On January 1 many Christians, as they continue to focus their attention on the Nativity, do so by remembering how Jesus’ mother cared for her Child. Not only did she initially say Yes to God’s desire to enter our human world in the most intimate way possible, she carried the fetal Son of God in her womb for nine months and gave birth to the Savior of the world. As a refugee, she fled by night with Joseph to Egypt and lived there--no doubt in poverty like most refugees. Along the way she nursed him at her breasts and later fed him as a toddler, cooking His meals over primitive fires. Like other mothers, she washed his clothes at riversides and hung them out to dry on nearby bushes. She told Him Bible stories she had memorized, prayed the daily Shema and played with Him in the backyard. At night she showed Him the stars, and during the day she taught Him His alphabet. She introduced Him to her friends, took him weekly to Sabbath synagogue worship, and annually trekked with Him to the great Temple in Jerusalem for the Passover celebrations. Together they attended the wedding at Cana. She watched her Son die on the cross. She was again and again with the apostles after the Resurrection. The Mother of Jesus was in many ways responsible for the vision of Christ as a baby, toddler, young boy, teenager, young man who taught and still teaches us how to live in the kingdom of God. From the first to the last she was with Jesus.

We all know how deeply Christians in the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches revere Mary. Today, many others in the “holy catholic Church” (as we define ourselves in the Creeds)—Lutherans, Anglicans and Episcopalians, Methodists, Presbyterians, to name but a few communities—are also honor Mary for her role in our salvation. If you wish to know more about this trend, this ancient understanding of Mary, and see for yourself how you might envision Mary in your personal faith, I recommend the following essay and book:

Timothy George, “Evangelicals and the Mother of God”

Timothy George, an ordained minister in the Southern Baptist Convention, is the dean of Beeson Divinity School of Samford University and a member of the First
Things editorial board.

Scot McKnight, The Real Mary: Why Evangelical Christians Can Embrace the Mother of Jesus.

Scot McKnight is a widely-recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. He is the Karl A. Olsson Professor in Religious Studies at North Park University (Chicago, Illinois). A popular and witty speaker, Dr. McKnight has given interviews on radios across the nation, has appeared on television, and is regularly asked to speak in local churches and educational events. Dr. McKnight obtained his Ph.D. at the University of Nottingham (1986).
______________________

You may also wish to read what Martin Luther says about the Blessed Virgin Mary.

If during the Church Year, your attention is turned to the Mary (as, for example, during Evening Prayer with your praying the Magnificat), you may wish to thank God for Mary's place in salvation history; or, if you're persuaded by some of what you have read about the role of Mary in the life of the Church, you may to thank her personally.

Inasmuch as tomorrow's evening welcomes the secular world's New Year, perhaps it's a good time now for us to get ready for the Church's January 1 celebrations in prayer and worship. Our Episcopal friends commemorate January 1 as The Holy Name while Lutherans designate the day as The Name of Jesus; Roman Catholic communities will turn thoughts to Mary, Mother of Our Lord. And in many communities, Presbyterians and Methodists who use the Daily Office will join hands with all who tell time by the church's calendar. The reasoning behind all this attention to the name of Jesus and to the role of His Mother is simple. Matthew tells us that "when the eighth day came and the child was to be circumcized, they gave him the name Jesus, the name the angel had given him before his conception" (2:21).

In addition to encouraging our reflection on the Name Day of Jesus, the prayerbook June and I use will ask us to remember that on his Naming Day, Jesus was also circumcized. In fact, a decade or two ago, January 1 was known in the Lutheran Church, as it is today among the Orthodox, as The Feast of the Circumcision of Jesus. Apparently we Lutherans got a little embarrassed over this "first blood-letting of Jesus," a foreshadowing of His passion, so that we quietly dropped any mention of it in the church's calendar. Some Anglicans and a few Lutherans, however, continue not to be so "theologically proper." I trust the stained-glass window's depiction of the event, now housed in The Cloisters, is an appropriate reminder that Jesus, the Word made flesh, was and is today fully human.

