First Sunday after Christmas
Cal's Lil Lectionary Notes
Sorry for the lateness on this one, folks!
1 Samuel 2:18-20, 26
Psalm 148
Colossians 3:12-17
Luke 2:41-52
Merry Christmas [and Happy New Year], everyone! If you're always wondered what that carol "The Twelve Days of Christmas" was talking about – we're in the mini-season of Christmas right now! It really is twelve days, lasting from the big day until the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6th.
While it's a time of merrymaking and revelry, there are some strangely haunting and even frightening holy days held within it which highlight for us the difficult life into which little Jesus was born. We observe the Feast of St. Stephen on December 26th (which we sing about so happily in "Good King Wenceslas"), which memorializes St. Stephen, the first deacon, but also a martyr who was stoned to death. December 28th is the Feast of the Holy Innocents, a day to mark the story in Matthew 2:16-18 when King Herod the Great is said to have slaughtered the baby boys in and around Bethlehem in the hopes of killing the child Jesus (you'll be happy to know that there is no historical record of this story - Matthew likely added this story to compare Jesus to Moses). Finally, December 29th is the feast day of St. Thomas à Beckett, Archbishop of Canterbury from 1162 to 1170, brutally murdered by followers of King Henry II. Becket and Henry II had been engaged in conflict over ecclesiastical rights versus the rights of the state.
The fact is that Christmas is not just about warm fuzzy animals, a cute pink-cheeked baby, and a young golden-haired Mary. Jesus comes into a world that smells of manure. He is laid in a trough by his unmarried teenaged mother, and is then whisked away as a refugee. He comes into a world that appears to want none of him or his message of love...and yet know that today, as ever, that message is desperately needed.
The Glorious Impossible is that it is all intentional.
This is God’s step forward in Their dance with us.
A prayer for your day:
One who calls forth, you drew your son Jesus to your temple to learn, wrestle, and teach among elders set apart for your work. Inspire us with courage to listen, question, and transform, helping us to exercise that perfect gift of wisdom you so generously impart. We ask this in the name of Jesus, our Teacher. Amen.