Month: December 2024

First Sunday after Christmas, 29 December 2024: Isaiah 61:10-62:3; Galatians 3:23-25; 4:4-7; John 1:1-18; Psalm 147 or 147:13-21 Today’s Gospel is one that I love to listen to, but never fully understand. I will think I understand one sentence, and then the next sentence leaves me baffled. In some ways the center of it is…

Christmas, December 25: Isaiah 9:2-7; Titus 2:11-14; Luke 2:1-14(15-20); Psalm 96 When the angels show up for the shepherds, with “the glory of the Lord” shining around them, the shepherds were (rightly) terrified. Terror was the appropriate response to seeing the glory of the Lord. Moses felt it too, when he saw the burning bush.…

Fourth Sunday in Advent, 22 December 2024: Micah 5:2-5a; Hebrews 10:5-10; Luke 1:39-45, (46-55); Canticle 15 (or 3). The beginning of Micah’s prophecy for Bethlehem “You, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who are one of the little clans of Judah” is a reminder that Bethlehem was probably not where you expected a Messiah to be born.…

Third Sunday of Advent, 15 December 2024: Zephaniah 3:14-20; Philippians 4:4-7; Luke 3:7-18; Canticle 9 “Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter Jerusalem!”! Thus Zephaniah calls us. Why should we rejoice? “The Lord has taken away the judgments against you”. Not only that, but he has turned away enemies. And he will deal…

Second Sunday of Advent, December 8, 2024: Baruch 5:1-9 or Malachi 3:1-4; Philippians 1:3-11; Luke 3:1-6; Canticle 16 “Take off the garment of your sorrow and affliction, O Jerusalem, and put on forever the beauty of the glory from God.” So begins the passage from Baruch we read today. As Baruch continues with his prophecy,…

First Sunday of Advent, December 1, 2024: Jeremiah 33:14-16; 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13; Luke 21:25-36; Psalm 25:1-9 Today we begin the new church year: our readings are now in year C of the common lectionary, not year B; they will be dominated by the Gospel of Luke, not Mark as in year B. So we will…