The St. James’ Bazaar usually held the first Saturday of December has been cancelled for 2020.

St. James’ garage sale has been postponed for 2020. New date is to be determined.

The Lessons Appointed for Use on 
the Feast of

First Sunday after Christmas

All Years

Isaiah 61:10-62:3

Galatians 3:23-25; 4:4-7

John 1:1-18

147:13-21

The Collect

Almighty God, you have poured upon us the new light of your incarnate Word: Grant that this light, enkindled in our hearts, may shine forth in our lives; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Old Testament

Isaiah 61:10-62:3

I will greatly rejoice in the Lord,
my whole being shall exult in my God;

for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation,
he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,

as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

For as the earth brings forth its shoots,
and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up,

so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise
to spring up before all the nations.

For Zion's sake I will not keep silent,
and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest,

until her vindication shines out like the dawn,
and her salvation like a burning torch.

The nations shall see your vindication,
and all the kings your glory;

and you shall be called by a new name
that the mouth of the Lord will give.

You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord,
and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.

The Psalm

147:13-21

13 Worship the Lord, O Jerusalem; *
praise your God, O Zion;

14 For he has strengthened the bars of your gates; *
he has blessed your children within you.

15 He has established peace on your borders; *
he satisfies you with the finest wheat.

16 He sends out his command to the earth, *
and his word runs very swiftly.

17 He gives snow like wool; *
he scatters hoarfrost like ashes.

18 He scatters his hail like bread crumbs; *
who can stand against his cold?

19 He sends forth his word and melts them; *
he blows with his wind, and the waters flow.

20 He declares his word to Jacob, *
his statutes and his judgments to Israel.

21 He has not done so to any other nation; *
to them he has not revealed his judgments.
Hallelujah!

The New Testament

Galatians 3:23-25; 4:4-7

Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian.

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.

The Gospel

John 1:1-18

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.

And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth. (John testified to him and cried out, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.'") From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has made him known.from her.

The Collect

O Lord, make us have perpetual love and reverence for your holy Name, for you never fail to help and govern those whom you have set upon the sure foundation of your loving­kindness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Old Testament

Genesis 21:8-21

The child grew, and was weaned; and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, playing with her son Isaac. So she said to Abraham, “Cast out this slave woman with her son; for the son of this slave woman shall not inherit along with my son Isaac.” The matter was very distressing to Abraham on account of his son. But God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed because of the boy and because of your slave woman; whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for it is through Isaac that offspring shall be named for you. As for the son of the slave woman, I will make a nation of him also, because he is your offspring.” So Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed, and wandered about in the wilderness of Beer-sheba.

When the water in the skin was gone, she cast the child under one of the bushes. Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot; for she said, “Do not let me look on the death of the child.” And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept. And God heard the voice of the boy; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Do not be afraid; for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. Come, lift up the boy and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make a great nation of him.” Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. She went, and filled the skin with water, and gave the boy a drink.

God was with the boy, and he grew up; he lived in the wilderness, and became an expert with the bow. He lived in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

Psalm 86:1-10, 16-17

1 Bow down your ear, O Lord, and answer me, *
for I am poor and in misery.

2 Keep watch over my life, for I am faithful; *
save your servant who puts his trust in you.

3 Be merciful to me, O Lord, for you are my God; *
I call upon you all the day long.

4 Gladden the soul of your servant, *
for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.

5 For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, *
and great is your love toward all who call upon you.

6 Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer, *
and attend to the voice of my supplications.

7 In the time of my trouble I will call upon you, *
for you will answer me.

8 Among the gods there is none like you, O Lord, *
nor anything like your works.

9 All nations you have made will come and worship you, O Lord, *
and glorify your Name.

10 For you are great; you do wondrous things; *
and you alone are God.

16 Turn to me and have mercy upon me; *
give your strength to your servant; and save the child of your handmaid.

17 Show me a sign of your favor, so that those who hate me may see it and be ashamed; *
because you, O Lord, have helped me and comforted me.

9 I have become a stranger to my own kindred, *
an alien to my mother's children.

10 Zeal for your house has eaten me up; *
the scorn of those who scorn you has fallen upon me.

11 I humbled myself with fasting, *
but that was turned to my reproach.

18 Answer me, O Lord, for your love is kind; *
in your great compassion, turn to me.'

19 "Hide not your face from your servant; *
be swift and answer me, for I am in distress.

20 Draw near to me and redeem me; *
because e of my enemies deliver me.

The Epistle

Romans 6:1b-11

Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. For whoever has died is freed from sin. But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

The Gospel

Matthew 10:24-39

Jesus said to the twelve disciples, “A disciple is not above the teacher, nor a slave above the master; it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher, and the slave like the master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household!

“So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops. Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted. So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.

“Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.

For I have come to set a man against his father, 
and a daughter against her mother, 
and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; 
and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household.

Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.”

REFLECTION JUNE 28

Today’s reading from Genesis can be one of the more unsettling Biblical readings. Most of us don’t like the idea of God testing us to begin with, and we certainly don’t like the idea of God’s instruction to Abraham to sacrifice his son – even if it’s only a test. The fact that Abraham gets to the point of picking up the knife to kill Isaac is too close for comfort for most of us.

But when we move beyond these feelings, the reading actually offers some striking theological statements. These statements – in addition to the dramatic observations I just made - make this passage one of the best-known readings in Abraham’s journey of faith with our God. As I talked about last week, Abraham’s story lies at the root of three great religious traditions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. So it’s definitely worth paying attention to what scripture reveals to us about our God through this story.

