Patrick Comerford
Next Sunday [27 December 2020] is the First Sunday of Christmas, and may also be marked as the Feast of Saint John the Evangelist.
As we prepare to ring out the old and ring in the new later next week, Sunday provides an opportunity to recall old memories, look forward to new beginnings, renew relationships, seek closures and set out on new ventures.
In the Church Calendar, we are not reaching the end of the Church Year – the Church Year begins with Advent. Instead, Sunday’s Gospel reading recalls another beginning with the Naming and Circumcision of Jesus.
The readings in the Revised Common Lectionary for the First Sunday of Christmas in Year B, as adapted for use in the Church of Ireland, are: Isaiah 61: 10 to 62: 3; Psalm 148; Galatians 4: 4-7; Luke 2: 15-21.
There is a link to these readings HERE.
The readings in the Revised Common Lectionary for celebrating Saint John the Evangelist, as adapted for use in the Church of Ireland, are: Exodus 33: 7-11a; Psalm 117; I John 1: 1-9; John 21: 19b-25.
There is a link to these readings HERE
This posting looks at both sets of readings, with ideas for reflections and sermons. In addition, this posting includes the Liturgical Resources for the First Sunday Christmas and the Feast of Saint John the Evangelist, including the Collects, Kyries, the Introductions to the Peace, Prefaces, Post-Communion Prayers and Blessings, and suggestions for appropriate hymns.
There are ideas here too for marking the end of the year, drawing on the Methodist ‘Covenant’ tradition.
The images are all available for use on parish service sheets and notices, which should name Patrick Comerford as the photographer.
PART 1: the First Sunday of Christmas:
Clearing up some confusion about the readings:
But first, let me tackle some questions that may arise from the confusion about the Gospel reading on Sunday morning. If there are Revised Common Lectionary books on the lectern in a church, then – depending on the edition – it may bring readers to the first choice of Gospel reading (Luke 2: 22-40) and not the Church of Ireland choice (Luke 2: 15-21).
However, both the table of readings in the Book of Common Prayer (Church of Ireland, 2004, p 29) and the annual booklet is compiled by the Revd Ken Rue on behalf of the General Synods Liturgical Advisory Committee provide only for the second RCL option, Luke 2: 15-21.
There is further confusion because the Church of Ireland Directory 2020 provided the Year A Lectionary readings for Sunday 27 December, rather than the Year B readings for the First Sunday of Christmas.
This confusion is compounded because the Gospel reading (Luke 2:15-21) is same Gospel reading for the following Friday (1 January 2021), the Naming and Circumcision of Jesus, and the same Gospel reading for the first Sunday of Christmas at the end of next year in Year C [26 December 2021], which may also be marked as Saint Stephen’s Day.
To make matters more complicated, the Book of Common Prayer, says the ‘Readings for The Epiphany may be preferred,’ although the Feast of the Epiphany does not occur for almost a fortnight, on Saturday 6 January 2021.
This morning’s notes cover the the only RCL option from Saint Luke’s Gospel in the Church of Ireland, Luke 2: 15-21, understanding that many of us may be depending on readers finding their way through the lectionary on the lectern, and many of us may also be confused by resource books that provide commentaries on Luke 2: 22-40 alone.
The reading Luke 2: 22-40 is also suggested for the Feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple [2 February]. This falls on a Tuesday in 2021, and the Book of Common Prayer (p. 31) suggests the Readings of the Presentation may be used on the Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany ‘if this is the nearest Sunday to 2 February.’
The Church of Ireland Directory 2021 offers the readings of the Presentation as an alternative on the Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany [31 January 2021], which is the nearest Sunday to 2 February.
Introducing the Readings:
The competition may be stiff next Sunday morning. Many people may feel they have had their share of church-going through Advent and Christmas, and may be thinking twice about getting up in time for a church service on Sunday morning.
Indeed, the label ‘Low Sunday’ given to the first Sunday after Easter could apply equally to the first Sunday after Christmas.
In addition, many people will have planned parties to mark New Year’s Eve on Sunday night, and so will have little intention of getting up early on Sunday morning. Others may know that the best place to be on Sunday night is going to be spending a night at home, safely tucked away from the crowds and drunk drivers.
