beyond Christmas, but we are still basking in the glory. We hear this story about baby Jesus, Simeon, and Anna. The holy family have made the trip up to Jerusalem for the ritual of consecration, an offering to God on behalf of the child. His parents devote him to God’s service, as a firstborn male son of Israel. This is a journey home for any Jew. The baby Jesus has been taken to the temple where there are elderly people praying. They meet Simeon, who insists on holding the baby, taking him from his father. He smiles at the baby boy. Simeon’s words have been sung for centuries as the gospel canticle at compline, prayer at the close of the day. It is also set as a post communion hymn. Many Christians know the words of his song by heart. It is a song about Jesus, mysteriously identified or recognized by the old man as God’s messiah, the promised savior. Imagine Mary and Joseph looking at each other and thinking: How does he know? But it is also a song about Simeon. His has the posture of one who has seen it all. He has lived and now he has held the future in his hands. And he knows that the future will include death; his own and this baby’s. But he also knows that God’s presence and peace have come to him. He accepts the future, because he is confident that God’s goodness and mercy will prevail. Call it the wisdom of his years or the truth of his mortality, but Simeon knows that his time is short and that He has seen the living God present in this baby’s face. He has touched heaven and so, he is ready to go. He is prepared to die because he is at peace knowing that God has prepared the day of salvation for God’s people. In this baby, Simeon’s hope is confirmed. God is with us to the end.
Anna is 84 years old and is the first person in Luke’s gospel to tell others about Jesus. She is the first evangelist in the gospel, the first person to share the good news. She is 84. These elders have devoted their later years to God’s service. They are praying in the temple and waiting for God’s salvation. They are privileged enough to receive Jesus, the holy child of God, the hope of Israel.
For what are you hoping this year? To see another Christmas? To spend more time with family? To receive a visit from your great-grandkids? To be more devoted to God or your own health? I am reminded this week that the faith is passed down from generation to generation. Our spiritual grandparents prepare the way for us and for our children to live faithfully in the world. Without their prayers, their wisdom, their confident hope and peace, their devotion to the church, we are lost. As a giver, God keeps on giving throughout our lives. It is never too late to receive God’s love, mercy, forgiveness, healing. Never too late for anyone. You’re never too old to be inspired, to see God at work in the world. It’s never too late to start singing and sharing the good news. I am also reminded that Christian hope extends beyond any one lifetime. It spans eternity because God is eternal and in Christ we are taken up into the divine life. As we mark the days of 2012, may you find peace in the presence of God everyday and hope in the life that is yet to come. Amen.
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