And...we're back for another week of hard-hitting, halo-busting Lent Madness action! Today we have a battle between a renowned 19th century preacher and an aged Biblical figure who held the newborn Jesus in his arms. It's "O Little Town of Bethlehem" vs. the Nunc Dimittis as can only happen in Lent Madness.
This week we'll see the conclusion of the Round of 32 and on Thursday we'll commence with the Round of the Saintly Sixteen. To paraphrase Scripture, "Many (well, okay, 32) are called, but only one will receive the Golden Halo." Onward Christian Voters!
Phillips Brooks
While in our day Phillips Brooks is best-known as the man who wrote the words to “O Little Town of Bethlehem”—and the prayer on the back of Forward Day by Day issues—in the mid-to late-nineteenth century, he was so renowned as a preacher that he was invited by Queen Victoria to preach at her private chapel at Windsor Castle.
Born into a distinguished, devout family in Boston in 1835, Brooks was one of six brothers, four of whom became Episcopal priests. Educated at Boston Latin, Harvard, and Virginia Episcopal Seminary, he was ordained in 1860 and served the first ten years of his ministry in Philadelphia. He was known there for his support of emancipation and, after the Civil War, full voting rights. The sermon he preached after Lincoln’s death is still highly regarded for its eloquence.
However, his home in Boston called to him, and in 1869 he became rector of Trinity Church. Three years later, the building on Summer Street was destroyed by fire, but as a testament to his leadership and gifts as a pastor, the church continued to thrive. According to Harvard Magazine, the congregation was known for its “evangelical warmth, diversity of classes, and charitable activism.”
After land was purchased at Copley Square in 1872, Brooks and his friend, the architect H.H. Richardson, designed the new Trinity, a church that became one of Boston’s most magnificent landmarks. The uncommon placement of the altar in the center of the chancel embodied Brooks’s vision, which he called “a symbol of unity; God and man and all God’s creation.” Unlike most preachers of his day, he didn’t preach from a pulpit. He was also a supporter of congregational singing.
After serving as rector of Trinity for twenty-two years, Brooks was elected Bishop of Massachusetts. He served for only fifteen months before dying of diphtheria at age fifty-seven. Harvard students carried his coffin, and the people of Boston of all religious stripes mourned the passing of a great figure.
At six feet, four inches tall and nearly 300 pounds, he was both a big person and a huge personality who was regarded as a faithful pastor along with his fame as preacher and leader of a large parish. Throughout his ministry, he devoted a great deal of care to the nurture of young people. When one young man wrote to him asking the secret of life, Brooks replied, “I am sure that it is a deeper knowledge and truer love of Christ... I cannot tell you how personal this grows to me. He is here. He knows me and I know him. It is no figure of speech. It is the realest thing in the world. And every day makes it realer.”
Collect for Phillips Brooks
O everlasting God, you revealed truth to your servant Phillips Brooks, and so formed and molded his mind and heart that he was able to mediate that truth with grace and power: Grant, we pray, that all whom you call to preach the Gospel may steep themselves in your Word, and conform their lives to your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
-- Heidi Shott
Simeon
Simeon, we read in the Gospel of Luke, was a righteous and devout man living in Jerusalem. His name is the same as Simeon (Hebrew Shimon), the second son of the patriarch Jacob and his wife Leah and namesake of the Israelite tribe of Simeon. One translation of the name is “he has heard my suffering;” this meaning echoes scripture that tells how Jacob favored his other wife, Rachel, over Leah, Simeon’s mother.
An ancient legend tells that the Egyptian pharaoh Ptolemy II called seventy scholars together to translate the Holy Scriptures into Greek for the library at Alexandria (this translation would become known as the Septuagint). Simeon was one of the seventy, and while he was translating the book of Isaiah, he read, “Behold, a virgin shall conceive in the womb, and shall bring forth a Son” (Isaiah 7:14). Thinking the word virgin should read woman, Simeon began to make the correction. An angel appeared to him, saying, “You shall see these words fulfilled. You shall not die until you behold Christ the Lord born of a pure and spotless Virgin.”
According to Luke, the Holy Spirit guided Simeon into the Temple when Joseph and Mary brought Jesus there for customary Jewish rites. Simeon took the infant Jesus into his arms and prayed what has become known as the Song of Simeon, or Nunc Dimittis, traditionally used as a canticle at Evensong in The Episcopal Church:
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.
— The Book of Common Prayer, p. 66
When Simeon holds the infant Jesus, the ancient tribes of Israel meet the new incarnation of God. The laments of Israel are heard; the Messiah has been born and is presented in the Temple, held in the arms of the namesake of a tribe of Israel.
We don’t encounter Simeon again in Holy Scripture. Tradition says he died at a very old age. Simeon is called the God-receiver in the Orthodox Church. In the Western Church, Simeon is predominant in the Feast of the Presentation (also called Candlemas) on February 2, where the Church commemorates the dedication of Jesus in the Temple by his parents.
Collect for Simeon
Almighty God, you gave to your servant Simeon the hope and consolation of seeing your salvation in the baby Jesus at the temple. Like Simeon, give us eyes to see your salvation, that when our day comes, we too may depart this world in peace. In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
(Collect written by Nancy Hopkins-Greene.)
-- Laurie Brock
Vote!
[poll id="89"]
154 comments on “Phillips Brooks vs. Simeon”
I expect to be on the "not winning" side today; I'm pleasantly surprised it's even as close as it is at this point in the morning (and it's really not that close). But I'm touched by Simeon's faith and patience, and he touched that marvelous baby. He had me at "Lord."
