A Bucket List

Delivered January 8, 2012

Luke 2:22-40

“The Bucket List” is a 2007 film starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. The movie follows two terminally ill men on a road trip with a wish list of things to do before they "kick the bucket."  Together they take an around-the-world vacation. They go skydiving together, climb the Pyramids, fly over the North Pole, visit the Taj Mahal in India, ride motorcycles on the Great Wall of China, and go on a safari in Africa.  The subplot of the movie is about relationships: the Freeman character’s relationship with his wife, and the Nicholson character’s relationship with his estranged daughter. It is a funny and thoughtful film.  It communicates the truth that it is not experiences or things that are important in life, but relationships with people.

Our scripture text this morning is about a man named Simeon who had only one thing on his bucket list. Before he died he wanted to see the Messiah. And verse 26 of our passage tells us that God told him he would get his wish. “And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.”  Here at the beginning of a new year – New Year’s Day - let’s give some thought to our own bucket lists. I invite you to take a look at your life this morning –while I am preaching and during the communion service later in the service. I suggest that you might start a bucket list today, but a different type of one. Simeon’s one item was a spiritual one, and that is what I hope you might do this morning. Not to make a list of places you want to visit or experiences you might want to have. I am not talking about skydiving or visiting New Zealand. I am asking you to make a spiritual bucket list.

Every few years I read the Bible from cover-to-cover in one year. Even though I study the Bible every day – not only for Sunday sermons and the Midweek Bible study, but also for personal reasons - I haven’t read it cover-to-cover in a year for quite a while. So 2012 is the year I have decided to do it again. If you have never done that – or if you have started and stopped in the middle of Leviticus - you might want to consider this as a personal goal, especially if you have never read through the whole Bible in your life. Isn’t it about time? A lot of people who have been attended church all their lives have never read through the whole Bible. Why not this year? This time I am using a website called the One Year Bible Online that makes it very easy. In fact I have been getting a head start the last couple of weeks. I make it part of my morning devotions, the first thing after breakfast. It is amazing how little time it takes. That is just one idea; I hope you will think of many more.

To get back to Simeon and his bucket list, I want us to look at this man this morning and see if he has anything to teach us concerning our bucket lists. We meet Simeon in connection with a visit that Mary and Joseph make to Jerusalem with their infant son Jesus. In Luke’s Gospel narrative it is 40 days after Christmas. Mary has gone through the required 40 days of ritual purification according to Jewish law, and they could now come into the temple to present their child Jesus to the Lord – much like Christians today have infant baptism or infant dedication ceremonies. There in the temple they met Simeon. It doesn’t say that he is an older man, but it sounds like it from what he says, and most Biblical commentators agree. Here is a man who is getting older and on this day his bucket list is completed, and he says in verses 29-30 “²⁹ Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, According to Your word;³⁰ For my eyes have seen Your salvation.” What can this figure of Simeon teach us?

I. First of all there is Simeon’s character. Verse 25 “And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.” It says that Simeon was just and devout. We could use the terms morality and spirituality.  These are good things to put on our bucket list. On New year’s Eve people pledge to lose weight, exercise more, stop smoking or save money – things like that. But consider instead this morning some moral and spiritual qualities. We might also use words like honor and integrity. 2011 was a year when the news was filled with leaders who did not act with honor and integrity. We have seen politicians and sports figures resign over issues of personal morality. Those people should have put spiritual and moral qualities on their bucket lists. Now their names are going to be associated with shame and disgrace for the rest of their lives.

How are you going to be remembered? Simeon is remembered in the scriptures as just and devout. We don’t know anything else about him. He pops up in these few verses and then disappears from history. His appearance in Scripture is brief, but it is enough.  He left a legacy that has inspired generations. Our appearance in this life is brief. What is your legacy going to be for those who have known you?

II. A second characteristic about Simeon is prayer. Verse 27 says that he came into the temple. He was in the temple when Mary and Joseph arrived because he probably spent a lot of time there. Later in this passage we meet an eighty-four year old woman named Anna. It says of her in verse 37 that she, “did not depart from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.”  I am not suggesting that you be in night and day. The fact that you are here on New Year’s Day and most of you were here also on Christmas morning means that you are the more regular worshippers here at this church. So you can just pat yourself on the back on this one. You probably don’t have to put “Go to church more” on your bucket list. If you do, then go ahead. But you are probably the ones I least need to urge to come to church.

But I would like to suggest spiritual disciplines. In this passage we see both Simeon and Anna praying. Anna is said to have done it “night and day.” That is a tall order! The apostle Paul instructs us to “pray without ceasing.” This does not mean to be continually mumbling the Lord’s Prayer under our breath all day long. This is referring to living in the presence of God. It is one thing to worship God on Sunday mornings, it is another thing to maintain and attitude of worship throughout each day.
I think that one of the goals of the spiritual life should be the everyday awareness of God. Brother Lawrence, a seventeenth century French monk on Paris called it “the practice of the presence of God.” A collection of his letters is published under that title. Jesus used the phrase the Kingdom of God. This is the heart of individual spirituality. It is not whether we have all the right theological answers or fulfill all the religious obligations. It is about whether we have an inner spiritual awareness that connects with God. For me this is what the Christian faith is all about - everyday connection with God during every part of every day. You might want to put a richer and deeper prayer life on your spiritual bucket list.