So, how are we going to be both imaginative and relevant next Sunday morning in our use of the Lectionary readings and the available liturgical resources?
The English singer Des O’Connor, who died last month (14 November 2020), was born in Stepney to an Irish father and a Jewish mother. He joked that he was the first O’Connor to celebrate his bar mitzvah.
A boy’s bar mitzvah celebrates his adult undertaking of the responsibilities he has as a ‘child of the covenant.’
The concept of covenant is one of the most important concepts when it comes to understanding the Bible.
A covenant in the ancient world was similar to what we in the modern world would call a contract or treaty. But at the heart of the difference between a covenant and a contract are the concepts of love and relationship. A contract is between two or more parties who retain their separate identities; a covenant aspires in literally a flesh-and-blood way to the very revolutionary concept that the two parties become one.
In the Bible, a covenant establishes the basis of a relationship, conditions for that relationship, promises in the relationship and the consequences if these are violated.
One of the most familiar examples of a covenant for us is marriage. A good marriage is less about contract and all about love and relationship. In this way, the Prophet Isaiah, in the first reading, compares the Biblical covenant with a wedding, and the fruit of this wedding between God and the People is a family with a new name, and the children of this family become a light to ‘all the nations’ (see Isaiah 61: 11).
The Biblical covenants provide the framework for holding together the whole biblical story, and they provide the keys to understanding the Bible. As this story unfolds, we see God makes covenants, keeps covenants and fulfils covenants. These are the ways God unfolds his redemptive plan.
Isaiah 61: 10 to 62: 3:
This reading is from the part of the Book of Isaiah often known as Third Isaiah (Chapters 55-66). It was written when many young people had been forced into exile in Babylon. They were making their home in an alien land, struggling to maintain their customs and memories, and longing for their ancestral home. In all this, they continued to hope.
This reading shows God as both the one who has fashioned the ‘garments of salvation’ and the gardener who has planted for ‘righteousness and praise.’ It is a passage about transformation with the writer eagerly anticipating what is to come: salvation, hope, love and the fulfilment of God’s promise.
The writer looks backward and forward: back to Israel’s history with God, and forward to salvation in Christ. It speaks clearly at the turning of the year, celebrating God’s desire to be with God’s people in a new way. It is a promise of reconciliation and steadfast love, a promise of hope.
Psalm 148:
Psalm 148 is the psalm on this Sunday in all three cycles of lectionary readings. While the Old Testament, Epistle and Gospel readings change each year, the Psalm remains the same, remains constant.
This psalm, like all five ‘hallelujah’ closing or final psalms, exhorts us to praise the Lord. In Psalm 148, the heavens – including the Sun and Moon – and all on Earth are invited to praise God.
The heavens shall praise God for creating them. All created things – from the lowest in the form of sea monsters, to the highest, in the form of humans – shall praise God. The wind or ruah – which could also mean the Spirit or God’s will – does God’s will.
Whatever our experiences of the old year have been, whatever our expectations of the new year may be, the praise of God remains our shared, common, constant call, introducing us to the prospect of covenant with God and with one another.
Galatians 4: 4-7:
Over and over again, we have probably heard throughout Christmas the old adage that Christmas is about children. In the aftermath of the Christmas celebrations, it is worth noting that for Saint Paul Christmas means that we are no longer slaves but the children of God and the heirs of God’s kingdom.
This reading on the last Sunday of the year is a reminder, as we look back and look forward, that the reality of God’s love embraces our past and our future, and this love will not let us go in the present.
This passage is often known as ‘the theological centre’ of Saint Paul’s Letter to the Galatians. He shares the good news that God has sent his son to save us from slavery and to adopt us as his children.
In the Old Testament, the name of God is used to bless God’s people. The Birkat Kohanim or Priestly Benediction is the blessing that God commands Aaron and his children to use to bless the children of Israel with his name (Numbers 6: 23–27):
יְבָרֶכְךָ יהוה, וְיִשְׁמְרֶךָ
יָאֵר יהוה פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ, וִיחֻנֶּךָּ
יִשָּׂא יהוה פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ, וְיָשֵׂם לְךָ שָׁלוֹם
May the Lord bless you and keep thee;
May the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you;
May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.
