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the 2nd Day of Christmas

On the second  day of Christmas my True Love gave to me, two speaking prophets, and a great big herd of bleating, dumb sheep.

Luke 2: 36-38 (NIV)
There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Penuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem. 
I love this passage of Scripture.  In church we hear a lot about the men of the Bible, but seldom are we taught about the numerous women mentioned. I have always found it interesting that a widow, and not just a widow but a barren widow is mentioned in the Christmas Story. We always hear about the other prophet, Simeon, and how he blessed the Christ child, but did any of you even know Anna's name?

She wasn't a Levite.  Anna had no historically assigned role (by birthright) in the temple.  And yet after being married for only 7 years, that is where she chose to spend the rest of her life. A small part of me marvels at that.  The temple - not just the place of prayer and sacrifice, but also the place of rituals...such as purification rites (or in modern terms, baby dedications). I often hear widows discuss how difficult it is when a spouse dies. They no longer fit in with the married couples they & their spouse hung out with, feeling like a third wheel. Imagine what that would be like to a young woman with no children.  While all her friends are celebrating anniversaries, birthdays and weddings of their children, she's just there.  And other widows?  They're older. And most of them probably had children.  So they get together and discuss: financial concerns (which she could easily relate to), old age problems & children. I totally get why the temple was an appealing place.  It was a place of refuge from being the oddball, a place where she could interact with people and yet still not be "out of place".  It would be perfectly natural for her to be there.  And yet, I imagine the temple, like today's church, was also one of the most difficult places to be.  Purification rites (the baby dedications, the celebration of "cleanness" from monthly cycles or intimacy with spouses), I imagine those were emotionally difficult for her to witness.  Happy for her friends and fellow citizens?  Yes.  But with it a twinge of sorrow and aloneness.  How many times do you think she recognized the beginnings of a baby dedication and headed the other direction to conceal her tears?  How often was her fasting the outcome of begging God to remove the pain in her heart?
And yet, despite her own personal turmoil, she "came up at that very moment".  We're not told whether or not this was a morning she sighed when she got up, whether or not she debated rejoicing with others or having her own private pity party, whether or not this was a day when she prayed to God begging for strength to focus on others and their blessings and not herself.  We're just told she came. She came and was THANKFUL. And then she proceeded to tell everyone she knew was looking for the Messiah. She recognized this child as the "redemption of Israel"!  In all her years of serving/living in the temple, how many purification rites for babies had she witnessed? And yet, she recognized this routine she had seen enacted out hundreds, maybe thousands, of times was different.
I love the story of Anna.  Only three small verses out of the whole Bible, and yet they speak volumes.  She is such an inspiration and challenge to me, a role model. And her story is also a reminder to me of how the birth of Christ is truly incredible, how he came for everyone, and how his birth was truly awe-inspiring and the gift of hope.

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