Christmas Day

By:
On:
In: Sermons

In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Our Christmas Day text from Isaiah begins similarly to how the pericope from chapter seven did last Wednesday; a somewhat midstride proclamation set in developments of prophetic detail within a book resplendent with messianic language. If we back up to the beginning of tonight’s fifty-second chapter, Isaiah’s words begin their work of wrangling into our minds images of themes and aspects about the coming Christ encountered in the Church’s yearly cycle. The chapter begins, “Awake, awake!” likely conjuring up fresh memories of singing the stellar hymn “Wake, AwakeRead More →

By:
On:
In: Sermons

Psalmody: Isaiah 9:6a; Psalm 98:1a;98:3b-4a, 2;89:11, 14a;98:3bLection: Isaiah 52:6-10;Hebrews 1:1-12;St. John 1:1–14 In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. In the beginning…of December, we entered the season of Advent, looking forward to the coming of Christ in the manger, in the Holy Supper, and in the clouds on the Last Day. We withheld the Gloria in Excelsis from our liturgy to further prepare our minds and hearts for the Christmas joy of singing it once again; Glory be to God on high! The multitude of the heavenly host of angels burst forth at the birthRead More →