First Sunday after Christmas Day
Preaching
Lectionary Preaching Workbook
Series VIII, Cycle B
Revised Common
Isaiah 61:10--62:3
Galatians 4:4-7
Luke 2:22-40
Roman Catholic
Sirach 3:2-6, 12-14
Galatians 3:12-21
Luke 2:22-40
Episcopal
Isaiah 61:10--62:3
Galatians 3:23-25; 4:4-7
John 1:1-18
Note: The comments below are on the First Sunday After Christmas texts. Alternate texts for New Year's Day are as follows:
Revised Common:
Ecclesiastes 3:1-13
Revelation 21:1-6a
Matthew 25:31-46
Theme For The Day
God, the architect of time, has decreed that with Jesus' coming, the time is fulfilled.
Old Testament Lesson
Isaiah 61:10--62:3
Let The Good News Resound!
"For Zion's sake I will not keep silent" (62:1). How could the prophet do so, in light of the good news he has heard and seen? The "vindication that shines out like the dawn," the "salvation like a burning torch" belongs to the nation Israel, whose exiles are at last coming home. Yet these rejoicings could just as well belong to the whole world, once the world has received Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
New Testament Lesson
Galatians 4:4-7
Fullness Of Time
"But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son ..." (v. 4). "Fullness of time" (pleroma tou chronou) utilizes the word chronos, or clock time (as contrasted to xairos, or the right time). It's as though grains of sand had been falling into the lower portion of an hourglass, and that flow has finally ceased. High above Times Square on New Year's Eve, an illuminated ball slowly descends, marking the fullness of time that is the end of a calendar year. The old year is gone, never to return. So, too, the old order that once pertained -- before Jesus' coming -- is ended. A new order has begun. We can no more go on living in the old order than we can pretend to keep living in the old year.
The Gospel
Luke 2:22-40
Out With The Old, In With The New
The aged Simeon takes the young Jesus into his arms and sings a hymn of praise: "Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation ..." (v. 29). The imagery is rather like that of the stock New Year's cartoons: a wizened old man, symbolizing the old year, rejoices in the presence of a chubby youngster in a diaper. Luke knows Jesus' coming changes everything. He tells us this tale of Simeon's blessing (along with its parallel, Anna's blessing) so we don't miss the point.
Preaching Possibilities
This is one of those Sundays when secular events trump the lectionary -- but fortunately, the assigned readings allow ample opportunity to address contemporary need and still maintain the rhythm of the Christian year.
It's New Year's Day, and both the Epistle and Gospel Lessons happen to emphasize transitions of time. What the New Testament authors have in mind is the transition between the old, pre-incarnation order, and the new order, now that God's Son has been born among us -- but still, they can be made to serve the other need as well.
Whichever passage is used, the trick is to keep the theme of Christmas prominent, so New Year's doesn't supplant it. (New Year's is of course not a Christian holiday -- although it does call to mind a host of pastoral concerns about the future, that Christianity can and should address.) Out in the department stores, the Christmas merchandise has been packed up since December 26. The New Year's goods have remained out a bit longer, though very soon they, too, will be on their way to the warehouse (or the bargain bins, as the case may be). Time marches on, and retail waits for no one.
Indeed. But there are some things in life that are immutable, that cannot be swept out with yesterday's holiday decorations. Galatians speaks of time that has become "full." Ever play a game like Boggle, in which each turn is timed with a tiny, hourglass-like egg timer? The players rush to complete their tasks, nervously glancing over to the timer every few seconds. Eventually someone notices that the grains of sand have stopped falling. With this news, everything changes. The pressure is off. The reign of chronos is ended. The players have entered a new dimension, in which time is no longer so critical. What a relief!
Every twelve months, New Year's Day brings its own set of pressures. There's year-end accounting. Bills to pay. Resolutions to make -- or not to make. (And what of those resolutions of last year? They're history.) The good news of the birth of Jesus Christ is not like that. Christ was born in time, but is not bound by it. When Christ was born, the sands stopped falling inside the hourglass of the old order -- and that archaic timepiece will never be turned over again. A new order has begun. The old rules of bondage to the law no longer apply. We live by grace.
