What's next?

With another Christmas rapidly fading into memory, I opened the gospel of Luke, which tells the most familiar parts of the Christmas story, to see what came next. It's an odd inclusion. Jesus' parents take their infant son to the temple for the usual rites of purification -- of Mary, not of the child. In Jewish tradition, the blood of birthing rendered a woman unclean. After seven days (14 for a female baby) and a suitable sacrifice, a priest could declare the mother ritually clean again.

While in the temple, they met two elderly people: Anna, who must have lived over 100 years, and Simeon, who believed he would not die until he had seen the long‐promised Messiah. In what must have been one of the last acts of his life, Simeon took the baby Jesus in his arms and uttered a prayer that has since become widely known in its Latin form as Nunc Dimittis: "Lord, now let your servant depart in peace...." It is, perhaps, the prayer of every old person.

When I was much younger, I set out to conquer the world. Or perhaps to change it. Well, at least to make a difference. And yet there is a yearning, sometimes a desperate yearning, to believe that however much or little each of us has actually accomplished, there was some reason for our existence. That we were not just dandelion fluff, blown about by the winds of chance. That even if we have trouble recognizing it, our lives do have meaning.

So I see the story of Simeon and Anna as a kind of parable -- a story that conveys a message. And the message is that we will receive that reassurance, in some unexplained way, before our time runs out. Why would the writer of this gospel include this particular story? Primarily, to support the claim that Jesus was the long‐awaited savior. But perhaps also because it carried a universal truth -- like Simeon and Anna, we too will receive reassurance that there was some purpose and meaning for our lives.

At the start of the new year, I want to encourage you to use what God has given you in the place that He has given you. Start where you are, use what you have, and do what you can. Everyplace you go, ask the Holy Spirit to open your eyes to those that He wants you to minister to. Maybe someone needs a hug, or a smile. Sometimes they need a prayer. But always they need our love, not our condemnation. You are God's hope in glory so I pray that you will be a beacon of His light everywhere you go this year, and from now on! Let God use you to bring hope and encouragement to those around you.

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Editor's note: The Rev. Dr. Scott Stewart is the pastor of Pea Ridge and Brightwater United Methodist Churches. He can be contacted at [email protected]. The opinions expressed are those of the writer.