First Sunday after Christmas
Lectionary Preaching Workbook
The Sundays after Christmas (there may be one or two some years) allow the church time to reflect on "this thing that has come to pass," the birth of Jesus. The few infancy narratives that are recorded in the Gospels put the birth of Christ into kerygmatic perspective. According to Luke, the "Naming" (Circumcision) of Jesus - occurred on the eighth day after Jesus' birth. When this event falls on a Sunday, it is celebrated as a key feast/festival of the church.