What is the Name of God? The Name of God is written as the Tetragrammaton, the four letters, whose pronunciation has long been a topic of debate. But one of the names of God that Christ teaches us is ‘Father.’ When his disciples asked him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray’ (Luke 11: 1), he teaches what we call the Lord’s Prayer: ‘Our Father …’ In this reading, Saint Paul reminds us, ‘And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into your heats, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ (Galatians 4: 6).
The time date has come, we have reached the ‘fullness of time,’ in which God sent his Son, born a woman, and born a Jew. This gives us confidence that we too can be accepted as God’s adopted children. And because we are God’s children, the Spirit empowers us to call God ‘Abba! Father!’ – the very same phrase used by Christ in the Lord’s Prayer (Luke 11: 1) and in the Garden of Gethsemane (see Mark 14: 36).
We are no longer slaves; rather, because of the birth of Christ, we are God’s children, incorporated into the covenant, and made heirs to the kingdom of God.
Luke 2: 15-21:
This reading tells of the Naming and Circumcision of Jesus. In one short, closing verse it tells of three events:
1, firstly, the naming of the Christ Child;
2, secondly, the sign of the covenant between God and Abraham ‘and his children for ever,’ thus Christ’s keeping of the Law;
3, thirdly, traditionally the first shedding of Christ’s blood.
The most significant of these events in the Gospels is the name itself. The name Jesus means ‘Yahweh saves’ and so is linked to the question asked by Moses of God: ‘What is your name?’ ‘I am who I am,’ was the reply, thus the significance of Christ’s words: ‘Before Abraham was, I am,’ or the ‘I AM’ sayings in the Fourth Gospel.
In this Gospel reading, Saint Luke recalls the Circumcision and Naming of Christ in a short, terse summary account in one, single verse: ‘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’ (Luke 2: 21).
The circumcision of Christ has been a common subject in Christian art since the 10th century. A popular 14th century work, the Golden Legend, explains the Circumcision as the first time the Blood of Christ is shed, and thus the beginning of the process of the redemption, and a demonstration too that Christ is fully human.
Saint Luke does not say where the Christ Child was circumcised, although artists – Rembrandt in particular –often place the ritual in the Temple, linking the Circumcision and the Presentation, so that Christ’s suffering begins and ends in Jerusalem.
According to the Torah, every male child shall be circumcised when he is eight days old. The covenant of circumcision was given by God to Abraham as a ‘token’ ‘in the flesh’ of God’s covenant with him (Genesis 17: 10-14). In Hebrew, circumcision is called בְּרִית מִילָה, brit milah – ‘covenant of circumcision’ – or simply brit.
Jesus is circumcised so he begins life living and fulfilling the Covenant. But it also shows clearly that he is fully human as well as fully God – God does not appear to take on our human appearance, but is actually born a human. God has made a covenant with humans; now in our human form, with all its frailty and all its weakness, God takes on our part of the Covenant too.
A covenant is a sign of God’s grace. God does not make a covenant with us because we deserve it, but because God loves us first.
Names are important starting points in covenant stories: Abram becomes Abraham, Jacob becomes Israel, Saul becomes Paul, and so on.
In Jewish tradition, a boy child is given a Hebrew name when he is circumcised. When the Christ Child is circumcised, he is formally given the name Jesus (‘God saves’), the name given to him through the message of the angel. Naming the child signifies not only a new start in the Covenant story, but that this too is a story that tells us that God saves.
In this story, we are at the beginning of redemption, the beginning of the New Covenant, the beginning of the New Year. As TS Eliot opens and closes ‘East Coker’:
In my beginning is my end
… In my end is my beginning
An alternative focus for a Sunday sermon:
The Gospel account of the naming and circumcision of Jesus is not only a reminder of the incarnation, but is very specific in its detail: Jesus is born a Jew, and on the eighth day receives an ineradicable mark of this identity, which is both religious and ethnic. The prayers at circumcision include a prayer that the child may grow to instruct ‘his children and posterity to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is just and right’ (see Genesis 18: 19).
