The First Sunday after Christmas:

Presentation at the Temple

Beginnings

 

 

Epiphany - January 6

 

A story of journey, and of the unexpected circumstances that can force a change in life's direction.

                                                                    Matthew 2:1-12

Like wise ones following a star, God, help us to follow your light.
Like travellers in search of your truth, God, help us to follow your light.
God of hope and peace and joy and love and light,
                   journey with us through our lives. 
Give use courage to follow your star into the world. Amen.

 

              

 

  Melchior                             Balthasar 

 

 

 

 

Caspar *

https://www.picturethisgallery.com/art/caspar-third-wise-man-porcelain/

 

We Three Kings of Orient Are

CHRISTENSEN, James C.

 

The Song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANXV46f3jo0

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What the new year brings to you

will depend a great deal on

what you bring to the new year.

~ Vern McLellan

 

 

 

 

 

Celebrate endings,

for they precede new beginnings.

~ Jonathan Lockwood Huie

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year:
"Give me a light, that I may tread safely into the unknown!"
And he replied:
"Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God.
That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way."

~ Minnie Louise Haskins

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas Eve

Some of our Rotary members celebebrated together.

Christmas Eve Service

 

Pastor Richard Aylor

 

Lighting the Christmas candle.

 

Pastor Richard

 

Bob and Annette Bradley

 

Our Rotary group 

 

On to Hanna’s for yummy good cheer!

Hanna Holt in her home with decorations from Germany.

 

Annette Bradley, Bill Manning

 

Bill Manning read ’Twas the Night Before Christmas.’

 

Carolyn Alexander with Hanna Holt … lighting a candle

 

Each of us lighted a candle.

 

Christmas Day Dinner

at Sharron's

Dottie Reeves, Sharron Leonard

 

Carolyn with Sharron

 

My driveway coming home on Christmas Day.

 

  

 

 

 

A New Year's Prayer
 
May God make your year a happy one!
Not by shielding you from all sorrows and pain,
But by strengthening you to bear it, as it comes;
Not by making your path easy,
But by making you sturdy to travel any path;
Not by taking hardships from you,
But by taking fear from your heart;
Not by granting you unbroken sunshine,
But by keeping your face bright, even in the shadows;
Not by making your life always pleasant,
But by showing you when people and their causes need you most,
and by making you anxious to be there to help.
God's love, peace, hope and joy to you for the year ahead.
 
~ Anonymous

 

 

 

 

 

 

December 31, 2023  First Sunday of Christmas Year B

                

Previous OPQs may be found at: 

     http://www.dotjack.com/opq.htm

 

 

*  These derive from an early 6th century Greek manuscript in Alexandria.[2] The Latin text Collectanea et Flores[3] continues the tradition of three kings and their names and gives additional details. This text is said to be from the 8th century, of Irish origin.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_Magi

 

 

22When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23(as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord”), 24and they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.”

25Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. 26It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. 27Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him what was customary under the law, 28Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying, 
29  “Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, 
          according to your word; 
30  for my eyes have seen your salvation, 
31       which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, 
32   a light for revelation to the Gentiles 
          and for glory to your people Israel.”

33And the child’s father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him. 34Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, “This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed 35so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed — and a sword will pierce your own soul too.”

36There was also a prophet, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, having lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, 37then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped there with fasting and prayer night and day. 38At that moment she came, and began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.

39When they had finished everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. 40The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.

Luke 2:22-40

Agnus Day, by James Wetzstein

Agnus Day appears with the permission of www.agnusday.org

 

 

 

Epipheny - January 6

wisemen_christensen.jpg

WE THREE KINGS... "

CHRISTENSEN, James

2003

https://www.jameschristensenart.com/art.asp?!=W&ID=16204

 

 

http://www.reverendfun.com/index.php?date=19981216



 

 

 

 

 

 

LECTIONARY

Isaiah 61:10—62:3 

Psalm 148 

Galatians 4:4–7 

Luke 2:22–40

 

Epiphany of the Lord Lectionary:

Isaiah 60:1-6  

Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14 

Ephesians 3:1-12 

Matthew 2:1-12

 

 

Summary

Jesus’ purpose was also the purpose of the creation of Israel from the very beginning. Isaiah’s declaration that “the nations will see your righteousness, and all the kings your glory” was not new. God promised Abraham that all the nations of the earth would be blessed by his offspring.

The faithful Simeon is granted the special vocation to declare that this promise has been fulfilled in the child Jesus—“a light of revelation to the Gentiles.” These words are so precious to the church that she sings them often in the Nunc Dimittis(perhaps a good tip to your worship leaders for this Sunday!). Likewise, the holy woman Anna is given that same recognition and becomes an early evangelist to a larger group of faithful Messiah-watchers.