The Gospel Lesson likewise provides an opportunity to address New Year's themes. The stories of the wise elders, Simeon and Anna, blessing Jesus communicate the bittersweet joy of one season succeeding another. Always there is loss as well as gain. It may be profitable to explore, in a New Year's message, how people view the new year in different seasons of their lives: in youth, in middle-age, in maturity.
There's an old Jewish fable about an elderly man who spent all his spare time at the edge of his village, planting fig trees. People would ask him, "Old man, why are you planting fig trees? You're going to die before you can eat any of the fruit!"
But the wise old man replied, "I have spent so many happy hours sitting under fig trees and eating their fruit. Those trees were planted by others. Why shouldn't I make sure that others will know the same enjoyment I have had?" Simeon and Anna are like that. They know they will never see the Messiah in his prime, but one look into his infant eyes is enough.
Prayer For The Day
Holy God, we pray for your brightness to shine upon our hearts this day.
As we move forward into a new year,
may we know your grace
as it appears for us in the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Help us to renounce sad outlooks and sorrowful attitudes
that threaten to darken our hearts.
Lead us, rather, to live lives that are joyous and just,
Godly and righteous,
as we await, in blessed hope,
the coming of your Son to shine on our world forever. Amen.
To Illustrate
During the darkest days of the Second World War in Britain, Prime Minister Winston Churchill made a speech in which he told his dispirited people, "Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."
***
There's a story about Benjamin Franklin, from the days when he served as his young nation's ambassador to France. Ever the keen scientist, Franklin jumped at the invitation to view the launching of a new French invention: the hot-air balloon.
Franklin traveled, in the company of others, to a field where the balloon ascent was to take place. A great fire was lit on the ground, and a pump and bellows were set up beside it, to fill the bag with hot air. After a great deal of difficulty, the great bag puffed out, and the whole apparatus ascended high into the air: only to descend to earth again, just a few moments later.
Franklin was entranced by what he saw. But then he heard a cynical voice by his side: "That's all well and good," the voice growled, "but what's it good for?"
Franklin is said to have turned to the man and asked, "Tell me, my friend, what a baby is good for?"
***
Time has no divisions to mark its passage; there is never a thunderstorm or blare of trumpets to announce the beginning of a new month or year. Even when a new century begins, it is only we mortals who ring bells and fire off pistols.
-- Thomas Mann, The Magic Mountain (New York: Vintage Books, 1989)
***
When the primal Celtic tribe of Tuatha de Danaan first established their people in Ireland, Bres, the leader of the former inhabitants of the island, offered them a continual harvest. They refused him, saying,
This has been our way:
Spring for plowing and for sowing,
Summer for strengthening the crop,
Autumn for grain's ripeness and for reaping,
Winter for consuming its goodness.
If we respect the gifts of each season, we will also find the thresholds and doorways of the spirit.
-- Michael Rodgers and Marcus Losack, Glendalough, a Celtic Pilgrimage (Harrisburg: Morehouse, 1996), p. 39
***
We can summarize the paradoxes of time as follows:
The Paradox of the Future: The future does not exist and never has existed, yet it is our most precious possession because it is all we have left. The future is where we will spend the rest of our lives. Since the future does not exist, it cannot be examined or measured.... It can only be studied by means of ideas based on knowledge from the past.
The Paradox of the Past: The past is the source of all our knowledge, including our knowledge of the future. But, despite everything we know about it and even our personal experience with it, we are powerless to improve the past or change it in any way because, by definition, the past no longer exists.
The Paradox of the Present: The present is the only period of time that exists and in which we can think and act, yet it is merely the boundary between the past and the future without any duration or existence of its own. These paradoxes lie at the center of human existence and shape profound dilemmas in our psychic life. After we recognize that we have made a terrible mistake, we can never alter that the fact that we made it.
-- Edward Cornish, The Futurist, July-August, 2001
***
Don't fear tomorrow, God is there already.