The very first thing we’re told is that “God tested Abraham.” We’re given a context at the beginning of this passage for what follows. Maybe that context is intended to give us some breathing space for the events. If so, I’m not sure it succeeds. The story is still, in one dimension, horrific for those of us who have been parents, and perhaps for everyone.

But this is a test - and a big one at that. Remember that God has miraculously provided Isaac to Abraham and Sarah, and God has promised that it’s through this son that God will provide a multitude of further offspring. Not just biological offspring, but spiritual offspring, a multitude of people who trust in the one God.

Given this reality, it’s not explainable to Abraham why God would now tell him to offer Isaac back to God as a sacrifice. And a very real sacrifice it would be: “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love . . . .”  As fathers do, Abraham loves his son Isaac, no doubt with a parent’s boundless love, the kind of love that would sacrificially offer one’s self in his place if given the opportunity. As we find out much later in the Biblical story through the person of Jesus, the divine son, God the Father knows this love from the inside.

However, what is being tested is not Abraham’s love for Isaac but Abraham’s complete loyalty to God. As it will be articulated later through both Moses and Jesus, God expects our complete, our absolute allegiance: “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” (Deut. 6:4; Mark 12:30) No one and no thing is allowed to come before God.

You might be reminded of our gospel reading from last week, in which Jesus tells his disciples, “ Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.”

Our Lord reminds us that the moment we begin placing our parent or our spouse or our child or our country or our work or our money or our favorite hobby above God is the moment we slip into idolatry – we begin to worship something other than the only true God. We must, like Abraham, be willing to sacrifice any other allegiance we hold within our hearts to our allegiance to God. And when we’re confronted with such a choice, as we are more often than we recognize, we might find ourselves being tested – by God or by life itself – in much the same way Abraham is tested in our reading.

This tension is sometimes apparent in people’s attitude toward the nation in which they live, and we Americans are no exception. Some of you will remember that saying, “America, love it or leave it.” Aside from not being the most grace-filled way to deal with each other at times of disagreement - it closes down conversation rather than invites it - this attitude also suggests that our country and its leaders can never be wrong, or sinfully blind because they are pursuing goals out of line with God’s, or simply mistaken.

However, we Christians know that isn’t true for any of us, our leaders included. We all are susceptible to placing other things above God and the sacrificial love that we are called into as creatures of God. And we are all accountable to God and God’s way of justice and love at all times. So we have a responsibility to hold our leadership as well as ourselves accountable to the ways of justice and love, a responsibility to speak out in the name of Christ when the way of God is not being followed.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer paid with his life for doing so in Germany during the Second World War. Most of us won’t be asked to make that kind of sacrifice, but Bonhoeffer was clearly willing to make it because his allegiance to God and the way of God was first in his life, as it is called to be for any of us who claim Jesus as Lord, those of us who are called to reflect the faith of Abraham in our lives whatever that might look like.

Because that is precisely what is at stake for Abraham: his faith in this amazing God he is coming to know through God’s self-revelation. Perhaps because God has pulled off Isaac’s existence in the first place, Abraham now responds to this test before him in complete and utter trust.    

“Where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Isaac asks his father. “God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” Abraham does not try to take matters into his own hands, not by ignoring God, nor by arguing with God, nor by finding some way around God’s call, for example finding what Abraham himself conceives as a suitable replacement for the offering he is called to make.

Instead, Abraham listens to God and obeys God, trusting that - as God has provided in the past - God will again provide in order to further God’s purposes in Abraham’s life and in the life of the world. Abraham has come to know that in the most critical realities of life, God alone can provide - and God does provide. And Abraham has learned to place his allegiance to God above everything else.

It’s the choice Jesus is faced with in Gethsemane. In the face even of death, will he trust that his heavenly Father will be faithful to his promise and provide life? Like Jesus, we are faced with the same question: in the extreme realities of life and death, are we going to trust that God is faithful? And in the much smaller realities we face day in and day out?

It’s a decision that we must make in small and big ways each day we take breath. Just like our father Abraham. Just like our Lord Jesus Christ. Just like Mary his mother, and Joseph her spouse. Just like Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and all the martyrs before and after him.

Will we, like them all, trust that God is faithful to us, faithful to the word of promise that God has made to the world that God so dearly, dearly loves?

And will we, in turn, be faithful to the giver of our life? Will we live our lives in such a way that our trust in God is evident to others, most specifically to God?

Will we place our allegiance to God above everyone and everything else? Will we follow Jesus, or will we worship some other god?

There will be Stations of the Cross on Wednesdays through April 1st beginning at 5pm.

Reconciliation of a Penitent, or Private Confession, is always available in the Episcopal Church. There’s a saying among Anglicans about private confession: “All may, none must, some should.” Lent is, of course, a time when some people make a private confession. If you feel so called, please speak to Br. Jerry and he’ll make arrangements to sit down with you for this purpose.

The 2020 Episcopal Women’s Retreat will be held on April 17-19, 2020 at the St. Benedict Center in Schuyler.  For more information call 308-238-1111.

Join Redeemer Lutheran Church in Hooper, NE on March 7th for a wonderful time to connect with others and experience God’s steadfast, healing, and empowering love.  If interested, call the church office at 402-654-3835 to register by March 1st.

The pot luck supper and formation will be on Wednesday on March 18, 2020 at 5:30pm and ending approximately at 7pm.   We will start with the pot luck supper and end with Compline.  Discussion will be “Praying the Questions”. Please come and bring a friend.

Bishop Barker will be visiting the parish this Sunday, February 26th.

There will be Wednesday Morning Eucharist services at 10:30 am.

The office will be closed December 23rd through December 27th. 

·      ·       Sunday, December 29, 10:00 am, First Sunday after Christmas

There will be no Evening Prayer on Wednesday, December 4th.