Setting Dobby Free
Sermon for the Presentation of our Lord – 1 February 2026 – All Saints, Kesgrave
Text: ‘Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
you may now dismiss your servant in peace. (Luke 2v29)
God give you peace my sisters and brothers
This is my favourite quote (and also the only one I know) from King Lear
Fool: If you were my fool, uncle, I’d have thee beaten for being old before thy time.
Lear: How’s that?
Fool: Thou shouldst not have been old till though hadst been wise.
There is a presumption that as we age we are mysteriously clothed with a mantle of wisdom. We, having (of course) done ‘all things well’ down the years, in our latter days are expected to look forward to a genteel retirement, smile benignly on the generation following us, and occasionally dispense Bon Mots which being with the well-worn phrase, ‘Back in the day…’
So the tragic King Lear, ‘having gotten old before he has gotten wise’ serves as a warning to those of us who feel the only task left to us is to pass on the baton and mutter ‘we would never have done it that way…’
Then we meet Simeon and Anna – waiting patiently in the temple – heralding the new messiah – being dismissed in peace – is not about from history. This moment was what they had spent their whole lives hoping and waiting for. Now is not a time of fetching the slippers and sitting by the fireside but one of pulling our work boots and getting out there living lives of light and joy. Departing in peace ‘according to Thy Word’ is not about being given your final P45 but instead finally receiving your ‘Ticket’ to start work.
Yes, there is a place for duty completed and rest earnt. There is also a wonderful place for the Nunc Dimittis as an epilogue for our lives to which we can aspire. I know that for many of us these words of commending and trusting from the mouth of old Simeon bring hope and assurance and indeed. These are the words I have used for many years, and continue to us as the final prayer I make before sleeping at the end of the day.
But there is more…….
And it comes in a closer look at the words Simeon uses in his song.
The phrase ‘you are dismissing your servant’ is not completely captured by the hymn words of the hymn
Faithful vigil ended, watching, waiting cease;
Master, grant thy servant his discharge in peace
Instead Simeon uses the words a master would use when granting his slave freedom! Not a gentle exit stage right and a fading from the scene but instead a raucous alleluia and a dancing down the aisle.
Having finally met the Light of the World they can now go and live and praise and act and serve in that self-same Light.
For those who follow the wonderful world of Harry Potter, the true meaning of these words – is more like the moment when Lucius Malfoy accidentally gives his house-elf Dobby clothes (thereby setting him free from slavery). Dobby instead of wandering away into retirement and obscurity springs immediately to the defence of Harry Potter against his old slave driving master and, for those who have read to the end of the 7th novel, becomes key in the putting all things to
right which all yarns demand.
So we too on this day of The Presentation should see it not so much as a time of passing on the torch to a newer generation and our becoming the backdrop of God’s work in the world – but instead today is the day we are set free to do all that God desires.
Simeon was set free from the chains of a religion which restricted the grace of God to people of a certain race, with particular dietary restrictions, hampered by a local language and led by a hierarchy based on gender and class.
Are we, in the church set free in similar ways?
As I look once again at a hope-less (instead of hope-filled) agenda[1] for General Synod in a week’s time, sadly the answer has too often been ‘no’.
Please pray for us – we will need your prayers and sadly I don’t always think we have earnt them….
Too often the arguments amongst the people of grace are about issues which bind, restrict and enslave and instead of being a fountain of freedom religion in general and Christianity in particular can become a place where all we do is bind people in chains of fear.
This is not the way of ‘departing in peace’
What are we to do then to move beyond this?
How are we to find the true spirit of Simeon and Anna as they gazed on the infant Jesus? Can we ever enter into ‘the glorious liberty of the children of God’?
Yes we can! But it will not be easy….
Simeon’s words are not a swansong for retirement but a call to arms.
Just as Jesus is proclaimed to be the light to the nations, so we are called to be his light bearers.
Just as Jesus came into the world to set us free from our petty divisions and hatreds, so we are called to be the standard bearers of peace for the world around us.
Just as Jesus came to bring love to a lost world, so we too will seek out those whose lives are shrouded in fear and hate and bring them the comfort and joy of the Holy Spirit of God.
and… and this is the difficult part,
Just as Jesus was presented in the temple, a prefiguring of his sacrifice on the cross, so we too are asked to offer our lives as a living sacrifice, disregarding the pains it brings for the joy that lies in the freedom born for us at Bethlehem and won for us on Good Friday.
Thank you Simeon and Anna, dear dear old friends, for your faithfulness down the ages.
Thank you Simeon and Anna, that you used your fading eyesight to see the future in the life of a young babe.
Thank you Simeon and Anna, for calling us to freedom from slavery to the past.
Thank you Simeon and Anna, may we be found worthy of the words of your song!
[This blog ‘Dobby is a Free Elf!’ is copyright © Andrew Dotchin 2026 and may be reproduced without charge on condition that the source is acknowledged]
oooOOOooo
Jesus Presented in the Temple
22 When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, ‘Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord’), 24 and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: ‘a pair of doves or two young pigeons’.
25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. 26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. 27 Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, 28 Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:
29 ‘Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
you may now dismiss your servant in peace.
30 For my eyes have seen your salvation,
31 which you have prepared in the sight of all nations:
32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and the glory of your people Israel.’
33 The child’s father and mother marvelled at what was said about him. 34 Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: ‘This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, 35 so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.’
36 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, 37 and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshipped night and day, fasting and praying. 38 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.
39 When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. 40 And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was on him. (Luke 2:22-40 NIV)
[1] Follow this link to see the Agenda for the February 2026 Session of General Synod
Suffolk Vicar 