Are you ready for the main event? Candlemas, Sunday 31st January 2010: St Anne's, Soho
With thanks to Fr Richard Watson - here is his sermon from St Anne's today
The ‘prequel’ is still very much in vogue in TV and movie making. You may have recently seen Rock & Chips, the prequel to Only Fools and Horses courtesy for the BBC, butI think the classic example in recent years is the development of the originalStar Wars film – it started life as part 1 of a trilogy, followed by its sequel The Empire Strikes Back, and then The Return of the Jedi.
Apparently the original plan in the mind of George Lucas was a six part epic, but financial constraints and production difficulties meant that the original six part idea was reduced into 3 parts. But then, years later, riding on the continuing success of the original three moves, Lucas was able to turn the clock back and make his original three films – which you all will know as The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. The overall effect of the three ‘prequels’ is that they colour and fill in the gaps of the original characters and plot lines. Darth Vader, the through and through baddie of the original films is seen to have started off as a good guy, who is slowly corrupted by others and a victim of his own vulnerability. He’s no less of a baddie in the end, but the effect is even more powerful because you can see where he comes from….(you can buy all 6 on dvd for £30 in the HMV sale at the moment!)
Well, as far as the Church year is concerned – in fact as far as the gospel is concerned, we’ve just had the prequel – and we’re now heading for the main feature. Christmas and Epiphany are done for another year, and we turn our faces towards Holy Week and Easter. The Feast of Candlemas is actually this coming Tuesday, but the Lectionary allows its observation on the last Sunday in January – and its an important turning point in the church’s cycle of worship and prayer. Because it marks that shift in focus away from Christmas and towards Holy Week. Away from the warm cosy glow of the crib scene, towards the harsh reality of the cross.
So what’s all the Star Wars stuff about? Well there is the real sense that Christmas and Epiphany are a prequel to the main story and added later. Remember that the earliest Gospel, Mark, has no Christmas story. And the last gospel to be written, John (and the most theologically rigorous) has no Christmas story either. Luke is the one who ‘does Christmas’ and only Matthew does the 3 wise men. The ‘original’ gospel story was one which did not include any reference to the birth of Christ – no virgin, no shepherds, no stable, no star….Jesus bursts into the gospel narrative as an adult male at the beginning of his ministry. And that ministry is a steady path towards Holy Week and Easter.
For the earliest Christian communities, Holy Week and Easter were the gospel. That was all that was needed to be known. The Passion Narrative we hear read every Palm Sunday and Good Friday was the heart of the churches preaching, worship and life – and anything else was to be seen in relation to that one crucial saving event. So in the same way that George Lucas added his prequels to the Star Wars movies, so the church added the prequel to the Passion. Christmas and Epiphany were bolted on the beginning of the gospel as a way of filling in the gaps, and helping to set the scene for the heart of the gospel.
And that’s why we have to move on. That’s why we have to turn our backs on Christmas and be drawn along the way of the cross. We cannot afford to get left behind. We cannot afford to ignore the call to be drawn deeper into the mystery of the cross. Christmas is only there to push us forward. And if our observance of Holy Week and Easter is anything less than what we’ve done in the last month or so, then we’re seriously off the mark.
So what does the ‘Candlemas prequel’ add to our reading of the main Passion feature? Why did Luke include it? (Matthew didn’t). Well the location is significant. They are in the Temple, the heart of Israelite worship and the very place of God’s dwelling. Luke makes a big thing of the fact that all was being done in accordance with the law of Moses, and in so doing they encounter Simeon and Anna – and Anna is identified specifically as a prophet, the daughter of Phanuel. In one snapshot, and in the space of just a few verses, the newly-born Jesus is presented to us against the backdrop of three major aspects of Hebrew life and faith: the worship of the temple, the law of Moses and the heritage of the prophets. Everything that defined Judaism (in Luke’s depiction) attests to the fact that this child is the one who will redeem Israel – but not only Israel, but the whole of God’s people, jew and gentile. The temple, the law and the prophets – everything is focused on this tiny child. And through his life and passion (a sorrow in which his mother was to share) everything and everyone would know the light and the love and the glory of God.
In one sense, Luke uses this story in the same way that Matthew uses the story of the Magi from the East: both gospel writers blow open the boundaries of the gospel in a way that Mark does not. So Candlemas brings together and ties together Christmas and Epiphany – the revelation of Christ’s glory to the whole world, and points us to where that glory will be supremely seen and experienced: in Christ’s passion, death and resurrection.
Christmas and Epiphany are the ‘prequel’ to Holy Week and Easter. Without them we are in danger of missing the point. It is so easy to receive the story of Holy Week in a totally personal way. ‘Jesus loved me so much that he was willing to endure this for me. He died to save me from my sins, that I might be forgiven’. And that is, of course, absolutely 100% true. But it is true only in the context of the bigger picture – the redemption of all humanity. Good news for all people. So here we are at the turning point of the liturgical year. We cant afford to get stuck on Christmas, or linger any longer. But neither is it ‘business as usual’ - We are compelled to move on, to place ourselves within the shadow of the cross.
We have a few weeks before Lent begins – Ash Wednesday is 17th February, and as individuals we need to decide what we’re going to do with it. So ask yourself now – what will you do this year in order to enter more deeply into the mystery of the passion, the mystery of the cross? You’ve done the prequel – but are you ready for the all inclusive, heart-stopping, life-changing main feature?
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