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Colour Supplement Articles by Christians around the world Sunday 4 February 2007
"Crazy Anna" A sermon for Epiphany 4 Preached by Tricia Anderson - Reader at St. Andrew's Church 28 January 2007
I’ve just come from the supermarket, and you should see the headlines in the papers. The tabloids are screaming things like:
But one I like particularly is
How do they get away with all this rubbish? It’s not as if they even know Anna. As for me, I’ve known her all my life. She lived near my Mum when they were little girls and they’ve always been close friends. She’s such a lovely lady - her name means ‘grace’, and that’s just her through and through - grace-ful. Though she hasn’t had an easy life.
Like my Mum, and most other girls, she married when she was about 14/15. She had 2 or 3 babies, but they didn’t live very long. People say that if a woman is barren, or her children don’t live to grow up, there’s something wrong with the woman. I’m not so sure about that. After all, Anna’s husband only lived for 7 years after their marriage, and for the last 4/5 he was very sickly. Mum told me that he just faded away. Towards the end, he couldn’t even sit up, let alone stand. I don’t know whether Anna was just worn down from looking after him and the babies, or whether she’d loved him so much that she couldn’t bear to marry again. Whatever, she chose a religious life of chastity, prayer and fasting. She’s lived in a little room in the grounds of the Temple, for all these years, and developed her gifts of prophecy and ministry. Mum and me, and her other friends and family, have made sure she didn’t starve, or lack clothing. When I was little, Mum often used to send me with a little flour and oil, and Anna was always pleased to see me. She told me that I’d have a much longer marriage than hers, and that I would have a brood of healthy children. I don’t know how she knew, but she was right. Anyway, she’s now 84, and all those journalists want to make out she’s ‘dotty’ or 'crazy'. Shows how much they know.
There must have been times when she felt lonely or downcast or frightened, but somehow she always seemed to know that God was with her, and that he would look after her. How I wish I could be like that. I know I should be. Think of all the times in the Scriptures, especially in the Psalms, when we’re told about how much God loves and cares for us. If only we all truly believed that God’s promises were enough to get us through the difficult times. But somehow through the good times and the bad, Anna held onto her faith. She firmly expected to see the Messiah, God’s Anointed One.
And despite all the cynicism of the journalists, I think she has. When that baby was brought to the Temple, yesterday , to be presented to the Lord, as the Law says, she recognised something special. I don’t know what it was, but the other old person, the old man, Simeon, who had been promised that he would see the Messiah before he died, he saw it, too. That’s why I like the headline:
BABY GETS SILVER THUMBS UP
There, in the Temple, 2 holy people, who also happen to be old, recognised something from God when they saw that baby. Simeon responded by predicting that this would be no kingly Messiah, freeing us from the Roman occupation, but someone who will be the centre of storm and controversy, and that he will have to tread the path of suffering along with us. Doesn’t sound like a happy ever after ending, does it?
But I’m with Anna. She gave thanks to God and then talked about the baby to everyone who would listen. She wanted to spread the good news. Do we? |
Page updated 30/09/2007
