Fr Robert Hendrickson
“…at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.”
Dear Friends in Christ,
January 1 is the traditional day for celebrating the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus.
Traditionally it was called the Feast of the Circumcision but that, for some reason, fell out of favor. It was odd to come into churches and just see the word Circumcision on the hymn board if one were not in the know I suppose!
Of course, it is also New Year’s Day as the secular calendar makes another turn.
The Church marks the beginning of its new year on Advent I.
We begin with a season of preparation and anticipation as we await the birth of Christ. Advent is a time when we know what and who will come—and his name was known before he was born. His destiny had been foreordained.
One wonders what the effect of knowing one’s destiny beforehand would be. If we knew when our end would be then how would we live?
Boldly? Perhaps if we knew the end was far off.
Fully? I suspect as the end drew near we’d try and live with a sense of immediacy as we rushed to do the things we longed to do.
Anxiously? Maybe. But I suspect having the time to make peace with what was to come might calm one’s spirit over time.
But the not knowing is hard. The not knowing creates an unsettledness and a dis-ease.
But we, too, are given a name and a purpose and a hope and a sure and certain knowledge of our end.
Our end is in Christ. Once and for all Christ entered the world to free us from worrying about our end so that we might live more fully not for ourselves but for him. That full life looks like service, creativity, joy, hope, and faith.
That full life looks like what life might look like if we knew our end was coming.
What has come into the world though was life—the light of all people. This new year begins as it always has with the reminder of the name that is above every name. It begins with a reminder that no matter what the new year brings we have cause to celebrate, cause to live as if we know our end and our beginning are knit together in hope.
May this year be one of living boldly. May it be one of living fully. No matter what may come, no matter the length of the days we have remaining, it is the depth that will endure.
The depth of our faith, of our relationships, of our love will last. May this be a year of living deeply, too, with the sure and certain faith in our end which has been sealed in the one whose holy name we celebrate today as another chapter begins.
Yours in Christ’s Name,
—Fr Robert