Although tomorrow, December 31, ushering in New Year's Eve, is a rather "relaxed" day in the Church's calendar, nevertheless several churches remember some of our Christian mothers and fathers. Roman Catholic Christians will mention Columba of Sens, a virgin martyr (beheaded in 273) and the Roman Bishop Sylvester, who participated in the Council of Nicea in 325; both the Roman and Orthodox churches also remember the Widow Melania the Younger.

May God bless your December 31 and January 1!

December 30, 2007: The First Sunay after Christmas (and the Fifth Day of Christmas)

Last night June, Chelsea, and I returned to Kentucky after a ten-day stint in Georgia and Tennessee for the tail end of Advent and the beginnings of Christmastide. Making the rounds of various churches to which members of our extended family belong, we worshipped at First Baptist Church in Barnesville, Georgia, saw a good bit of spectacle at mega Rock Springs Church in Milner, Georgia, participated in a quietly beautiful Communion at First Baptist Church in McDonough, Georgia. While non of these parishes considers itself liturgical in any traditional or historical sense of the word, each one in its own way (although all are Baptist) celebrated the Birth of Christ with reverence, a strong need to share the Gospel, and inspired singing.

I am, of course, glad to be back in "liturgical country" where the Church Year will guide my Christian thoughts, prayers, and actions. While driving the roads, I found myself thinking about the New Year and how I might let 2008 open itself up to all of us who practice daily Morning and Evening Prayer, especially how these writings might guide all of us toward deeper and more rounded commitment to Christian living. What follows is brief listing of some possibilities.

I'd like to share with you more of what I'm reading. As you know, the Rule of Benedict emphasizes the importance of study as one strong way to strengthen our personal and communal lives in Christ. So inasmuch as I general set aside several hours a day to read a good book (many of which are recommended by other Christians), I'll be sharing titles, authors, and selections from chapters with you more often.

The Rule also helps us understand how our daily work becomes vocationally dedicated to God. For those of us who are retired, our usual understanding of work and vocation is necessarily changed. As a professor, for nearly forty years I taught over a hundred students every week, composed articles for professional conferences, shared my thinking with lots of committees, graded essays and tests, and taught numerous courses online. Now all of that is in the past, and I see myself as a worker quite differently. Now more domestic and grandfatherly than academic and avuncular, I find myself working more with tools around the house, making sure the birds get feed, tending gardens, and keeping the boat afloat at the lakehouse. I vacuum floors, fix the coffee at 5:00 a.m., and read the newspapers before dawn. In short, I sleep less and putter a lot. But in all of this I also have things to share. So if it's all right, I'll post a bit of my family and home life as a way of sharing how Christ continues to shape the mornings and evenings of my daily life. Perhaps in some ways you'll find yourself thinking about the same sorts of things that preoccupy my thoughts, and we can share the breezy blowings of the Spirit together.

And, yes, I want to do a bit more writing about our prayer lives and am determined that I'll be more regular in posting reflections that arise from our common life in the church catholic. I'll do my best to share more commentary, art work, and encouragement so that all of us move more fully into ceaseless prayer, prayer that continually offers our lives, moment-by-moment to God.

Well, that's it for this morning. Have a blessed First Sunday after Christmas. If you're Roman Catholic like my daughter Amy and her family, you'll be celebrating The Holy Family; if Episcopal, then there may be mention of Josephine Butler, Pioneer Worker Among Women; if Orthodox, St. Anysia, Martyr; Venerable Theodora of Cesaria. If just plain citizen of the world, then the Fifth Day of Christmas when your true love gives you five golden rings!

6 December: Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, c. 342

Today is St. Nicholas Day, and forty years ago or so it was a rather important day in my life. Because in the late 60’s and early 70’s I was often overwhelmed by the days and evenings surrounding Christmas itself, I used to compensate for my not being able to spend bunches of time with the kids by “pre-doing” Christmas a bit.