We are coming to the end of a year that marked the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II and the end of the Holocaust. Yet, throughout this year, there have been disturbing reports of the rise in anti-Semitism, across Europe and in the US.
According to a survey by the non-partisan American Jewish Committee this year (2020), 88 per cent of American Jews believe anti-Semitism is a problem in the US, and 82 per cent think it has increased over the past five years.
In the US today, there is ‘a normalisation of hatred,’ according to Deborah Lipstadt, a professor of modern Jewish history and Holocaust studies at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. She notes that although there is anti-Semitism on the left and the right, the far right has been the most open in expressing it, and has ‘done the most damage in recent years.’
Vlad Khaykin of the Anti-Defamation League, points to QAnon and the ‘normalisation’ in political debates of terms like ‘globalist’ and the use of Jewish philanthropists like George Soros as scapegoats, and how this ‘makes for a dangerous resurgence of political anti-Semitism.’
Anti-Semitism knows no one party or ideology. But the AJC survey shows that 75 per cent of Jews in the US feel that the extreme right represents a very or moderately serious threat, whereas 32 per cent said the same of the extreme left.
According to the ADL, more anti-Semitic incidents were recorded last year (2019) than ever before in the US. American Jews feel they are increasingly being targeted online because they are Jews. On 27 October 2018, 11 Jewish people were shot dead at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Hillel, an international Jewish student organisation, reported that anti-Semitic incidents reached an all-time high of 178 during the 2019-2020 academic year at 550 colleges and universities in North America, while the Anti-Defamation League says anti-Semitism on college campuses has been rising significantly since 2016.
The rift in the Labour Party in Britain is just one dimension to the many reports of the rise in anti-Semitism in Britain. Online anti-Semitic hate incidents are on the rise there, with, for example, conspiracy theories that accuse Jews of creating and spreading Covid-19 circulating online. The Community Security Trust (CST) recorded 789 anti-Semitic incidents across the UK from January to June 2020, with the majority of incidents in cities with the largest Jewish populations: London and Greater Manchester.
In the same six-month period, online anti-Semitic incidents rose 4% in the UK from January to June, when the pandemic and lockdown measures fostered an ‘explosion of antisemitic discourses.’
The head of Germany’s domestic security agency has warned that Jews in Germany are facing increasing levels of anti-Semitism. Similar reports can be heard across Europe.
Sunday’s Gospel reference to the naming and circumcision not only reminds us Jesus is born a Jew, but offers an opportunity at the end of this year’s 75th anniversary to remind ourselves of the horrors of the Holocaust and the obligation to take a firm stance against anti-Semitism, racism and religious prejudice, so that future generations may grow to instruct their ‘children and posterity to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is just and right’ (see Genesis 18: 19).
Luke 2: 15-21 (NRSVA):
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.
Liturgical resources Part 1, Christmas I:
Liturgical Colour: White or Gold
Penitential Kyries:
Lord God, mighty God,
you are the creator of the world.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord Jesus, Son of God and Son of Mary,
you are the Prince of Peace.
Christ, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Holy Spirit,
by your power the Word was made flesh
and came to dwell among us.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
The Collect of the Day:
Almighty God,
who wonderfully created us in your own image
and yet more wonderfully restored us
through your Son Jesus Christ:
Grant that, as he came to share in our humanity,
so we may share the life of his divinity;
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Introduction to the Peace:
Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given,
and his name shall be called the Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9: 6)
Preface:
You have given Jesus Christ your only Son
to be born of the Virgin Mary,
and through him you have given us power
to become the children of God:
The Post-Communion Prayer:
Heavenly Father,
you have refreshed us with this heavenly sacrament.
As your Son came to live among us,
grant us grace to live our lives,
united in love and obedience,
as those who long to live with him in heaven;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Blessing:
Christ, who by his incarnation gathered into one
all things earthly and heavenly,
fill you with his joy and peace:
I also found this blessing in Common Order (the Church of Scotland):
May the joy of the angels,
The humility of the shepherds,
And the peace of the Christ-Child
Be God’s gift to you and to all people
This Christmas and always.
