ZPCBlog

About the author: Sally Bias has attended ZPC for 24 years. She has served on the ZPC staff for 19 years, most recently as the director of communications. She is a Home Group leader and has served on Great Banquet and Awakening teams. She has three children: Carly, 25. Celia, 21, and Carter, 17.

At that moment she (Anna) came and began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.          Luke 2:38

In yesterday’s devotional, we heard an excerpt from Pastor Jerry’s 10.2.22 sermon about Simeon, who had the opportunity to meet the baby Messiah. Partnered with Simeon in this story is the prophet, Anna, who is the focus of today’s scripture. The scripture tells us she was married for 7 years and when her husband died, she spent her remaining years (she was 84 in this story) at the temple worshiping, fasting, and praying.

I have mixed feelings upon reading Anna's story. I wonder if she chose this life or if she felt as if she had no choice. I wonder what it would have been like to never leave the temple and to devote one’s entire life to being close to God in such a manner. Regardless of the answers to these questions, God uses Anna in the story of Jesus.

There is something about witnessing great acts of faith such as Anna's that inspire hope in me. Anna didn’t know the whole story of Jesus but she trusted God’s promise of a Messiah. It is not clear whether Anna was expecting to meet God’s son, but God allowed her the opportunity to see and touch the Messiah! She may have wanted more…to know more of the story…to have more of a part in the story. But Anna rested in God’s promise of what was to come. Being present with Baby Jesus and his family on that day was enough. 

I am certainly not as devoted as Anna when it comes to worshiping, fasting, and praying. Life gets in the way of me connecting with God quite often. But her story reminds me that it is so good to be part of the stories of people’s lives. Apart from me, most of my ZPC Home Group is made up of families with younger children. I am about half a generation removed from the hustle and bustle of their lives. I’ve moved onto a different rhythm of parenting almost adult children. But despite our differences, we show up for each other in the day to day of life. We pray for each another, share meals together, and laugh and cry together. None of us know what the future holds but we trust that what we are doing today is important for all of us. We have hope, not that there won’t be difficulties, but that when there are, the prayers, meals, laughter, and tears that are important parts of our stories today will matter even then. And the hope that what we are building through being a part of each other's stories will sustain us regardless of what is to come. And that is enough.

Prayer:

Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for stories about your servant Anna that help us to see what is important even in our lives today. Thank you for allowing us the opportunity to be in relationship with you and with others. We pray that the stories we are writing this Christmas season and always will reflect your love to those around us. Amen

Share