Simeon and Anna – They’re like everybody’s favorite grandparents – kind, humble, patient, compassionate. Going to the temple day after day, waiting for, looking forward to, the coming of the Lord’s Christ.

Simeon and Anna – the ideals of Christian virtue – at least in our imaginations. And in our Gospel lesson for this morning, God honored their virtue by letting them see the baby they’d been waiting for.

Of course this story is not about Simeon and Anna. It’s about the baby Jesus. And all those virtues, that stuff about them being righteous and devout, worshipping and fasting, well, those things aren’t about Simeon or Anna either. They didn’t get to see the baby Jesus as some kind of reward. Those virtues were born in them by and through that little baby. In the same way, in our text for today from St. Paul’s letter to the Colossians, Paul tells us that what are sometimes called the seven Christian virtues are born in us by the birth of Christ.

Picture for a moment your dearest grandparent or some other precious elderly Christian. "Compassionate hearts" are gracious to all people, just as God in Christ manifested his grace and peace to all sinners through his incarnation, death, and resurrection.

"Kindness" gives to our neighbor in need without merit or compulsion, just as Christ gave himself into death with no merit or worthiness on our part.

"Humility" places us below others as servants of God who are not prideful or dominating. In his humiliation, Christ took the form of a servant and humbled himself to the point of death on the cross.

"Meekness" lets us confess that we are saint and sinner and among sinners who sin against us, just as Christ was betrayed into the hands of sinners and put to death for their iniquity.

"Patience" perseveres under injustices without vengeance. Our Lord certainly did this in his first advent. He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. He was wounded for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities. By his obedience, many were made righteous.

By "bearing with one another," the Christian by faith holds on when burdens come upon us forcefully. Jesus bore our sins in his body, and by his wounds we are healed.

To "Forgive" is to release one of their debt, past or present, real or imaginary. The forgiveness of Christ is boundless. The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ is for all who believe. We are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our sins, according to the riches of his grace.

Forgiveness is not something we "owe" each other. Forgiveness is not something we can even truly "offer" each other. God knows that as imperfect human beings, it is hard for us to let go of our carefully guarded resentments and old hurts. Each of us has names and faces of individuals that we simply cannot imagine being able to forgive.

How can we forgive a relative who molested us? How can we forgive an ex-spouse who maligns us? How can we forgive a thief who has stolen precious memories from us? How can we forgive a murderer who has taken a loved one from us? How can we forgive a corporation that uses our talents and then discards us? How can we forgive a parent who abandons us? How can we forgive a child who destroys us? How can we forgive stupidity, hatred, bigotry, cruelty, greed, gluttony, war, waste, poverty, pollution and holocaust?

We can't. In fact, we often prefer the old adage, "Don't get mad; get even." Or as Ivana Trump puts it in her cameo appearance in First Wives' Club: "Don't get even; get it all." The truth is, we can't forgive unless we remember what forgiving is not.

Forgiveness is not forgetting; rather, it is choosing not to actively remember. Forgiveness is turning to our forgiving God in worship and praise and offering ourselves God. It is God who forgives, and as we worship God, it is divine forgiveness that pours through us and fills us with a forgiving spirit.

Paul tells the Colossians "Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus." Can you really sabotage a despised colleague's computer "in the name of Jesus"? Can you honestly swear to "get even" with a liar or a cheat "in the name of Jesus"? Can you openly declare eternal hatred for one who has wronged you "in the name of Jesus"?

We have the capacity for forgiveness only because God has first forgiven us. Without first experiencing God's forgiveness in our lives, we have nothing to offer anyone else. By forgiving others, we offer a genuine Christian form of worship to our God, who saves us through divine forgiveness. Christ’s love for us undeserving sinners was manifested through his perfect love.

St. Paul says these virtues are bound together in love and perfect harmony. Can you see your grandma or your grandpa in the things I listed? Can you see them in some other dear Christian that you know? It is love that empowers those virtues. Sacrificial love comes from Christ’s gifts of saving faith and grace.

Paul wrote to the Corinthians; "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends." Of course it is love that binds everything together in perfect harmony.

I know that the possession and practice of all those virtues seems impossible. But we have those virtues; we are able to put on those virtues since Christ has been born in us. We are God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved.

Chosen means God has loved us and saved us in Christ by grace through faith. Anna and Simeon were chosen to receive Christ, and so were we. Since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. For while we were still weak, at just the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

In his holy incarnation, Jesus has come into our midst to rescue all people from sin and eternal death. When we were baptized, he was born in us, and we were tied to his death and resurrection. While we were enemies of God we were reconciled by the death of his Son.

Now Christ’s peace rules our hearts. Being at peace with God frees us from living for ourselves, because if we are reconciled to him, we already will receive all things from him. His peace frees us to live the virtues in love and harmony towards others.

All this continues as the Word of Christ continues to give birth to Christ in our lives. As children of God, dwelling in the Word is a way of life. That word includes psalms, and spiritual songs sung as his corporate Body and individually in our hearts as his children. It is through the Word that the Holy Spirit is able to dwell in us, and empowers us to live these virtues in word and deed.

Anna and Simeon were indeed blessed to see and hold Jesus in the flesh. We see him born in his Word. And that’s how virtue happens. Patience and kindness and meekness and all the rest. As we remain in Christ’s Word, he makes you someone who somebody, someday, might look at you and say, "Ah, virtue." Amen.