Readings
for The Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus A:
Ex. 34:1-8; Luke 2:15-21
January 1, 2005
The Rev. Karen Siegfriedt
St. Jude the Apostle Episcopal Church, Cupertino,
CA
According to the gospel of St. Luke, Jesus was circumcised on the eighth day and was given the Hebrew name, Joshua, [Jesus in Greek] which means God saves. Matthew claims that Jesus is so-named because he will save his people from their sins. The word Jesus describes one important function of the person who bore it: Jesus brings the salvation of God. St. Matthew also felt free to give Jesus another name: Immanuel, which means God with us.
Over the years and continuing to this present day, the Church has given Jesus many other names such as Alpha and Omega, the Bread of Life, the Lamb of God, the Word made Flesh, Savior, Messiah, Son of God, Son of man, King of the Jews, Wonderful Counselor, the Prince of Peace. In the 14th century, the mystic Julian of Norwich liked to call Jesus Mother because Jesus is the one from whom we are born. In the Ankan culture of Africa, Jesus is called Ancestor to emphasize the preeminence of his standards over all others. In Korea, Jesus may be known as the Great Yin-Yang, the one whose divine-human nature represents a perfect complementary of opposites.
There was a time in my life when hearing the words, Jesus is Lord and Savior, was a complete turnoff. I felt as if the fundamentalists had hijacked his name and used it as a weapon to exclude those who did not agree with their theology. But now, embracing Jesus as Lord and Savior truly has saving significance for me. His Word, God's Word, often comes to me through the wisdom of people around me. Whenever I hear a profound word of wisdom that has saving significance for me, I write it down in my notebook. Each year on January 1st, I share this wisdom with my congregation. What follows is a sampling of what I believe represents the spirit (if not the actual Word) of God.
- "For it isn't enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn't enough to believe in it. One must work at it."{Eleanor Roosevelt}
- "The righteous do not always succeed, and the wicked are not always overthrown; but evil is eventually self-destructive. And in the end, God will triumph over the worst that we can do." {New Interpreter's Bible Commentary}
- "The abundant life has nothing to do with material abundance, and faithfulness to God does not guarantee success in a career or ministry. Never focus on temporary crowns." {TPDL= The Purpose Driven Life}
- "Give encouragement as often as possible, advice, once in a great while, reproof, only when absolutely necessary, and judgment-never." {Renovare, small group advice}
- "When the day's catch is laid on the table, we must not forget to be selective." {TPDL}
- "I am not sure that a sacred sense of power means that you never use violence strategically. I am sure that you never use violence strategically without repentance." {Sam Keen}
- "Resentment is like eating poison, hoping that the other person will die." {Foward Day by Day=FDBD}
- "Miracles...seem to me to rest not so much upon faces or voices or healing power coming suddenly near to us from afar off. But upon our perceptions being made finer, so that for a moment, our eyes can see and our ears can hear what is there about us always." {Willa Cather}
- "Where one burns books, one will, in the end, burn people." {Heinrich Heinne}
- "There are probably 101 reasons not to care for the alcoholic, drug addict, and prisoners. I know of only one reason to care: Jesus said: 'Love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and your neighbor as yourself.' " {FDBD}
- "Sin is never a private matter. What we do or fail to do always has social consequences." {Walter Rauschenbush}
- "It is never too late to be what you might have been." {T.S. Elliot}
- "Compassion seems to be the greatest power." {Dali Lama}
- "A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song." {unknown}
- "Why do we worship Christ? We become what we love." {Theology Today}
- "We must always remember that the purifying fires of heaven are hotter than the fires of hell." {Richard Foster}
- "If disease is an expression of individual life under unfavorable conditions, then epidemics must be indicative of mass disturbances in life." {Virchow}
- "All of us struggle against seeking of our own will. But to linger in the way of sinners is to repeatedly and regularly seek our own way, so consistently, that we risk becoming hardened to our sin and therefore, rationalizing and trivializing it." {FDBD}
- "We are so prone to settle for less than what God desires for us." {Richard Foster}
- "There is a Buddhist parable that says that one won't find water by digging many shallow holes."
- Chogyam Trungpa, a great Tibetan Buddhist teacher put it accurately regarding cafeteria-style approach to religion: "When you go down the cafeteria line, you pick out what you like, but not necessarily what you need. If you knew what you needed at the start, you would be at the end rather than at the beginning of your search."
- "In a sinful world, some of us may hold that there may be times when war is a necessary evil. But Christians should never identify violence against others with the will of God and should always work to prevent and end it." {National Council of Churches}
- "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; those who act accordingly have a good understanding; his praise endures for ever." {Psalm 111:10}
- "A shining light in a lighted room seems dim. By contrast, a shining light in a very dark room appears as bright as a beacon. So it is with the Word of God." {FDBD}
- "The question is not why God allows Job to suffer, but will Job still love and believe in God who allows such suffering to occur?" {Phil Yancey}
- "A true Christian community has the virtues of the Biblical Christian community which have to do with a sacrificial life and a conspicuous love." {E. Peterson}
- "Though the fig tree does not blossom and no fruit is on the vines; though the produce of the olive tree fails and the fields yield no food...yet will I rejoice in the Lord; I will exult in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord is my strength." {Habakkuk 3:17-19}
| Updated 12/31/04 |
|