Paul, in Galatians, spells out the mechanics of this promise: the astounding truth that the Messiah has not just brought a shining example to the non-Jewish peoples, but comes to them as an adopting father!

The preacher would do well to bring the hidden theme of the Holy Spirit forward: that the Spirit who spoke through the prophet Isaiah and revealed Jesus’ Messiahship to the prophets at the Temple, is the very same Spirit that inspires our own hearts to cry out to God the Father! This is just one of many more avenues to take through these three interlocking texts.

https://www.preachingtoday.com/lectionary/

 

 

December 31 – The Holy Family [B]

“Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted . . . ”
Luke 2: 22-40

THE WORD:

In today’s Gospel, the faithful Joseph and Mary bring their son to the temple for his presentation to the Lord, a ritual required by the Law.  The Book of Exodus taught that a family's first-born son “belonged” to the Lord who saved them when the first-born sons of the Egyptians were destroyed at the first Passover (Exodus 13: 15).

The prophet Simeon and the prophetess Anna are idealized portraits of the faithful “remnant” of Israel awaiting the Messiah’s coming.  Simeon’s canticle praises God for the universal salvation that will be realized in Jesus; in his prophecy, the shadow of the cross falls upon the Holy Family.

Anna, as an elderly widow, is considered among the most vulnerable and poor of society.  Her encounter with the child typifies the theme woven throughout Luke's Gospel: the exaltation of society's poorest and most humble by God.

In Matthew and Luke’s stories of Jesus birth and childhood (which were later additions to those Gospels, drawn from the many stories about Jesus’ life that were part of the early Christian oral tradition that had developed), life for the family of Joseph, Mary and Jesus is difficult and cruel: they are forced from their home; they are innocent victims of the political and social tensions of their time; they endure the suspicions of their own people when Mary's pregnancy is discovered; their child is born under the most difficult and terrifying of circumstances; they experience the agony of losing their beloved child.  And yet, through it all, their love and faithfulness to one another do not waver.  The Holy Family is a model for our families as we confront the many tensions and crises that threaten the stability, peace and unity that are the joys of being a family.

https://connectionsmediaworks.com/sundaygospel.html#dec31

 

 

First Reading Isaiah 61:10-62:3

61:10 I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, 
          my whole being shall exult in my God; 
     for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, 
          he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, 
     as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, 
          and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. 
11  For as the earth brings forth its shoots, 
          and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up, 
     so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise 
          to spring up before all the nations.

62:1 For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, 
          and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, 
     until her vindication shines out like the dawn, 
          and her salvation like a burning torch. 
2   The nations shall see your vindication, 
          and all the kings your glory; 
     and you shall be called by a new name 
          that the mouth of the Lord will give. 
3   You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord, 
          and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.

Psalm 148:1-14

1   Praise the Lord! 
     Praise the Lord from the heavens; 
          praise him in the heights! 
2   Praise him, all his angels; 
          praise him, all his host!

3   Praise him, sun and moon; 
          praise him, all you shining stars! 
4   Praise him, you highest heavens, 
          and you waters above the heavens!

5   Let them praise the name of the Lord, 
          for he commanded and they were created. 
6   He established them forever and ever; 
          he fixed their bounds, which cannot be passed.

7   Praise the Lord from the earth, 
          you sea monsters and all deeps, 
8   fire and hail, snow and frost, 
          stormy wind fulfilling his command!

9   Mountains and all hills, 
          fruit trees and all cedars! 
10  Wild animals and all cattle, 
          creeping things and flying birds!

11  Kings of the earth and all peoples, 
          princes and all rulers of the earth! 
12  Young men and women alike, 
          old and young together!

13  Let them praise the name of the Lord, 
          for his name alone is exalted; 
          his glory is above earth and heaven. 
14  He has raised up a horn for his people, 
          praise for all his faithful, 
          for the people of Israel who are close to him. 
     Praise the Lord!

Second Reading Galatians 4:4-7

4But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law,5in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children.6And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.

Gospel Luke 2:22-40

22When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23(as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord”), 24and they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.”

25Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. 26It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. 27Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him what was customary under the law, 28Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying, 
29  “Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, 
          according to your word; 
30  for my eyes have seen your salvation, 
31       which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, 
32   a light for revelation to the Gentiles 
          and for glory to your people Israel.”

33And the child’s father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him. 34Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, “This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed 35so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed — and a sword will pierce your own soul too.”

36There was also a prophet, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, having lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, 37then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped there with fasting and prayer night and day. 38At that moment she came, and began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.

39When they had finished everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. 40The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.