-- Anonymous
Isaiah 61:10--62:3
Galatians 4:4-7
Luke 2:22-40
Roman Catholic
Sirach 3:2-6, 12-14
Galatians 3:12-21
Luke 2:22-40
Episcopal
Isaiah 61:10--62:3
Galatians 3:23-25; 4:4-7
John 1:1-18
Note: The comments below are on the First Sunday After Christmas texts. Alternate texts for New Year's Day are as follows:
Revised Common:
Ecclesiastes 3:1-13
Revelation 21:1-6a
Matthew 25:31-46
Theme For The Day
God, the architect of time, has decreed that with Jesus' coming, the time is fulfilled.
Old Testament Lesson
Isaiah 61:10--62:3
Let The Good News Resound!
"For Zion's sake I will not keep silent" (62:1). How could the prophet do so, in light of the good news he has heard and seen? The "vindication that shines out like the dawn," the "salvation like a burning torch" belongs to the nation Israel, whose exiles are at last coming home. Yet these rejoicings could just as well belong to the whole world, once the world has received Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
New Testament Lesson
Galatians 4:4-7
Fullness Of Time
"But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son ..." (v. 4). "Fullness of time" (pleroma tou chronou) utilizes the word chronos, or clock time (as contrasted to xairos, or the right time). It's as though grains of sand had been falling into the lower portion of an hourglass, and that flow has finally ceased. High above Times Square on New Year's Eve, an illuminated ball slowly descends, marking the fullness of time that is the end of a calendar year. The old year is gone, never to return. So, too, the old order that once pertained -- before Jesus' coming -- is ended. A new order has begun. We can no more go on living in the old order than we can pretend to keep living in the old year.
The Gospel
Luke 2:22-40
Out With The Old, In With The New
The aged Simeon takes the young Jesus into his arms and sings a hymn of praise: "Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation ..." (v. 29). The imagery is rather like that of the stock New Year's cartoons: a wizened old man, symbolizing the old year, rejoices in the presence of a chubby youngster in a diaper. Luke knows Jesus' coming changes everything. He tells us this tale of Simeon's blessing (along with its parallel, Anna's blessing) so we don't miss the point.
Preaching Possibilities
This is one of those Sundays when secular events trump the lectionary -- but fortunately, the assigned readings allow ample opportunity to address contemporary need and still maintain the rhythm of the Christian year.
It's New Year's Day, and both the Epistle and Gospel Lessons happen to emphasize transitions of time. What the New Testament authors have in mind is the transition between the old, pre-incarnation order, and the new order, now that God's Son has been born among us -- but still, they can be made to serve the other need as well.
Whichever passage is used, the trick is to keep the theme of Christmas prominent, so New Year's doesn't supplant it. (New Year's is of course not a Christian holiday -- although it does call to mind a host of pastoral concerns about the future, that Christianity can and should address.) Out in the department stores, the Christmas merchandise has been packed up since December 26. The New Year's goods have remained out a bit longer, though very soon they, too, will be on their way to the warehouse (or the bargain bins, as the case may be). Time marches on, and retail waits for no one.
Indeed. But there are some things in life that are immutable, that cannot be swept out with yesterday's holiday decorations. Galatians speaks of time that has become "full." Ever play a game like Boggle, in which each turn is timed with a tiny, hourglass-like egg timer? The players rush to complete their tasks, nervously glancing over to the timer every few seconds. Eventually someone notices that the grains of sand have stopped falling. With this news, everything changes. The pressure is off. The reign of chronos is ended. The players have entered a new dimension, in which time is no longer so critical. What a relief!
Every twelve months, New Year's Day brings its own set of pressures. There's year-end accounting. Bills to pay. Resolutions to make -- or not to make. (And what of those resolutions of last year? They're history.) The good news of the birth of Jesus Christ is not like that. Christ was born in time, but is not bound by it. When Christ was born, the sands stopped falling inside the hourglass of the old order -- and that archaic timepiece will never be turned over again. A new order has begun. The old rules of bondage to the law no longer apply. We live by grace.
