We celebrate on January 1st of every year the feast called the Holy Name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Most of the time January 1st is not a Sunday, so it is unusual for us to get to celebrate it with a choral service. But we do today, so: happy New Year, everybody, and happy […]
Sermon Topic: Holy Name
Taking the Name in Vain
“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.” (RSV) I received a lesson, pretty early in life, on what it means to take the Lord’s name in vain. It had to do with a hammer. Specifically, […]
The LORD lift up his Countenance upon Thee
The reading you heard from the sixth chapter of the book of Numbers is newly appointed for today’s feast, the feast of the Holy Name, and it contains one of the gems of the Bible. It is called the “priestly blessing” or the “Aaronic blessing,” the blessing given to Aaron and his sons, by God […]
A Sermon for the Feast of the Holy Name
This is a feast of the fulfilling of the Law, and with the Law, all things. The Law prescribed that on the 8th day a male child would be circumcised. There is nothing about Jesus that is a rejection of his heritage; everything about Jesus speaks to the most perfect fidelity to the Law. As […]