The quote on Phillip Brooks about knowing Christ so personally sealed my vote and inspired my day. Thanks for including that bit in the write up. I needed to hear that today.
How silently
How silently
The wondrous gift is given
So God imparts to human hearts
The blessings of his heaven ...
First time voting. Phillip Brooks seemed to resonate with me. Although Simeon had a very important role. We will see if I am in the majority.
Simeon saw the face of God. Phillips Brooks was a remarkable man. but I have to go with the one who held the infant Jesus.
For the Dismissal, I carry the glorious infant Isabella up the aisle, to say the words. My heart is with Simeon also, MaurineRuby.
I voted for Philip Brooks. My favorite cousin is active in Trinty Church but more than that was his personal relationship with Jesus, something I strive for each day.
Voting for hometown boy today: Go Philip Brooks!
As a member of the Boston Diaspora I was already poised to cast my vote for Brooks. Upon reading the link Ann provided I voted with as much pride and energy as a native of "our fair city, Boston, MA" can muster .outside of Fenway Park
I'd hate to go up against Simeon, so I voted for him.
Phillip Brooks sound like an amazing man, but, and I'll be happy to change my mind if corrected (state the source please,) but, from what I have read so far, he did champion voting rights for freed slaves,but only for males and I have yet to find anyhing regarding votes for women of any race.
Hard choice, but I'm voing for Simeon because that has been one of my fav stories since I was a child.
My mother loved "O Little Town of Bethlehem" so much that she instructed me to have it played at her funeral, no matter when she died. She died in April, and it was played. I could do no else! Good to learn more about Phillips Brooks.
I don't usually go with the modern saint who tends the vineyard so wonderfully, but in this case I must vote for Brooks, especially because of the singing that I love.
My hardest vote yet. ..I grew up hearing PH as my father had him in often in his sermons.. His ministry reflected all the good things you wrote about PB..I had Dad almost 100 Years and I am 84 and I must say a long life is not for the weak.
Dear Simeon gives me strength to face long dark nights yet while mortals sleep the angels keep their everlasting Love.
Beautifully put.
Hi Mary Smith, thanks for posting the tidbit about Philip Brooks encouragement of congregational singing! I find that I often learn a good deal about the saints in the comments. We have a learned bunch here. Thanks to everyone!
I am very fond of the nunc dimittis and we always closed our youth meetings with it. But today I have to vote for Philip because he had a church that was diverse, encouraged singing, and youth. My kind of guy.
AND he was in favor of emancipation! This just keeps getting better! 🙂
I usually lean towards the older saints, but today I went with Phillips Brooks. He did what we should all be doing as Christians, he brought people to Christ, no matter their race or social standing.
Simeon place in Christian history & hearts is secure, but I had to vote for Phillips Brooks as an example of a wise & pastoral leader in the modern era.
Who is this third guy so many are supporting, this Phillip Brooks? The good bishop's name was Phillips Brooks.
And there also seems to be a Philip ...
I often relate better to the modern saints but am going with Simeon today. He held that marvelous baby!
Another really hard one. We need a split-vote option. As a teen at summer camp, I was greatly moved by the nightly singing of the Nunc Dimittis at Evensong. It has always been a comfort to me.
Wow, another tough one! Beautiful write-ups both, beautiful gentlemen both, beautiful music all around (and I like Forest Green better than the usual tune for O Little Town--you just want to run to Bethlehem!). This one is going to have to soak a while, and I'm not going to check the vote before I decide.... Thanks, Heidi and Laurie.
Yes, here's to "Forest Green"!!
I would love to have met Bishop Phillip, but to think that God picked Simeon to be the one to hold the infant Jesus--if that's not a saint, I don't know who would be. Simeon was directly chosen by God!
Such a tough choice today. However, I have always had a soft spot in my heart for Simeon and Anna so he gets my vote today. (I was also Simeon's wife in Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat, but that's a much weaker spiritual reason).
"...for these eyes of mine have seen the savior. A light to enlighten the nations and the glory of your people Israel" Have to go with Simeon (and Anna)!
I wonder why Simeon doesn't appear in either Lesser Feasts and Fasts or Holy Women Holy Men. As prophetic as he was, Simeon was not an intentional disciple of Jesus. Is it right for Christians to claim this faithful Jew as our own, or does this amount to the appropriation of someone else's tradition. I'm open to the argument that he should be included in the Christian calendar. But presumably, there's a reason he isn't, and I wish I understood that better before I voted.
What do you mean "Simeon was not an intentional disciple" of Jesus? Simeon was told by the Holy Spirit that he would not die until he had seen the Lord's Messiah. Read the story again in the Gospel of John!
I would have picked Simeon if Simeon had written the Nunc himself (or any of the lovely settings of it; I also love the Eccard), but he didn't; Luke wrote it. I just wish Brooks was remembered for more than "O little town of Hackensack." (Oh wait; that's P.D.Q. Bach.)
I beg your pardon, but the Nunc Dimittis is the words of Simeon praising God after holding his Lord and Savior and that he could now die in peace!
Luke attributes the words to Simeon, but unless he was there at the time to hear Simeon say them, I must assume that Luke wrote them. Luke attributes several beautiful canticles, most notably the Magnificat, to people he couldn't possibly have heard say them. (Nit-picky of me, isn't it? I have a skeptical streak.)
Ah, but their Truth is not diminished by this exegetical information, don't you agree?
My graduate adviser at the City University of New York was Phyllis Brooks Bartlett, Fr. Brooks's grreat niece. She was an elegant and kind woman, and I benefited greatly from her wisdom and knowledge. Of course I'd vote for Fr. Brooks!!