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.