This is something know no one needs to know about but you. In fact this spiritual bucket list is probably best kept private for the most part, especially when it comes to prayer. Jesus says a lot about the importance of privacy in prayer. One of the religious stories of 2011 was the phenomenon known as Tebowing. Some of you may not know what Tebowing is, so I will explain. Tim Tebow is the starting quarterback for the Denver Bronos. He is also a devout Christian. He is known for publicly thanking God and Christ on the football field and in new conferences. In particular he is known for kneeling down on one knee on the field and putting his hand to his head and offering a silent prayer to God. The distinctive characteristic of Tebowing is to get down on a knee and start praying, even if everyone else around you is doing something completely different. For him everyone is celebrating a touchdown or a victory and he is no a knee in prayer. This posture has “gone viral” as they say these days. People around the world are being photographed in this distinctive pose of Tim Tebow in all sorts of places and situations. Some are getting in trouble for it.

A couple of weeks ago two New York high school athletes  - twin brothers, Connor and Tyler Carroll - got students together at Riverhead High School to "tebow" in between classes. The brothers and their friends did this Tebowing in the hall at school in between classes three days in a row. On the third day, the boys were suspended from school; the school officials said the Tebow tribute was dangerous. It posed a safety hazard by blocking others from getting to class. So now another form of prayer has become illegal in schools. These public displays of prayer are fine – and I think they should be a protected form of free speech in our nation - but this type of prayer is not going to do much for your spiritual life. It is more of a public testimony. But if you are going to put prayer on your bucket list, I suggest you don’t put tebowing, but instead a regular spiritual discipline of private prayer.

III. The climax of this scripture passage is the scene where Simeon holds the baby Jesus in his arms. Our passage says, “And when the parents brought in the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the law, ²⁸ he took Him up in his arms and blessed God….” For me this is one of the most moving scenes in scripture. We read the Christmas story every year about the infant Jesus lying in a manger, but this in the baby Jesus lying in someone’s arms. Can you imagine what that experience would have been like for Simeon? Can you imagine what it would have been like to hold the infant Christ?

Two years ago in 2010 at Super Bowl XLIV, Drew Brees – quarterback for the New Orleans Saints, had that kind of moment as he celebrated a Super Bowl win. He stood with his son lifted up high in the air. He later said, "I stood there with my little boy, and I was overwhelmed. I told Baylen how much I loved him and how much he meant to me….. I thought of my mom, who I believed was smiling down from heaven, and all my family and friends who were there watching. 'We did it, little boy. We did it!'" In that important moment in Drew Brees' career, that memory of holding his son up in the air will be forever sketched in his mind. But that is just a football game. Can you imagine Simeon holding up the Savior of the world in his hands, and saying to God,

       ²⁹ “ Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace,
      According to Your word;
       ³⁰ For my eyes have seen Your salvation
       ³¹ Which You have prepared before the face of all peoples,
       ³² A light to bring revelation to the Gentiles,
      And the glory of Your people Israel.”

It is no wonder that the next verse says, “³³ And Joseph and His mother marveled at those things which were spoken of Him.”

          Every child born is a miracle. I know in my life every one of our children was a miracle, and we gave each one of them back to God in a child dedication ceremony. Each of our grandchildren are a miracle. Each of the children in this town, each of the fourteen children born in Sandwich in 2011 is a miracle. I hope that in 2012 we can reach out to these children and the families of these children with the love of God. That ought to be on our church’s bucket list.

          IV. The last thing that this passage says about Simeon is in verses 34-35, “Then Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary His mother, “Behold, this Child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against (yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.” Simeon here embraced and proclaimed the full truth about Jesus. It is a good thing to have on our bucket list as well.

Christmas has a lot of sentimentality connected with it, especially in popular culture. But today with Christmas a week in the past we can look at it a bit more soberly through Simeon’s eyes. I think that Simeon’s words sobered up Mary and Joseph. They were still basking in the memories of angels’ songs and shepherds. Soon would come the Wise men with precious gifts. But here Simeon prophesies that this child is going to be spoken against, that he is going to cause people to fall and rise, and will reveal the thoughts of people’s hearts. Most disturbing of all was his prophecy that a sword was going to pierce Mary’s soul. His words must have pierced Mary’s soul as well.

As I connect this to us and our bucket lists this morning, I invite you to some soul searching. Maybe even be open to some soul-piercing. Hebrews says, “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Communion is a good time for this. I invite you this day and this year to open your heart and soul to the Holy Spirit that we might truly know the truth and that truth might set us free. For Simeon it was his life’s hope and dream to see the Messiah. When he did see Jesus and held him in his arms, he told it like it was. May we tell it like it is – and to listen to the Spirit of God telling it like it is to us in our souls - as we come to the Lord’s table this New year’s Day.   And may our bucket list be as spiritual and meaningful as Simeon’s.