Friday, December 30, 2016

What Is in a Name? Reflections on Luke 2.15-22 (The Naming of Jesus, 1 January 2017)

What Is in a Name?
Reflections on Luke 2.15-22

The Naming of Jesus
1 January 2017

Saint Faith’s Anglican Church
Vancouver BC
            2.15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.”  16 So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger.  17 When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them.  19 But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart.  20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

            21 After eight days had passed, it was time to circumcise the child; and he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

            22 When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord . . . .

         What is in a name?  From time to time an advertisement will pop up on my Facebook page from ‘Ancestry.com’, a genealogical website that my father used to do research on our family history.  Often the headline is something along the lines of ‘Find out what your name means’. 

         Because of my father’s research I know that there is some controversy about the origin of my surname.  On the one side of the argument is that ‘Leggett’ means someone who held some sort of judicial position in early medieval England.  On the other side of the argument is that ‘Leggett’ is the name given to an instrument used in thatching roofs.  From my father’s research I’m pretty clear on which side of the argument I fall.  My father’s kin in Kent were land-owning knights who exercised certain judicial functions among their neighbours.

         My father’s interest in the family was not some romantic search to link us to some wealthy family and thus make some sort of claim on an estate.  He was interested in the stories themselves.  Our family, like most families, has a complicated web of successes and failures, secrets and conflicts.  In exploring the past my father was, in very real sense, trying to understand how we, as a family, came to be who we are.

         For me my father’s search for our family’s story gives me not only a sense of who I am as a descendant of Welsh, Anglo-Saxon and Norman ancestors, it gives me a sense of obligation.  My obligation is to work towards a future in which our name is remembered as a blessing, a phrase my Jewish friends use when they speak of someone who has died:  May her name be remembered as a blessing.

         Today we celebrate the naming of Jesus, the Jewish ritual in which he is given the name Yehoshuah which means the Lord saves.  It is a name that connects him to the history of God’s covenant with Israel and that promises a future in which that covenant will be expanded to include all humanity.  It reminds us that the Holy One of Israel, whose true name describes what God has done, is doing and will do, is at work in this child in ways which we cannot imagine.  With this name Yehoshua becomes part of a story reaching back to creation and assumes an obligation to write a new chapter in that story.

         But more importantly, it is a day for us to remember that we have been baptized into the name of Jesus.  Just as we celebrate the incarnation of the Word of God into our time and space, we celebrate our incarnation as bearers of the Word into all the times and spaces our lives inhabit.  We have become participants in the story begun in creation and renewed in Yehoshua.  In our baptism we take on the obligation to write our own chapters in this story, a story that theologians call ‘salvation history’.

         Salvation, God’s initiative to restore right relationships between God and humanity, between human beings and creation, between ourselves and our sisters and brothers, is an already but not yet.  In Yehoshua, the Lord saves us and all humanity.  But in the ministry entrusted to us the Lord continues to save until that day when all is fulfilled.  Each year we celebrate the incarnation in order to remember that we who bear the name are the continuing incarnation.  One of the most ancient prayers still offered at this time of the year puts it well:

Almighty God,
you wonderfully created
and yet more wonderfully restored our human nature.
May we share the divine life of your Son Jesus Christ,
who humbled himself to share our humanity,
and now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

         What is in a name?  In our name we find both our past and our future.  In our name we find identity and obligation.  Joseph and Mary knew this when they gave their first-born son the name Yehoshua.  In this name you and I know who we are meant to be and what we are meant to do.  Not a bad way to begin the new year, I think, with the only resolution worth making:  Becoming who we truly are, the living embodiment of the Lord who saves.


         

Monday, December 26, 2016

An Ordo for the Naming of Jesus (1 January 2017)

The Naming of Jesus
i January 2017

The Gathering of the Community

Processional Hymn

‘Angels from the Realms of Glory’  Common Praise #143

Introductory Responses

Blessed are you, Son of Mary;
born a child, you shared our humanity.
Let heaven and earth shout their praise.

With all the voices of heaven
we celebrate the coming of our Saviour.
Let heaven and earth shout their praise.

With all the creatures on earth
we sing and dance at Christ’s birth.
Praise and honour and glory to you, O Lord most high.

Hymn of Praise

Gloria in excelsis [i]

Collect

Let us pray.

O God of ancient blessing,
your servant Mary pondered in her heart
the treasured words spoken about her Son,
our Saviour Jesus Christ.
Prepare our hearts to receive his Spirit,
so that our tongues may confess him Lord,
who with you and the Spirit lives and reigns,
now and for ever.  Amen. [ii]

The Proclamation of the Word

First Reading

A Reading from Numbers (6.22-27).

            6.22 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:  23 Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the Israelites:  You shall say to them,

            24 The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; 26 the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.

            27 So they shall put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.

Hear what the Spirit is saying to the church.
Thanks be to God.

