Pastoral Letter 196
Dear Members of St. Andrew’s Uniting Church, Friends and Adherents,
Grace and peace to you all as we farewell the year 2023 and look forward to the year 2024 with great anticipation and hope.
On the first Sunday of Advent, we lit the Candle of Hope, as we hopefully watch and wait for the Lord’s second coming to establish His Kingdom and save the world. On the second Sunday we lit the Candle of Peace to remind ourselves of the ways God brings peace into our lives, as we live in the Hope that God will use us for peace through this Advent Season. On the third Sunday we lit the third Candle of Advent, the Candle of Joy during our traditional Carols Service, to celebrate the Joy of having God in our lives and hope to bring the much-needed Joy in our world. Last Sunday we lit the fourth candle of Advent, the Candle of Love to celebrate the Love of God, reminding ourselves that God is Love and He loves the world and as we live in the Hope that He will use us to continue building His Love in our world this Advent and Christmas Season.
Last Sunday evening during the Christmas Eve service we lit the Candle of Christ, the Light of the World, who came to this dark world to enlighten us and give us real joy, peace and hope filled with the great love of God. As we celebrated during this joyous season and praised our loving, caring and compassionate God, we were invited to remember those who are less fortunate, needy, homeless, lonely, depressed, not well, going through difficult time and have serious health issues asking for God’s care, help and presence. We prayed hoping for peace in our restless world with wars in many areas and desperate situations for many who are suffering and facing hard times, because of those tragic wars. We especially prayed for all refugees around the world as suggested by the Act for Peace, the international humanitarian agency of the National Council of Churches in Australia. So, please continue to pray for those who need care, support and love, according to the command of our Lord and Saviour “love your neighbour”.
On this last day of the year 2023, let us give thanks to God for all the blessings He provided to us, regardless of the many challenges, pains and sorrows we had during the year. We know that the world was and still is in turmoil and our lives were and are full of pain and suffering, but we still believe that God is in control, and we can trust Him, for He is good. With these thoughts and faith, let us look forward to the New Year being assured that God will be with us even if we will face pain and sorrow. He will take care of us. He will lift us up when we fall down, He will ease our pain when we struggle with serious health issues and surround us with His great love. So, let’s hope for the best and keep trusting Him in every situation and circumstance.
If you are not able to join us tomorrow, please light a candle, and join us following the attached Orders of Services.
Please let me know if you or anyone else has prayer points.
Here are some prayer points for this week:
- Pray for the New Year and ask God to be with us in the year as we move through unchartered territory.
- Pray for the Middle East, the conflict between Israel and Palestine and the suffering people.
- Pray for the people Artsakh who are refugees in different parts of Armenia facing many challenges.
- Pray for the poor, the sick, the struggling and the stressed.
- Pray for Virginia as she receives treatment and assuring her that we are with her on this painful way.
- Pray for our church and our future plans as we seek God’s guidance.
Best Regards for the New Year.
Krikor
MESSAGE
Simeon’s Message – Hope for the Future
Luke 22:26-27
Simeon is the most popular person to get lost in the Christmas story. Yet, Simeon plays a very significant role in the unfolding of Luke’s narrative. Strangely enough, he’s a leading character in the post-Christmas story; the story of the baby Jesus brought to the Temple a week or eight days after His birth (Vs. 21).
Also, he has a lot to say about Jesus and His impact on us after Christmas and into the days that follow, the future of our lives.
Simeon declares that there’s hope for the future; so, what do we learn about how Jesus leads us today, tomorrow, as well as into a New Year?
Simeon reminds us that Jesus leads us and is our daily hope for tomorrow.
As our hope, Jesus leads us daily to:
1. Be Available to God
“Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and this man was righteous and devout. He was waiting for consolation of Israel; and the Holy Spirit was upon him” (Vs. 25).
He was dependent on the Holy Spirit. When we are introduced to Simeon, we read these simple words.
What does this mean? What is the significance of the phrase that says: “and the Holy Spirit was upon him”?
This is not the first time we read this phrase in the Christmas story. When Gabriel appeared to Mary there was a similar statement made. He said to Mary: “The angel answered: The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So, the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God” (1:35).
The significance of this statement is immediate and personal for the purpose of a special life assignment and provision for accomplishing her task.
Mary’s assignment was to bring forth the Christ-child. Yet, if you will notice, this was impossible for her. She had many physical limitations of accomplishing this task.
Mary’s limitations were:
a – She was a virgin. She had never intimately “known” a man.
b – She was overwhelmed by the task and felt unworthy.
c – She did not know what she needed to do for God’s will to become a reality.
This sounds like what God often does in our lives.
How many of us know that our lives and the task God gives us is impossible for us?