My family knew that over the centuries fat Santa had evolved in story, myth, and importance from traditions surrounding fourth-century Bishop Nicholas of Myra. The real “Nick” was born in Patra, a village located in the southern coast of Turkey. As the orphaned son of fairly wealthy parent, Nicholas, took Jesus’ word to “sell what you own and give the money to the poor” at face value and unloaded up his inheritance to help the needy, sick, and suffering. The tradition says that he dedicated his life to serving God and became well-known for his generosity, especially toward children, along with his concern for sailors and ships. Later in life Nicholas suffered for his faith during imperial persecutions with exile and imprisonment. When released from prison, he attended the Council of Nicea in 325, died eighteen years later on December 6 in Myra, and was buried in his cathedral church.

Of the many stories associated with his life, the best known rehearses his helping a gentleman with three unmarried daughters. The father was unable to raise enough money to provide his girls with dowries; as a consequence they were destined to become old maids. Some embellish the tale suggesting that they might have well ended up as prostitutes. When walking by the gentleman’s home, so it is said, Nicholas threw a bag of gold through a window on three successive nights and so saved the daughters from a life of shame. As you might imagine, yes, all were married and lived happily ever after. Such is the hagiographical nimbus of Old Saint Nick, good enough to make sure that our present jolly oaf has a decent resume, the business world’s best gift-giver.

Retelling the story of Saint Nick to our children on December 6 had two advantages. First, it nicely deconstructed the myth of Santa. Our kids were never fooled beyond the age of four or five. And second, it gave us an opportunity to finesse the 25th out of its overbearing emphasis on getting so many toys that little else mattered. We finessed by giving the children some pre-Christmas gifts on December 6, the Day of Saint Nicholas. Moreover, for several years we baked and bagged St. Nicholas cookies, tied up small branches of evergreens, and early on the morning of this day surreptitiously hung both on our neighbors’ front doors. We never told them who had hung the greens.

I still like to remember the real Nicholas, the generous saint who suffered for his faith and helped the Church think through her understanding of Christ at the Council of Nicea. I'll say the Niceane Creed today and thank God for his witness.

Almighty God, who in your love gave to your servant Nicholas of Myra a perpetual name for deeds of kindness on land and sea: Grant, we pray, that your Church may never cease to work for the happiness of children, the safety of sailors, the relief of the poor, and the help of those tossed by tempests of doubt or grief; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

December 2: Channing Moore Williams, Missionary to Asia

Bishop Williams is remembered today by both Episcopalians and Lutherans. I always like to provide each commemoration with a picture of the person or event for the day, but I had great difficulty this morning finding a good icon, photograph, or picture of Channing Moore Williams. The best I could find of this great Christian misisonary is his statue at Rikkyo University, now a Japanese institution of higher education whose roots go back to Williams' Christian labors in Japan.

The Episcopal church was among the first Protestant denominations in Japan and founded Japanese Anglicanism. Channing Moore Williams entered Japan in 1859 and in 1866 became Japan's first Anglican bishop.

More information about his life and witness may be found at Channing Moore Williams.

Almighty and everlasting God, we thank you for your Servant Channing, whom you called to preach the Gospel to the peoples of Asia. Raise up, we pray, in this and every land heralds and evangelists of your kingdom, that your Church may proclaim the unsearchable riches of our Saviour Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

The St. James Calendar of the Christian Year (2008) provides the following informative note to the month of December, 2007:

Advent, a season of preparation for Christmas, always begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas (December 2 this year). In the Eastern churches, fasting is observed from November 15 until Christmas. There are traditionally three "advents" or "comings": the first coming of Christ by the Virgin; His present coming to men by the Spirit; and His future Second Coming in glroy at the end of the age. The Gospel on the first Sunday is about the Second Coming, whle the following Sundays emphasize events leading up to the Birth of Christ. In the Eastern churches the ancestors of Jesus are commemorated on the Sunday before Christmas.

