The Presentation of Our Lord

This year at Savior, we are going to observe the Presentation of Our Lord on February 1st. This is not a new feast by any means, but not one Savior has typically marked. So what is this feast, and why observe it?

The Presentation of Our Lord is best understood in the whole context of the liturgical season of Epiphany. In the liturgical calendar, the weeks between the Feast of the Epiphany (on January 6th) and the beginning of Lent make up a short interlude between the major fast/feast cycles of Advent and Christmas, then Lent and Easter. This season of Epiphany (or Epiphanytide) is celebrated in various ways:

• In some churches, Epiphanytide runs from the Feast of the Epiphany to the Presentation of Our Lord (February 2nd), and is marked by white or gold vestments, altar cloths, etc. These four weeks of Epiphany are then followed by Ordinary Time until the beginning of Lent.

• In others, Epiphanytide runs from Epiphany until the start of Lent — a date which varies, so the season can be as short as four weeks or as long as nine weeks (this year, we have a moderate seven weeks). Some churches use gold to mark this season.

• And in yet others, this is a secondary season of Ordinary Time. The "ordinary" comes from the way that weeks are counted in ordinal numbers from the last major feast — Second week after Epiphany, etc. — but also indicates that this is a season between the major fasts and feasts. This is typically how Savior has observed the season of Epiphany.

The difference between this season of Epiphany and the longer season of Ordinary Time after Pentecost is that these weeks focus on events in the life of Jesus that remind us of how Jesus revealed (and continues to reveal) himself to the world.

The Feast of the Epiphany is followed by the Baptism of Our Lord, then the Presentation of Our Lord; the final week before Lent begins, we commemorate the Transfiguration. In between these celebrations, the Gospel readings for each week walk us through the miracles and teachings of Jesus during his time on earth. These two celebrations commemorate how Jesus revealed himself as king to non-Jewish people living in a far-off land (the Magi) and how God revealed Jesus as his Son at his baptism.

Similarly, the Feast of the Presentation commemorates the day 40 days after the birth of Jesus (technically February 2) when Mary and Joseph brought the infant Jesus to the temple in Jerusalem and encountered Simeon and the prophet Anna. These two faithful servants of God recognized Jesus as the Messiah, the one who would redeem Jerusalem. As with the Magi and as at Jesus' baptism and transfiguration, this is another moment when God miraculously reveals Jesus as Messiah.

And so this year, we at Savior are going to celebrate the Presentation, reminding ourselves yet again that God is revealed in the person of Jesus, and that Jesus is God made incarnate in order to bring about our salvation. Our gospel reading will be Luke 2:22-40, which tells the story of Simeon and Anna encountering the infant Jesus. We also will have a short "presentation": we invite children and youth to bring back the baby Jesus they found in the Epiphany rosca, and they will process these babies into the sanctuary at the offertory.

This short procession gives us the chance to engage the story with both our minds and our other senses, entering into this particular revelation of Jesus as Messiah in a new way. We hope that through our celebration, the entire congregation — children, youth and adults — will be drawn into the wonder of the story of Jesus and, along with Simeon, rejoice that we have seen our salvation.

Image credit: Presentation of Jesus at the Temple in cloisonné enamel from Georgia, 12th century.

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Sarah Lindsay currently works as the Director of Communications and Coordinator of Family Ministries at Savior, as well as serving as the College Ministry Resident. Sarah has a background in teaching (English literature and writing) and she enjoys reading and writing. She has been an Anglican since she discovered liturgical worship in college; she and her family joined Savior in 2017.

Fr. Kevin's Top Sermons of 2019

It’s January, which means it’s time for best-of-2019 lists. Here are Fr. Kevin’s favorite sermons from the last year:

Each year, I look back on my sermons – this year, there were 34 – and pick out 3 I think worthy of a second listen (or a first, if you missed that particular week). So here are my utterly partial picks:

• “Christ the Disappointer:” when John the Baptist is disappointed by what Jesus isn’t doing (something we all experience), I love how Jesus responds to him – with a blessing 

• “Two Seemingly Incompatible Principles for Our Money:” Sermons often emphasize giving and leave out earning, saving, etc. I tried to zoom out to see the Bible’s bigger picture for how we handle (God’s) money

• “I Did the Job No One Wants (by Joseph of Arimathea):” a first-person sermon takes much research, writing, and memorizing, but all that took me deeply into Jesus’ final hours and death

 And one honorable mention: “Jesus Teaches: Don’t Criticize Others. No Kidding.”

