In Luke 2:22–35, we have the famous song of Simeon, what the Anglican Prayer book calls Nunc Dimittis. In the Anglican tradition, this liturgical text speaks “of a sense of completion and fulfillment which culminates the movement from the praise of” another liturgical text, O Gladsome Light, “to the thanksgiving for God’s activity in all creation and in our lives during the past day”[3].  In the Bible this forward looking, hope filled song of Simeon that gives a sense of “completion and fulfillment”[4] to Simeon’s own life, reverberates in the air at the beginning of Jesus’s life, while he was still a child, at the advent of a coming Kingdom of God that would liberate the people of Israel once again.

Jürgen Moltmann captured the heart of the church’s ethic when he wrote, “the Christian community does not live from itself and for itself, but from the sovereignty of the risen Lord and for the coming sovereignty of him who has conquered death and is bringing life, righteousness and the kingdom of God”.[1]

This forward-looking perspective celebrated in the approaching season of Advent isn’t limited by a season but is characteristic of our faith. As Christians, we are people of expectation. This is why we pray, “Merciful God, who sent your messengers the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation: Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer” (BCP 1975).[2] This prayer reveals the character of the Christian faith. It’s a storied faith with a past, a present, and a future. As Christians, we stand between the great events of the past and the future. We look back in faith upon the coming of the Messiah, his ministry of liberation, miracles, care for the poor, and the preaching of the kingdom of God, and what the crucifixion, resurrection and the pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon his people.

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