While the date of Christmas in both Eastern and Western churches is December 25, the majority of Eastern churches still follow the Julian Calendar and thus celebrate Christmas on January 7 according the Gregorian (modern) Calendar. There is sometimes confusion between the Orthodox observance on January 7 (Gregorian) and what some call "Old Christmas," by which is meant the older feast of Epiphany, January 6. Epiphany in the Western churches celebrates the worship of the Magi, and was called "little Christmas" in the ancient Irish church. It marks the end of the Christmas season, the twelve days of Christmas.

December 1: Nicholar Ferrar, Deacon, 1637

When June and I are in Georgia we often worship at The Church of the Good Shepherd, Episcopal, in Covington, Georgia. This parish publishes a wonderful monthly newletter, Parish Life, which frequently contains excellent articles on the so-called "lesser feasts and fasts" of the Church's year. Here, for example, is Parish Life 's notice (December, 2005) of the commemoration of Nicholas Ferrar on December 1. I've ever-so-lightly edited it:

Today we remember Nicholas Ferrar (1592-1637), the founder of a religious community at Little Gidding, Huntingdonshire, England, which existed from 1626 to 1646. His family had been prominent in the affairs of the Virginia Company, but when that company was dissolved, he took deacon's orders and retired to the country. At Little Gidding, his immediate family and a few friends and servants gave themselves wholly to religious observance. They restored the derelict church near the manor house, became responsible for services there, taught many of the local children, and looked after the health and well-being of the people of the neighborhood. A regular round of prayer according to The Book of Common Prayer was observed, along with the daily recital of the whole of the Psalter. The members of the community became widely known for fasting, private prayer and meditation, and for writing stories and books illustrating themes of Christian faith and morality. One of the most interesting of the activities of the Little Gidding community was the preparation of "harmonies" of the Gospels, one of which was presented to King Charles I by the Ferrar family. The community did not long survive the death of Nicholas Ferrar. However, the memory of the religious life at Little Gidding was kept alive, principally through Izaak Walton's description in his Life of George Herbert: [Ferrar] and his family . . . did most of them keep Lent and all Ember-weeks strictly, both in fasting and using all those mortifcations and prayers that the Church hath appointed . . . and he and they did the like constantly on Friday, and on the vigils or eves appointed to be fasted before the Saints' days; and this frugality and abstinence turned to the relief of the poor . . . ." The community becamse an important symbol of many Anglicans when religious orders began to revive. Its life inspired T. S. Eliot, and he gave the title "Little Gidding" to the last of his Four Quartets, one of the great religious poems of the twentieth century. Here's the collect for our remembrance of Nicholas Ferrar:

Lord God, make us so reflect your perfect love; that, with your Deacon Nicholas Ferrar and his household, we may rule ourselves according to your Word, and serve you with our whole heart; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

December 2: The First Sunday in Advent

Tonight on the Eve of Advent, many of us expect that tomorrow someone in our sanctuary will ignite the taper of the first candles in the Advent wreath. Each Sunday another candle will be lit as we make our way to Christmastide. The lighting of these candles reminds us that we are moving toward the Great Light, when the Word of God was translated into flesh as the Blessed Mary gave birth to her Son. These Advent Sunday take us, like Joseph pulling on the donkey on which Mary was riding, toward Christmas, the Great Fulcrum of history. If you wish to prepare yourself for tomorrow's worship, you may make a pilgrimage to one or more of the following sites:

• Journey with Jesus
• The First Sunday in Advent
• Advent Prepares Us for Christ's Coming

Last evening on St. Andrew's Day, Pastor Luckey and I introduced about a hundred or so members of Faith Lutheran Church to the work of Christian Flights International in Haiti. With real Haitian coffee and delicious fruits sprinkled with coconut-sugar made by Mama in Ivy Solomon's home, everyone got a very good introductory feel as to what it's like to live in Haiti and how we as Christians might provide witness as to the kingdom of God making itself manifest among the people of Ranquitte, a small mountain village in northeastern Haiti. Right now we're planning to go again to Haiti, sometime in mid-April. If you'd life to visit Ranquitte and return a person in love with Haiti, let Andy know. And if you're in love with Haiti now, please include all of Haiti and Christian Flights International in your daily intercessions. Thanks.