The Gospel Lesson likewise provides an opportunity to address New Year's themes. The stories of the wise elders, Simeon and Anna, blessing Jesus communicate the bittersweet joy of one season succeeding another. Always there is loss as well as gain. It may be profitable to explore, in a New Year's message, how people view the new year in different seasons of their lives: in youth, in middle-age, in maturity.
There's an old Jewish fable about an elderly man who spent all his spare time at the edge of his village, planting fig trees. People would ask him, "Old man, why are you planting fig trees? You're going to die before you can eat any of the fruit!"
But the wise old man replied, "I have spent so many happy hours sitting under fig trees and eating their fruit. Those trees were planted by others. Why shouldn't I make sure that others will know the same enjoyment I have had?" Simeon and Anna are like that. They know they will never see the Messiah in his prime, but one look into his infant eyes is enough.
Prayer For The Day
Holy God, we pray for your brightness to shine upon our hearts this day.
As we move forward into a new year,
may we know your grace
as it appears for us in the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Help us to renounce sad outlooks and sorrowful attitudes
that threaten to darken our hearts.
Lead us, rather, to live lives that are joyous and just,
Godly and righteous,
as we await, in blessed hope,
the coming of your Son to shine on our world forever. Amen.
To Illustrate
During the darkest days of the Second World War in Britain, Prime Minister Winston Churchill made a speech in which he told his dispirited people, "Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."
***
There's a story about Benjamin Franklin, from the days when he served as his young nation's ambassador to France. Ever the keen scientist, Franklin jumped at the invitation to view the launching of a new French invention: the hot-air balloon.
Franklin traveled, in the company of others, to a field where the balloon ascent was to take place. A great fire was lit on the ground, and a pump and bellows were set up beside it, to fill the bag with hot air. After a great deal of difficulty, the great bag puffed out, and the whole apparatus ascended high into the air: only to descend to earth again, just a few moments later.
Franklin was entranced by what he saw. But then he heard a cynical voice by his side: "That's all well and good," the voice growled, "but what's it good for?"
Franklin is said to have turned to the man and asked, "Tell me, my friend, what a baby is good for?"
***
Time has no divisions to mark its passage; there is never a thunderstorm or blare of trumpets to announce the beginning of a new month or year. Even when a new century begins, it is only we mortals who ring bells and fire off pistols.
-- Thomas Mann, The Magic Mountain (New York: Vintage Books, 1989)
***
When the primal Celtic tribe of Tuatha de Danaan first established their people in Ireland, Bres, the leader of the former inhabitants of the island, offered them a continual harvest. They refused him, saying,
This has been our way:
Spring for plowing and for sowing,
Summer for strengthening the crop,
Autumn for grain's ripeness and for reaping,
Winter for consuming its goodness.
If we respect the gifts of each season, we will also find the thresholds and doorways of the spirit.
-- Michael Rodgers and Marcus Losack, Glendalough, a Celtic Pilgrimage (Harrisburg: Morehouse, 1996), p. 39
***
We can summarize the paradoxes of time as follows:
The Paradox of the Future: The future does not exist and never has existed, yet it is our most precious possession because it is all we have left. The future is where we will spend the rest of our lives. Since the future does not exist, it cannot be examined or measured.... It can only be studied by means of ideas based on knowledge from the past.
The Paradox of the Past: The past is the source of all our knowledge, including our knowledge of the future. But, despite everything we know about it and even our personal experience with it, we are powerless to improve the past or change it in any way because, by definition, the past no longer exists.
The Paradox of the Present: The present is the only period of time that exists and in which we can think and act, yet it is merely the boundary between the past and the future without any duration or existence of its own. These paradoxes lie at the center of human existence and shape profound dilemmas in our psychic life. After we recognize that we have made a terrible mistake, we can never alter that the fact that we made it.
-- Edward Cornish, The Futurist, July-August, 2001
***
Don't fear tomorrow, God is there already.
-- Anonymous
