Sunday Sermon - 2 February
February 2 is one of my favourite days of the year. Why? Because it’s Groundhog Day!
Given my dislike of winter, Groundhog Day is a very important day for me (as long as the groundhog doesn’t see his shadow).
This morning Wiarton Willie, didn’t see his shadow and predicted that we will have an early spring. On the other hand, Punxsutawney Phil, also a groundhog weather prognosticator in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, did see his shadow and predicts six more weeks of winter. Glad I don’t live in Pennsylvania.
Of course, I know a groundhog seeing or not seeing his shadow is not a reliable, scientifically based, effective prognostication for weather. In fact, their success rates are pretty low. But I love this day and listen for the groundhog’s prophecy regardless of its scientific veracity because, for me, the anticipation of the moment and the celebration of the ritual brings hope in these long dark days of winter.
February 2, this day in the middle of winter, smack dab between the winter solstice and spring equinox (what I think of as “the hump day of winter”) has been a day of ritual throughout European Pagan and Christian history. Groundhog Day itself, believe it or not, even has a historic connection with religious tradition.
February 2nd is both the Celtic Festival of Imbolc and Christian festival of the Presentation of Jesus and the Purification of Mary. For Christians, this day is considered the fortieth day after Jesus’ birth and marks the official end of the Christmas season. Christians have called this day ‘Candlemas’ because another historic Christian ritual attached to this day was for Christians to bring their candles to church to have them blessed for use throughout the rest of the year, recalling Jesus Christ as the Light of the World. Hence the name Candlemas or the Mass of Candles.
An interesting tidbit I discovered is that there is actually an old Scottish Celtic rhyme that speaks of Candlemas as a day of weather prediction:
“If Candlemas be fair and bright, winter will have another fight. If Candlemas Day brings clouds and rain, winter won't come again.”
Sound familiar? If it’s sunny on Candlemas winter will continue on. If it’s cloudy and rainy, winter will end early.
In the 18th Century, Pennsylvanian Dutch immigrants, mostly from Germany, kept their tradition of Candlemas and introduced an unexpected twist: they incorporated an animal into the weather prediction. This tradition started back in Germany, where they relied on a badger or hedgehog, but in North America, these settlers of the New World used a groundhog. The first officially recorded Groundhog Day festival was celebrated in 1887 in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, starring the original Punxsutawney Phil.
It wasn’t until almost 70 years later that Canada adopted this tradition when the first recorded Canadian Groundhog Day occurred in Wiarton, featuring the now famous albino groundhog, Wiarton Willie.
In Wiarton, Ontario and Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, festivals attended by hundreds of people celebrate the day. This morning’s festival in Wiarton was apparently one of the largest ever - and it’s darn cold out today! Groundhog Day is a wonderful winter ritual, bringing people together to have fun, laugh, and play, regardless of what forecast the groundhog delivers.
Human beings are a social species that need to be together and therefore create rituals. Not all have to be sacred - we create ritual, even around this large rodent, because we have a need to be together and a yearning to find hope in the depths of winter and what can often feel like a desperate and challenging world. Especially these days. Maybe that’s why so many people showed up in Wiarton this morning.
Today our readings also speak of the importance of ritual in the midst of a desperate and challenging world.
Malachi speaks of the arrival of the messenger who will purify and prepare the people for the Lord's coming, a significant divine event. In order for us to be ready for that event we must have our hearts refined and purified through ritual so that we may worthily come before God.
At the time of Malachi’s writing, the Jews, though now free from Egypt, were under Persian rule. They were still a subjugated people without full autonomy. The religious leaders of the day were neglecting proper worship practices, there was a deterioration in religious adherence, and in the midst of this social and religious depression, Malachi was proclaiming that a new hope was on the horizon. This new hope would be a Messiah who would bring prosperity and divine favour, who would restore and revitalize Israel. In order to be ready for this, Malachi was calling people to prepare ritually, to worship, and to renew their faith in God’s promises. He was inspiring hope.
The passage from Luke also speaks of the importance of ritual. In fact, this passage amalgamates two very distinct rituals - The Presentation of Jesus and the Purification of Mary.
The Presentation of Jesus occurs on his eighth day, according to religious rule and custom. This was the time for the ritual of circumcision and the official naming of the baby. Once the circumcision and naming were complete, the baby was then taken into the temple.
The Purification is a cleansing ritual where the mother is to remain separated for forty days after the birth of the child. After this period of separation, the mother was then required to sacrifice a lamb. If they were too poor, they could sacrifice a pair of turtledoves, young pigeons, instead. In Mary’s case, as a poor humble woman, she sacrificed the birds.
One of the people in attendance at the Presentation of Jesus was Simeon, a man who had been promised by God that he would not die until he laid eyes upon the Messiah. That is why Simeon makes his proclamation:
Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word.
For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,
Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people;
To be a light to lighten the Gentiles and to be the glory of thy people Israel.
Simeon, having laid eyes upon the child he knew was the Messiah, could now depart. He could now die in peace for the one who would bring light to the Gentiles and glory to Israel had arrived. You don’t get many bigger messages of hope than these words we know as The Nunc Dimittis or Song of Simeon.
It’s been a tough couple of weeks. The weather has been harsh and the political climate has been harsher. Our parish has lost a friend and loved one. But just as Malachi proclaims and Simeon sings, we do not give up on hope. We press on, together, as we are called to do and as we are reminded in the last line of the reading from Hebrews:
“Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested.”
Jesus’ suffering reveals his love for us. He knows our pain and loves us through it. His suffering reminds us that we are to love and support each other through life’s challenges.
Pushing through the tough days is not easy but we can because we have God and we have each other. We are not alone and are reminded of this fact when we come together in ritual to celebrate the gift of life and the gift of love we share. That’s why we come to Church every Sunday. We come to Church to embrace one another in community as Christians. We uphold each other with a shared love of God and one another during these dog days of winter and hard days of life.
In Punxsutawney and Wiarton, they don’t cancel the party if the groundhog sees his shadow and crawls back into his hole. Together, they party on.
In the end, it doesn’t matter what some groundhog says, it doesn’t matter what the weather is like on Candlemas, whether we have six more weeks of winter or an early spring, because we have each other. With each other we find warmth in the hope and the strength to overcome.
Today on this feast of Candlemas and Groundhog Day, we don’t see shadows or sunlight. For we, like Simeon, behold our Messiah.
We are Christians who see Jesus, our Light of the World, and we celebrate, together in holy ritual, our sign of hope.
Amen.