Sunday Stretch: New Year's Eve/Christmas 1

Start off your week with a grounded take on Bible, prayer, the world, and your life ...

Hi Readers,

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate!

This is your usual reminder that the Christmas season of the Church begins, rather than ends, on Dec. 25. It runs through Epiphany, Jan. 6. So don’t put away those decorations yet.

And this year especially, I feel a need to give myself more time to dwell in the season of Christmas. It felt like such a whirlwind, what with our own personal travel out of town for a friend’s wedding early in December, and also with the church calendar meaning that Christmas Eve fell on the Fourth Sunday of Advent, compressing the weeks of the Advent season and Christmas services.

On a global level, War, death, destruction, and hate in the Holy Land means especially here in America that the Christmas message cannot be dominated by commercialization, materialism, and greed - as it so often is - and I’m not excusing myself of this trend when I note this.

On that note, while I typically take a holiday break on the Sunday after Christmas, I wanted to bring you just a short version of the Sunday Stretch for this New Year’s Eve. Most importantly, I want to give us all a reason to really meditate on these Bible texts, and to remember how powerful it is to take time to pray together.

Let’s get to the texts …

A photo from Christmas in Ukraine, where the country’s official date for Christmas was moved this year to Dec. 25, in a break with the Christian Nationalist Russian Orthodox Church

Photo by Sergei Supinsky, AFP via Getty Images

Bible Stories

Is. 61:10 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.

¹¹ 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.

The Vindication and Salvation of Zion

Is. 62:1    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.

² 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.

³ You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the LORD,

and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.

I think the key understanding for me in this text, today, is to remember that rejoicing is not gloating. Our rejoicing in God’s goodness is not meant to claim God’s goodness and grace for us alone. Instead it is a reminder, a light, in the midst of human violence and darkness, that Jesus is born.

Questions to Ponder

How do you read 62:1-2 in context of the war in the Holy Land? Are these verses meant for American Christians? Why or why not?

How does 62:3 re-contextualize and reclaim the language of royalty and wealth?

Why do you think the prophet returns again and again to the language of clothing and adornment?

Galatians 4:4-7

Gal. 4:4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, ⁵ in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. ⁶ And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our^a hearts, crying, “Abba!^b Father!” ⁷ So you are no longer a