Husband, father, and Anglican priest living in the North Georgia Mountains. Sermons, reflections, and articles promoting the "Ancient Faith for Modern Times". Subscribe below to get the latest posts in your inbox.
January 1: Feast of the Holy Name. On the eighth day after Christmas, the infant was circumcised and named. He bore the covenant sign for our sake. The name given to him is the name above every name. The new year begins here.
The world begins its new year with resolutions. The Church begins it with a name. January 1 is the Feast of the Circumcision and Holy Name of Our Lord — the eighth day of Christmas, when the infant Jesus was circumcised and given the name that means salvation. Not a resolution. A person.
First Sunday of Christmas: In the words of Isaiah 61:10–62:5, we encounter a song of exultation so intense that it cannot be contained, a joy that overflows every boundary because God has acted decisively to redeem, restore, and delight in his people.
December 28: the Feast of the Holy Innocents. The Church holds Christmas joy and the slaughter of children in the same season, because that is where they belong. Rachel weeping for her children. She refused to be comforted. The prophet allows the grief its full weight before the promise arrives.
December 28: Feast of the Holy Innocents. Four days after the angels sang, children are dead in Bethlehem. The Church does not move this grief to a more convenient time. It places it here, in the middle of Christmas, because that is where it actually belongs.
Feast of John, December 27. Three days of Christmas: Stephen the willing martyr, John the confessor who lived long, the Holy Innocents who died without choice. John’s witness was slow, sustained, written down for the Church forever.