I’ve been preparing for a series of Christmas sermons, and one of those will be on Anna, the prophetess who saw the child Jesus at His dedication in the Temple. Luke says this about her. “A prophetess, Anna. . .was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day” (Luke 2:36-37). All day this one particular phrase has bothered me: “she never left the temple.”

In the Greek language this literally means, “She kept on not leaving.” It wasn’t that she was too lazy to head for the door. Instead, she intentionally and actively engaged in not leaving the presence of God. Continue Reading