We like to establish a sense of order and predictability in a world where things are too often out of control. When tragedy strikes. an earthquake, a hurricane, an automobile accident, a crime – we look for an explanation to make sense of the event. If we can just find some reason for another’s suffering – their sins, choices, mistakes – we feel more in control by knowing that we have not made the same mistakes as someone else. We have made better choices. We have not committed those same sins.

When was the last time you went to bed thankful and amazed by what the day had given you, something you had not planned or foreseen? Maybe it was a conversation, a chance to meet someone new, a moment of hope, beauty, truth or insight that changed you, an experience when you felt really alive. I am asking about more than being energized and enthused. I am asking about welcoming an expectancy, an attitude of wonder, an openness to “come what may.”

Be like Jesus and JUST SAY NO. Does that sound familiar? I wonder if that’s how we often hear this weekend’s story of the temptation in Luke 4: 1-13. I’m guessing most of us know the JUST SAY NO story or some variation of it. Maybe it’s what you were taught or have come to believe. It’s often a theme underlying Lent and a common approach for dealing with temptation in our lives. But, is temptation really that simple? I don’t think so. Our lives and faith are more than the sum of our choices. Our temptations are rarely a simple choice between this or that.

LOVE. It is a word that has become lost in overuse.  It’s hard to talk in a meaningful way about love because the word has been emptied of so much meaning. We love those shoes, we love our spouse, we love our friends – it’s a catch-all word that refers to a whole lot of things at once – our preferences, our tastes, physical objects that bring pleasure, alongside the deepest and most intimate relationships we can ever have. When I find this word on my lips, I often feel the word LOVE is inadequate

Simeon took the child Jesus in his arms and praised God, saying, “Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation” (Luke 2:28-30). Those are beautiful words by which Simeon tells the story of his life. But what about us? What about our story? What good is it to us if Simeon receives into his arms the child Jesus and we do not? What good is it to us if Simeon’s eyes see salvation and our eyes do not? What good is it to us if Simeon is free to go in peace if we are not? It’s not enough to simply celebrate the Presentation of our Lord this weekend and Simeon receiving the child Jesus in his arms if that is all this feast is about.

A professor stood before his philosophy class with some items in front of him.  When the class began, without saying a word, he picked up a very large, empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar as well.  He shook the jar lightly.  The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls.  He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.