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Kevin Miller was editor and vice-president at Christianity Today for 26 years and then associate rector at Church of the Resurrection for 5 years. He has been the rector at Savior since January 2017, and is also the co-founder of PreachingToday.com and CTPastors.com.

Longing for the Dawn: An Advent Meditation

Today’s post comes from Savior member Christine Kindberg; she writes about how Advent connects to the longing we so often feel in many aspects of our lives.

Longing is one of the central themes of Advent—and, as it happens, something I was just talking about with my spiritual director.

Longing, anticipation, preparation. “Come, thou long expected Jesus… joy of every longing heart,” says the hymn. Israel longed for the Messiah to come; we Christians now long for Christ to come again and bring about the fullness of his Kingdom. We lean into the “already—not yet” of the Gospel.

As a 4 on the Enneagram, longing is a constitutionally familiar emotion for me. I usually experience it as an “if only…” melancholy, a fixation on what is just out of reach, a permanent posture of yearning for something I don’t have. I’m a single 31-year-old who longs to be married. I’m a writer who for years longed to have a book out in the world; now that my first novel is out, I long for it to be doing better, for it to open more doors for my second book and the ones after that. There’s a longing that is a restless hunger for more, always more, because whatever is out of reach is the thing that will prove that I am worthwhile. I have a hunch Advent is about a different kind of longing.

When I think about longing in the Bible, two verses come immediately to mind. One is Psalm 42:1, which the NLT renders, “As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God.”

When I read this a few weeks ago, I was struck by the thought that a deer’s longing for water is a survival instinct, a spur to action. A deer’s longing isn’t nostalgic melancholy or thoughts of “Wouldn’t it be nice if only…” If a deer is thirsty, it doesn’t sigh over its longing. It moves to seek out water.

In Advent we dwell on our longing for the Kingdom of God to come in its fullness. We long for the justice of the Kingdom, for the righting of wrongs, for the new heaven and the new earth. This longing isn’t futile, wishful thinking for something permanently out of reach. This thirst for the coming of the Kingdom should inspire action, like a deer on a mountainside turns its head toward a stream and picks out a path forward to quench its thirst.

In what might God be calling me to be active in my longing for his Kingdom this Advent?

The other verse that I think of in connection with longing is Psalm 130:6, “I long for the Lord more than sentries long for the dawn, yes, more than sentries long for the dawn.”

This longing is different: there’s nothing that a sentry can do to make the sun rise any sooner. Does that mean the longing is futile? Will the Lord be always beyond the horizon? The sentries cling to their faith that the dawn will come at some point…but meanwhile, there’s the night. Meanwhile, our world is full of injustice, cruelty, hate, mistrust, and division.

And yet, sentries on duty aren’t supposed to be waiting listlessly, sitting around “with their teeth in their mouth,” as my grandmother from Kentucky would say. The longing of a sentry isn’t wistfulness because of boredom. Sentries need to be active in their waiting: alert, scanning their surroundings with close attention even as they long for the safety of the dawn and release from their post.

What might God be calling me to pay more attention to this Advent?

If the sentries were to give up on the coming of the dawn, they wouldn’t be able to continue their mission. If a deer were to surrender to its thirst instead of moving toward the water it longs for, it would die. Maybe the longing of Advent is part of the survival instinct of the Christian life, to keep us from being too easily satisfied with small goods. Maybe the longing of Advent is a posture of yearning that points us in the right direction, seeking God’s presence among us—as it is, already here, and as it will come in greater fullness.

May this Advent season see us seeking more of God’s presence as we long for the fulfillment of his Kingdom and his justice. May the yearning of our hearts be awakened until we can only find rest in God.

Spotlight on Esther Shin Chuang

Savior is thrilled to welcome Esther Shin Chuang as our new Pastor of Music and Worship. Get to know Esther and her family a bit in the post below as we welcome them into our community.

Where do you live now and where are you from?

I’m from many places. I was born in South Korea, then my family moved to the States when I was a year old. I grew up in Austin, Texas until I finished first grade. Then we moved back to Korea, and then when I was 13 years old, we moved back to the States, this time to New York City for my music education. I lived in New York most of my life until 8 years ago when God called me to Moody Theological Seminary in Chicago. Currently, I live in Park Ridge with my husband Tony, who is a preacher and evangelist, and my daughter, Adrielle. My husband and I do ministry together very often (he brings the word, I bring the music to people), and we have a website for those who are interested.

What do you do when you’re not at church?