Throughout the Bible mankind has been described in many unappealing ways:
a – We are like sheep – easily distracted and go our own way.
b – We are dust – The only hope of becoming a vessel of service for Him is when He moulds and turns us into a useful vessel, like a Potter would.
c – We are often faithless, yet God affirms that He is faithful and able to do above whatever we would ask or think.
The Bible clearly declares that we are limited, created for a limitless God to come to us and helps do something or be something that we are too limited to accomplish.
So, the Holy Spirit came upon Mary in Luke 1 and in Luke 2, we read again that the Holy Spirit came upon Simeon.
Simeon was like us. God is not looking for invincibility; He is looking for availability. He is not looking for “the perfect person” — He is looking for “the available person”.
God is looking for men like Simeon that He can declare through them His message of salvation. He is looking for women like Mary that He can trust them with a task. Both were available and ready because they were available to God.
God is always looking for a man, woman who are available to whom He can sent the Holy. If we are available God’s Spirit will come upon us.
Let us make ourselves available to God. To be like Isaiah that said: “Here I am Lord, send me.” Be like Samuel who said: “Speak Lord your servant is listening.”
God’s Spirit will come on us if we are available. If we are available God will give us the ability.
2. Plug into The Holy Spirit
“It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.” (Vs. 26)
As we read verse 26, we discover a second thing that the Holy Spirit did in the life of Simeon; He revealed truth to Simeon.
It was through the presence of the Holy Spirit in Simeon’s life that he heard from God that he would not die until he saw “the Lord’s Christ”.
Simeon had read God’s Word. He knew the Messianic prophecies. He was full of faith when it came to God’s Word. In verse 25 we find that he acted on God’s Word and was “looking for the consolation of Israel”.
Simeon was longing for the promises of God to be fulfilled before His eyes. He was looking for the First coming of Jesus Christ; and now God is moving His people to look for the Second coming of Jesus Christ. The Bible says: “Blessed are those who love His appearing”.
Because of this, God gave to Simeon something personal about His will for him. We can’t expect God to reveal His will and ways in our life until we first begin with simply being in God’s Word, knowing it, trusting it, and putting your expectation in it.
When Jesus was brought to the Temple, the Holy Spirit directed, guided, and ordered Simeon’s steps to bring him in front of Jesus and when He saw Him, He knew that He had seen the Lord’s Christ. Jesus was different from all the other babies in the temple that day and took Him in his arms and received Him.
He was present and open to what God might show him in his life and He experienced one of the greatest revelations of Christ in human history.
God’s plan for Simeon’s life was different than ours. We have the tendency of looking at other people’s lives and focusing on their purpose and feeling perhaps their purpose is bigger than ours; yet nothing could be further from the truth.
God is the Creator and He created us to be us. He gives us our own personal and planned life. Yet, we all have one thing in common; we are designed with only one power source called the Holy Spirit.
Simeon stayed connected to God’s Word and the Holy Spirit and the power of God showed up in the temple that day and gave Simeon the ability to honour Christ in a way no one else did in the temple that day.
He opened His mouth and blessed Jesus and prophesied eight days after the cradle for the cross of Jesus: “Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: The Child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sing that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too” (Vs. 33-34).
Simeon reminds of us of how Jesus leads us and is our daily hope for tomorrow. As our hope Jesus leads us daily to:
3. Let His Spirit Move Us
“Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts” (Vs. 27)
When we read about how God’s Spirit works in our life; often the picture is one of His Spirit moving us.
What does it mean when we say: “The Holy Spirit is moving?”
The word “moved” gives the idea of being stirred. One of the pictures of the Holy Spirit is the picture of the wind. The wind is a powerful force. On the day of Pentecost that’s how the Holy Spirit showed up. The day the church was born we read that the Holy Spirit came like “a mighty rushing wind.” Acts 2
Simeon did not see the Holy Spirit, but he felt it. He sensed that God was in the place because the Spirit was moving him.
He was under the influence of the Holy Spirit that day.
Have we ever noticed all the things God tells us to do in the Spirit?
a – Walk in the Spirit – live in step with the Spirit (Gal. 5:16).
b – Live in the Spirit – live in the atmosphere of the Spirit (Gal. 5:25)
c – Worship in the Spirit (Phil. 3:3)
d – Pray in the Spirit on all occasions (Eph. 6:18)
This man was in the Spirit and did something that John the Baptist would do when Jesus was 30 years old; but Simeon did the same thing when he was 8 days old. He introduced Jesus to everyone around because he was “in the Spirit”.
Do we want our life to count for God? Do we want to live out our purpose?
The New Year is often a moment when we think about our lives and begin planning for the days ahead; but I encourage you today to instead of looking at your future through your own lens; ask God’s Spirit to give you a new eyes to see, a new heart to trust, and a new touch from God’s Spirit to experience all He has for your life; not just this year, but every year for the rest of your life.
Amen!