Rector's Sermon - Sunday, February 2, 2002

First Reading	Psalm	Epistle	Gospel
Malachi 3:1-4	111 1-10	Hebrews 2:14-18	Luke 2:22-40

      Named for the train that used to run on the former roadbed, the Black Diamond trail leaves Ithaca, rising around the west side of the lake, and crossing a high trestle above Taughannock Falls before entering Trumansburg. One day a group of three young women took the trail . By the time they got close to Jacksonville, they were tired and wondered how long they must go to reach the trestle where a car was waiting to take them home. In this area, the trail runs among small patches of forests and private woodlots. Around a sharp bend, the three woman came upon an old man using a chain saw, bucking up some billets of firewood. Intent on his work, he did not notice them until they went up and shouted, "Hello! How long will it take us to get to the Taughannock Falls trestle?" The woodcutter rubbed his chin and said "Ah," but did not make any further reply. Louder they shouted, "We said, how long will it take us to reach the high trestle?" "Ah ha," said the woodcutter. Rather impatiently, one of the young women replied, "Let's go on, the old man must be deaf." They started down the trail and when they got almost out of sight, the woodcutter shouted, "About two and three quarter hours." The young women stopped, and one snapped back, "Well why didn't you tell us that in the first place?" The old woodcutter was used to the impatience and impertinence sometimes exhibited by those living in the enlightened city, so he just smiled and chose his words with deliberation. "Ah, yes. Well, before I could tell you how long it would take to reach the trestle, I first had to see how fast you were walking."

      Over the years this day, February 2nd, the fortieth day since Christmas, has been given various names by the church, depending on the particular emphasis at the time. It was a day when all the candles used from the Christmas season were pretty well gone, and so the old candles would be used for the last time, fresh candles blessed and put in, and the old stubs melted down and poured into molds to become new candles. Hence, the day became known as Candlemas. In years past, when this day was known as the Purification of Mary, it marked a day of thanksgiving for the safe delivery and the passing of the early dangers to both mother and child that were associated with birth, and by extension to all mothers and children. The Gospel passage from Luke combines this custom of thanksgiving with Jesus' presentation in the Temple and the ancient cultural tradition of dedicating one's first born son to God. Common to many cultures, this custom in Jesus' day involved thanking God for the child, and then making an offering of traditionally five shekels to the temple treasury, thereby redeeming the child back into the family.

      Luke, the editor of today's Gospel, uses this story to emphasize that Jesus was always part of a Jewish community. Luke's Gospel really begins here in the temple, and ends, after Jesus' resurrection and ascension, in the temple with the disciples praising God. Jesus' past, present, and future are all connected to a much larger history and greater family.

      It is wonderful that on this day, we are baptizing two sisters, Nicole and Carrie, for the service of baptism makes it clear that God invites us together as members of a much greater family. In one sense there is no such thing as a private, individual baptism. Baptism holds up the connectedness and responsibility of the larger family. In Luke's story, we are given the picture of the infant Jesus, Mary and Joseph, and Simeon and Anna, three generations together. It is Anna and Simeon who are able to perceive and inform Mary and Joseph what the future holds. Unquestionably Luke and all who heard the Gospel would think of another encounter in the Temple, centuries before, between old Eli and the young boy Samuel, when Eli helped the boy understand that it was God who was calling him. Luke wants us to remember that it is often the past generation that is able to help the present generation understand and prepare the future generation.
One of the best and worst things about Ithaca is that people are always moving. Unlike Jesus' time, most of us rarely stay in one place all our lives. We always enjoy welcoming people and we are sorry to see people go. Besides our own immediate family, the church has a responsibility to provide that sense of continuity, tradition, and perspective that tends to be absent in larger society. In the baptismal liturgy there is mention of Moses leading people through the Red Sea. This past week, the two girls were looking at the font and they saw next to the face of a child, bulrushes, symbolizing Moses being found and saved among the bulrushes along the Nile.

      There are stories that we pass on from generation to generation, and while they may not make much sense in the immediate present they help us to comprehend and integrate the future into our personal story. For people of faith, there are many opportunities for encounters between young and old, with the old giving the young insight into their future.

      While Nicole and Carrie may not always live in Ithaca, on this day we affirm that they are part of a larger family and that they will always be connected to much greater traditions. May they have the help of other generations of faith in gaining a perspective and measure of the progress of their journey. Perhaps even before they leave Ithaca, they will remember an encounter between young and old, like the encounter with a wise woodcutter, who gave the three young women from the enlightened city, a precious gift.

      And I offer this to you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen