Some Liturgical Notes on Sunday, February 2nd, the Feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple

(this short piece appeared in this week's edition of our parish newsletter, All Saints Alive).

The Presentation of Christ by Hans Holbein the Elder, 1500.

This coming Sunday, February 2, happens to be the fixed date for one of the Principal Feasts in the Anglican Communion.  The Feast of the Presentation of Christ occurs forty days after Christmas.  While it has other names, The Feast of the Presentation commemorates the occasion described in chapter two of Luke’s gospel, when Mary and Joseph bring the infant Jesus to the Temple.

As faithful Jews, in accordance with the law of Moses, Mary and Joseph were required to bring their firstborn son to the Temple to be redeemed (see Leviticus 12 and Exodus 13:12-15).  Think of it as a kind of christening service.  At the same time, Jewish law required that forty days after giving birth, Mary should present herself for ritual purification, as childbirth was considered to make a woman temporarily unclean.  For this reason, this Feast is sometimes called The Feast of the Purification of the Virgin.   Older Anglicans may recall the service of “The Churching of Women”, which can be found in the old Book of Common Prayer, and is a sort of Cristian survival of the Jewish rite of purification of new mothers.

The customary sacrifice for the presentation of a firstborn sun was a lamb, but Luke’s gospel mentions that Mary and Joseph brought two birds (doves or pigeons) which was an allowable sacrifice for poorer families.   This detail in Luke reinforces the idea of the humility of the Holy Family, and helps understand Mary’s Magnificat, which stresses the lifting up of the poor over the privileged.

Luke also includes two characters, Simeon and Anna, who both recognize the infant Jesus as the promised Messiah.  Simeon and Anna are both figures of patient hope and faithfulness, people who have been waiting their whole lives trusting that God would deliver on God’s promises.  Simeon’s words have become famous in liturgy as the “Nunc Dimittis” and are used in the Prayer Book service of Evening Prayer:

LORD, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, / according to thy word.
For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, / which thou hast prepared before the face of all people;
To be a light to lighten the Gentiles, / and to be the glory of thy people Israel.

Anna, a holy widow who lives in the temple, is described as a prophet, and is honoured in the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches as St Anna the Prophet.  The only time she appears in the lectionary in the Sunday gospel readings is when the Feast of the Presentation falls on a Sunday.

Finally, another name for this feast is Candlemas. In the western church, the service began with a candlelit procession, and the priest would bless beeswax candles to be used in the church in the coming year.  Some of these candles would be distributed to parishioners for prayers in the home.  At All Saints we have observed Candlemas in the last few years when February 2 fell on a weeknight, using the Book of Common Prayer, and have distributed candles.   We will be blessing and distributing candles this Sunday in honour of this ancient Christian practice.

Whitsunday or Pentecost?

This Sunday, May 19, is the Day of Pentecost, which is often called “the birthday of the church”.  On this day we remember the first appearance of the Holy Spirit which empowered the disciples and allowed them to go out and become the church in the world.

Pentecost always falls on the fiftieth day after Easter, and the old Book of Common Prayer says that this day is “commonly called WHITSUNDAY”.    This name is confusing, because “Whitsunday” literally means “white Sunday”, though the liturgical colour is red for the flames of the Holy Spirit that descend on the apostles (see Acts 2:3).  So why the name Whitsunday?

A brief dive into early church history tells us that while new believers being instructed in the faith (called catechumens) were usually baptized on the Vigil of Easter (the Saturday before Easter Sunday).   However, those who weren’t ready by the Vigil were baptized on Pentecost, when they received new white robes to symbolize their new identity as Christians.

In the Anglo-Catholic tradition, Whitsunday is the preferred name and it is seen as a day when we remember the gifts of the Holy Spirit which include the traditional seven sacraments (though the Thirty Nine Articles only recognizes two, Baptism and Communion, as “ordained by Christ” (BCP p. 708).  

In the old Prayer Book calendar, “Whitsuntide” runs from Pentecost/Whitsunday to Trinity Sunday, and includes three “Ember Days” (Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday) when we pray for those who “are called to any office or administration in the church”.   

While many congregations often are asked to wear red for Pentecost Sunday, it is also appropriate to wear white in memory of the older name of Whitsunday.   So come to church wearing red, or white, or both, and you’ll be fine!

Notable Quotable: Barry Ward on Why Funeral Planning Matters

"A Christian funeral service focuses attention on what God has done for us in Christ." So says Rev. Barry Ward, pastor of Saving Grace Lutheran Church in Saskatchewan, in a great little article in The Canadian Lutheran. Worth reading by all pastors who are caught in the awkward space between what families want for a celebration of life and what the church's funeral liturgy can offer. It's an awkward space to be in, but Ward reminds us why that conversation is worth having. MP+