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December 31, 2023

To Be

Cherisna Jean-Marie   |   Read Hebrews 1:1-12

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Lectionary Week
December 25–31, 2023
Scripture Overview

As we celebrate the birth of our Savior, we do so with cries of praise to God. Isaiah delights and rejoices in God, who will bring reconciliation to all nations. Psalm 148 declares that all of creation praises the Lord, for creation knows who formed and sustains it. Paul explains to the Galatians that God sent Jesus to redeem us, and as a result we may now call out to God as God’s children. In the Gospel reading, Luke sets the story of Jesus within the history of the Israelites. Both Simeon and Anna are devout people, filled with the Holy Spirit. They have been praying for God to send the Redeemer, and God gives them insight to recognize him as Jesus. Praise be to God for this indescribable gift!

Questions and Suggestions for Reflection

Read Isaiah 52:7-10. How are you spreading the message of peace in Christ? From whom have you heard that message?
Read Psalm 148. Pause and consider the joy of God’s coming salvation for the whole world.
Read Galatians 4:4-7. Consider your identity as a child of God through Christ. What joy does this identity bring you?
Read Luke 2:22-40. How can you, like Anna, joyously proclaim the freedom and redemption Christ brings all of humanity?

Respond by posting a prayer .

Hebrews 1:1-12

1 In the past, God spoke through the prophets to our ancestors in many times and many ways. 2 In these final days, though, he spoke to us through a Son. God made his Son the heir of everything and created the world through him. 3 The Son is the light of God’s glory and the imprint of God’s being. He maintains everything with his powerful message. After he carried out the cleansing of people from their sins, he sat down at the right side of the highest majesty. 4 And the Son became so much greater than the other messengers, such as angels, that he received a more important title than theirs. 5 After all, when did God ever say to any of the angels: You are my Son. Today I have become your Father? Or, even, I will be his Father, and he will be my Son? 6 But then, when he brought his firstborn into the world, he said, All of God’s angels must worship him. 7 He talks about the angels: He’s the one who uses the spirits for his messengers and who uses flames of fire as ministers. 8 But he says to his Son, God, your throne is forever and your kingdom’s scepter is a rod of justice. 9 You loved righteousness and hated lawless behavior. That is why God, your God, has anointed you with oil instead of your companions. 10 And he says, You, Lord, laid the earth’s foundations in the beginning, and the heavens are made by your hands. 11 They will pass away, but you remain. They will all wear out like old clothes. 12 You will fold them up like a coat. They will be changed like a person changes clothes, but you stay the same, and the years of your life won’t come to an end.

Unless otherwise indicated, scripture quotations are from the Common English Bible. Copyright © 2011 Common English Bible. Used by permission.

Today’s text is a fitting reading for the first Sunday after Christmas because it is one of the earliest statements we have about who Jesus is. It is Christology in the making. In particular, the first part says that Jesus is greater than the prophets, and the second part says...

Dear God, thank you for giving yourself to us in Jesus! Amen.


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