The Presentation Readings:
Psalm 84 or 24:7-10;
Malachi 3:1 to 4; Hebrews 2:14 to 18; Luke 2:22 to 40:
“There was also a prophet, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, having lived with her husband for seven years after her marriage, then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshipped there with fasting and prayer night and day.” (Luke 2:36 and 37)
The prophet Anna is an interesting story. Like the Judge Debra in Judges of the Hebrew Testament, they both had husbands of no importance. It seems in order to be spoken well of as a woman they had to be married according to the male writers of the day. However, she was only married for seven years. I wonder how old Anna was when she married. She lived to reach 84!
It says she never left the temple. Perhaps if she did, as a woman, she could never get back in. In some way she got food and relief within the Temple walls. But she was there for a purpose. “She came, and began to praise God and to speak about the child.” (Luke 2: 38)
Every person born has a purpose. God assigns each of us some prophetic responsibility for the benefit of those around us. Such assignments may cause us to undergo hardships but it is the Lord’s work. It doesn’t matter how we got where we are, or who we are, God knows what a community needs and you may just be the person chosen by God to bring them the Good News!
“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude. And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done” (Genesis 2:1 and 2). So, for this evening and tomorrow day my friends, Shabbat Shalom.
What is Shabbat? Intro to the Jewish Sabbath – YouTube
Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine, Russia, Israel, Palestine and our schools.
As we listen to what the Spirit of God is saying to us, let us live to love and serve, and to teach others to love and serve, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John
onewhoponders 