Monday, January 1, 2018

The Feast of the Holy Name

The Collect
Eternal Father, you gave to your incarnate Son the holy name of Jesus to be the sign of our salvation: Plant in every heart, we pray, the love of him who is the Savior of the world, our Lord Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.


The Psalm
8

The Readings
Numbers 6:22-27     +     Galatians 4:4-7     +     Luke 2:15-21

And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.
~Luke 2:21

Most calendars will note January 1st as New Year’s Day, but in the church’s calendar it is the Feast of the Holy Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, falling eight days after our celebration of Jesus’ birth on Christmas Day.

The name Jesus means, literally, “the LORD is salvation.” As Matthew’s Gospel records the angel’s message to Joseph, “She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21). Thus, we begin each year with a reminder that, in Christ, God has become our salvation, a saving grace that we proclaim every time we confess that most holy Name—Jesus.

Closing Prayer
O God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, whose years never fail and whose mercies are new each returning day: let the radiance of your Spirit renew our lives, warming our hearts and giving light to our minds, that we may pass the coming year in joyful obedience and firm faith; through him who is the beginning and the end, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
~from Saint Augustine's Prayer Book, p. 219



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