Readings for Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus:
Luke 2:15-21
January 1, 2007
The Rev. Karen Faye Siegfriedt
St. Jude the Apostle Episcopal Church, Cupertino, CA
Today’s reading completes the birth story in the gospel of Luke. The circumcision and naming of a child were important religious and cultural ceremonies in the life of Jewish families. Luke’s gospel makes nothing of the either event except to note that they happened. On the eighth day, a male child was circumcised, marking that child as a member of the Jewish covenantal community. It was a time of great celebration and pride for the family. The name Jesus means God saves, a very appropriate name given Jesus’ vocational calling.
It wasn’t until the 16th century that this was called Holy Name Day and not until the 20th century that it was moved to the first day of the year. Coming on New Year’s Day, at the birth of the new year, today’s feast reminds us of our own second birth at baptism, when we were named as adopted children of God. [*Forward Day by Day]
Each year on the feast day of the Holy Name, I share some of my favorite quotes that I have collected during the previous year. The purpose of this exercise is to share with you some profound wisdom that has moved my heart and mind in the direction of the Light that came into the world through the birth and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Here are a few tidbits:
- “We ought to love God and use things but instead we tend to love things and use God.” [St. Augustine]
- “We need to have more belief and fewer beliefs.” [Bishop James Pike]
- “Democracy is the worst form of government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.” [Winston Churchill]
- “Non-violence recognizes that the most basic of human rights is the right not to be killed.” [Walter Wink]
- “Violence can never stop violence because its very success leads others to imitate it. Thus violence is most dangerous when it succeeds.” [Walter Wink]
- “There are only two powers in the world: the power of the sword and the power of the spirit. In the long run, the sword will always be conquered by the spirit.” [Napoleon B.]
- “For the Kingdom of God … is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. [Romans 14]
- Politicians often view politics as a struggle for power. “In a struggle of that kind, speeches are tested, not by their truth, but by their effectiveness.” [Jurgen Moltmann]
- “In war, truth is always the first victim.” [Martin Luther]
- “To have a God means to have something in which the heart trusts completely.” [Martin Luther]
- “Fear of death rules our lives far more than passion for living.” [Dr. Caruso]
- “Our yearnings and fears create a Jesus we desire rather than the gospel Jesus we deserve.” [FDBD]
- “The place God calls you, is where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” [Fred Buechner]
- “The economic system of Jesus can be summarized in one word: GIVE.” [Phil Gully]
- “Whoever is wise will ponder these things and consider well, the mercies of the Lord.” [Psalm 107]
- “The act of faith is an act of acceptance, not an explanation.” [Morris West]
- “To renounce the world is not to abandon it but to restore it in Christ to the beauty of its primal design.” [Morris West]
- “The preacher’s task is to help keep the ship appropriately trimmed and pointed in the right direction. The tidal wave in which the church finds itself today, must use all the available means of communication to help the congregation understand the difference between depth Christianity and supermarket spirituality.” [Dunn-Wilson]
- “Above all, clothe yourselves with love.” [Colossians 3]
- “It is not a matter of thinking a great deal but of loving a great deal, so do whatever arouses you most.” [Theresa of Avila]
- “A mystery is not a dark shadow before which we must be silent. It is a dazzling splendor with which to satisfy our gazing.” [Unknown]
- “If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody is not thinking.” [George Patton]
- “Even if you are on the right track, you will get run over if you just sit there.” [Mark Twain]
- “Every lived moment can be lived in the inconceivable closeness of God in the Spirit.” [J. Moltmann]
- “If the only prayer you say in your entire life is thank you, that will suffice.” [Meister Eckhart]
- “Heresy is accentuating part of the truth at the expense of another part.” [FDBD]
- “Life is a series of problems. Our choice is to moan about them or solve them.” [Scott Peck]
- “We are interdependent, interrelated, and interconnected. No country in the world can survive by itself if the rest of the world is going down the drain. The only way we can create security for ourselves is by creating it for the rest of the world.” [Arun Gandhi]
- “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.” [Mahatma Gandhi]
- “Where there is not love, put love, and you will find love.” [St. John of the Cross]
- “Prayer leads us to politics while politics can only be saved from itself by the prophecy which has come out of prayer.” [Adrian Hastings]
- “America has fought too many wars and still believes that the killing of children and their mothers and brothers is justified and even virtuous when there is an enemy to annihilate.” [Thomas Moore]
- “The high minded must care more for the truth than for what people think.” [Unknown]
- “The range of what we think and do is limited by what we fail to notice.” [R.D. Lang]
- “If you do not stand firm in faith, you shall not stand at all.” [Isaiah 7]
- “If you were indicted on a charge of Christianity, would there be sufficient evidence to convict you?” [FDBD]
Finally, I want to end this collection of wisdom with a mantra that I learned at the monastery in Indiana. My hope is that this mantra becomes fully integrated into my heart. It goes like this:
“Make me an instrument, Lord of thy peace, as I give love, love I receive. Make me an instrument humble and free as I awaken the living Christ in me. Make me an instrument, Lord of thy peace, as I let go, as I release, make me an instrument humble and free, as I awaken the living Christ in me.”
| Updated 01/03/07 |
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