The Gradual Hymn

‘While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks’  Common Praise #136

The Gospel

The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke (2.15-21).
Glory to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

            2.15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.”  16 So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger.  17 When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them.  19 But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart.  20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

            21 After eight days had passed, it was time to circumcise the child; and he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

The Gospel of Christ.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

The Sermon

An Affirmation of Faith

Let us affirm our faith.

We believe
that Christ is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn of all creation;
that in Christ all things in heaven and earth were created,
things visible and invisible,
that Christ himself is before all things,
and in him all things hold together;
that Christ is the head of the body, the church,
for in Christ the fullness of God was pleased to dwell;
that through Christ all things, whether on earth or in heaven,
have been reconciled to God.

This is our faith and in this faith we shall live.  Amen. [iii]

The Prayers of the Community

Intercessions, Petitions and Thanksgivings

The Exchange of the Peace

May the peace of Christ be always with you.
And also with you.

The Holy Communion

The Offertory Hymn

‘See Amid the Winter’s Snow’  Common Praise #148

Prayer over the Gifts

Let us pray.

Good and loving God,
we rejoice in the birth of Jesus,
who came among the poor
to bring the riches of your grace.
As you have blessed us with your gifts,
let them be a blessing for others.
With the trees of the field,
with all earth and heaven,
we shout for joy at the coming of your Son,
Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen. [iv]

Thanksgiving at the Table

The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.

It is indeed right, our duty and our joy,
that we should at all times and in all places give thanks and praise to you,
almighty and merciful God, through our Saviour Jesus Christ. 
In the wonder and mystery of the Word made flesh
you have opened the eyes of faith to a new and radiant vision of your glory,
so that beholding the God made visible,
we may be drawn to love the God whom we cannot see. 
And so, with all the choirs of angels,
with the church on earth and the hosts of heaven,
we praise your name and join their unending hymn:

Holy, holy, holy Lord,
God of power and might,
heaven and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest. [v]

Holy One, the beginning and the end, the giver of life:
Blessed are you for the birth of creation.
Blessed are you in the darkness and in the light.
Blessed are you for your promise to your people.
Blessed are you for the prophets’ hopes and dreams.
Blessed are you for Mary’s openness to your will.
Blessed are you for your Son, Jesus, the Word made flesh.

In the night in which he was betrayed,
our Lord Jesus took bread, and gave thanks;
broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying:
Take and eat; this is my body given for you.
Do this for the remembrance of me.

Again, after supper, he took the cup, gave thanks,
and gave it for all to drink, saying:
This cup is the new covenant in my blood,
shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sin.
Do this for the remembrance of me.

Let us proclaim the mystery of faith:
Christ has died.
Christ is risen.
Christ will come again.

With this bread and cup we remember
your Word dwelling among us, full of grace and truth.
We remember our new birth in his death and resurrection.
We look with hope for his coming.
Come, Lord Jesus.

Holy God, we long for your Spirit.
Come among us.  Bless this meal.
May your Word take flesh in us.
Awaken your people.  Fill us with your light.
Bring the gift of peace on earth.
Come, Holy Spirit.

All praise and glory are yours, Holy One of Israel,
Word of God incarnate, Power of the Most High,
one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

The Lord’s Prayer

As our Saviour taught us, let us pray,
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Save us from the time of trial,
and deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power,
and the glory are yours,
now and for ever.  Amen. [vi]

The Breaking of the Bread

We break the bread of life,
and that life is the light of the world
God here among us,
light in the midst of us,
bring us to light and life.

The gifts of God for the people of God.
Thanks be to God.

The Communion

Communion Hymn

‘Love Came Down at Christmas’  Common Praise #131

The Sending Forth of the Community

Prayer after Communion

Let us pray.

Radiant God,
with our eyes we have seen your salvation,
and in this meal we have feasted on your grace.
May your Word take flesh in us,
so that we may be your holy people,
revealing your glory made known to us
in Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord.  Amen.

Glory to God,
whose power, working in us,
can do infinitely more
than we can ask or imagine.
Glory to God from generation to generation,
in the Church and in Christ Jesus,
for ever and ever.  Amen. [vii]

Closing Hymn

‘Good Christians All, Rejoice’  Common Praise #153

Dismissal

Go forth in love to proclaim the birth of Christ.
Thanks be to God.




[i] Lang Carol Mass.

[ii] The Liturgy Task Force, ‘Trial Use Collects for Years A, B & C and Seasonal Prayers over the Gifts and after Communion,’ (May 2016), 10.

[iii] Colossians 1.15-20 as arranged by the Rev’d Dr R. G. Leggett.

[iv] The Liturgy Task Force, ‘Trial Use Collects for Years A, B & C and Seasonal Prayers over the Gifts and after Communion,’ (May 2016), 158.

[v] Lang Carol Mass.

[vi] Common Praise #744.

[vii] The Liturgy Task Force, ‘Trial Use Collects for Years A, B & C and Seasonal Prayers over the Gifts and after Communion,’ (May 2016), 161.