First of all, I’m a full-time mom to a two-year-old. So that takes most of my time! I go to fun places with her and spend lots of time with her at home. I’m also a concert pianist and singer, so I prepare for my upcoming concerts by practicing piano and singing daily. I like to swim, and I go to the gym regularly to swim, which gives me physical energy for the day. I also like to open up our home. We open up our home to our neighbors for house parties and house concerts. When I’m relaxing, that’s when my husband and I are watching a movie at home.

What is an interesting fact about you?

My husband and I have a heart for those who do not know Christ. So, wherever God opens the doors, we share the gospel. God has opened many doors in many countries for us to minister. Through church services or even crusades, my husband would preach and I would lead the musical worship or do evangelistic concerts. But we are not only sharing the gospel in these “faraway countries,” we try to do that in our neighborhood as well. I believe that wherever God placed us is where we should shine Christ’s light. When we first moved to our neighborhood few years ago, my husband and I knocked on over 100 houses introducing ourselves. We then invited them to our home for house parties and concerts. Our neighbors were suspicious at first, but they started opening up their hearts. They were first strangers, but now many of them have become our friends. As we got to know our neighbors, we started sharing about our faith, the gospel, inviting them to church, and praying for them. We pray that many of them will get to know Christ, and that we will always be a light wherever we are.

How does the ministry you lead serve the life of our congregation?

My role is to encourage the congregation to love God more and worship him more through my ministry of music. There is power in music, and music helps you remember the lyrics. Each song we sing at church are filled with truths about God. When one is going through a difficult time in their life and cannot even utter words to God, maybe the lyrics of the hymn “Lord I need thee” will come to their mind and will become their prayer and worship for that day. When one is going through sadness and despair, the words to “It is Well” may comfort their soul, and will bring praise in their lips despite what they’re going through. I pray that the songs I choose will become the words and thoughts of the congregation, and that the theological truths in the songs will enable people to worship God more earnestly.

How can people get involved in the ministry you lead?

I would like to know the songs that really speak to each person’s heart. Feel free to email me or let me know in person, so that I could keep those songs in mind when I select the worship songs. I believe that understanding the congregation’s heart songs is important. Also, being part of the music team is such a privilege. If you have musical gifts and you want to serve God through the musical worship team, feel free to talk to me. Even if you feel like you’re not a professional musician, that’s okay! There’s always something someone can do in the music team, so just talk to me.

Prayers for Savior

At our Anniversary Celebration this past Saturday, Father Kevin shared vision for this next season of Savior's life together and invited us to join in prayer for wisdom and discernment (listen or read a summary). As the staff, vestry and clergy considered this summer, we are invited to prayerfully consider: 

What are you thankful about in our life together? 

Take some time to talk to the Lord about that.

What are some of the challenges you experience in our life together? 

As you bring these before the Lord, do you sense any invitations?

As our leaders discerned a sense that we are being invited to go deeper that we might be stronger for others, let us pray together about both our Inward and Outward Journey.

Inward Journey:

• What inward communal practices do you enjoy in our life together? Is God stirring something in you there?

• What invitations do you sense for us as a body, in our continual formation as God's people?

Outward Journey:

Let us seek God's direction as we prayerfully consider these categories Father Kevin put before us:

• Serve our Neighbor in Need: As you pray for our friends of the Savior and neighbors, does anything particular come to mind? 

• Sending Out People to Their Vocations: What vocation are you sent out to each week? Does God have something to say to you in this? Whom else at Savior can you pray for as they do their daily work? 

• Start Churches: Please pray for the Pachecos as they plant a church in East Garfield Park, and for the Richters, as they discern the first steps in planting a church in Oak Park, for the community of Oak Park and for God to raise up people to participate in this work. Pray also for others who might be sensing a call to participate in church planting.

• Seek Justice: Let's wonder together about how God will lead us to seek justice in the world. Will it include:

  • C4SO Children's Ministry Leadership?

  • ACNA Women's Leadership Support?

  • Church-to-Church Partnerships?

  • Other outworkings of our gifts/passion?

As you pray, please feel free to share with Father Kevin and our vestry what comes to mind. We are eager to discern together what God has for us in this next season of our life together.

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Sandy Richter, Savior’s Pastor of Adult Formation, grew up in the Church of God, but gravitated toward 'higher church' settings in college, making her way to the ACNA and Church of the Savior in 2013. Sandy and her husband love the liturgy and tradition they have found in Anglicanism, and the warmth and depth of spirituality at Savior.