And the blessing of God Almighty,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
Be with you now and for evermore. Amen.
Suggested Hymns:
Isaiah 61: 10 to 62: 3:
218, And can it be that I should gain
418, Here, O my Lord, I see thee face to face
39, For the fruits of his creation
671, Jesus, thy blood and righteousness
638, O for a heart to praise my God
Psalm 148:
682, All created things, bless the Lord
24, All creatures of our God and King
683, All people that on earth do dwell
350, For the beauty of the earth
711, All you heavens, bless the Lord (Surrexit Christus)
705, New songs of celebration render
708, O praise ye the Lord! Praise him in the height
366, Praise, my soul, the King of heaven
709, Praise the Lord! You heavens, adore him
Galatians 4: 4-7:
558, Abba Father, let me be
119, Come, thou long–expected Jesus
241, Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle (verses 1, 2, 5)
185, Virgin–born, we bow before thee
Luke 2: 15-21:
250, All hail the power of Jesu’s name
151, Child in the manger
152, Come and join the celebration
92, How sweet the name of Jesus sounds
163, Infant holy, infant lowly
94, In the name of Jesus
98, Jesus! Name of wondrous love!
99, Jesus, the name high over all
170, Love came down at Christmas
102, Name of all majesty
174, O little town of Bethlehem
179, See amid the winter’s snow
180, Shepherds came, their praises bringing (omit verse 2)
182, Silent night, holy night
PART 2: Saint John the Evangelist:
Introducing the Readings:
The Feast Day of Saint John the Evangelist, or Saint John the Divine, is an alternative to marking the First Sunday of Christmas on Sunday 27 December 2020.
It seems appropriate in the days immediately after Christmas that we should be jolted out of our comforts, in case we begin to atrophy, and to be reminded of what the great German martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer called the ‘Cost of Discipleship.’
Following Christ is not all about Christmas shopping, feasts, decorations and falling asleep in front of the television – comforting, enjoyable and pleasant as they are, particularly in family settings.
The previous day is the feast of Saint Stephen [Saturday 26 December 2020], often referred to as the first Christian martyr; the following day is the feast of the Holy Innocents [Monday 28 December 2020], the first – albeit unwitting – martyrs according to Saint Matthew’s Gospel.
In The Ariel Poems, TS Eliot puts wise words into the mouth of the Wise Men who recalls the cold coming of it experienced in the ‘Journey of the Magi.’ There he makes the connection between birth and death:
All this was a long time ago, I remember,
And I would do it again, but set down
This set down
This: were we led all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly,
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death,
But had thought they were different; this Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death.
Between those two commemorations of martyrdom, we find ourselves on this Sunday [27 December 2020] marking the Feast of Saint John the Evangelist.
Exodus 33: 7-11a:
This first reading recalls how God spoke to Moses face-to-face at the entrance to the tent, as ‘one speaks to a friend.’
This provides an interesting opportunity to introduce the friendship and conversation between Jesus and Saint John the Evangelist, the ‘Beloved Disciple.’
Psalm 117:
Psalm 117, known as Laudate Dominum, consists of only two verses, and is the shortest psalm and also the shortest chapter in the Bible.
In Psalm 117, the Gentiles, all nations and peoples, are invited to join in praise of God. God’s love is steadfast and endures for ever. In the New Testament, verse 1 is quoted in Romans 15: 11.
I John 1: 1-9:
I am constantly overwhelmed and in awe of the emphasis on love and light throughout the Johannine letters. That emphasis on love, which informs the story of Saint John’s last days, is a constant theme throughout the first of the Johannine letters (I John 1: 1-9).
I was once doing Sunday duty during a vacancy in a parish that has three churches. A student asked me at the time how many sermons I preached. I replied: ‘Three.’
‘You preach three sermons every Sunday?’ she asked with an air of incredulity.
I explained: ‘I preach three sermons all the time. The first is “Love God,” the second is “Love one another,” and the third, in case someone missed the first and second sermons, is “Love God and love one another”.’
That is the heart of the Christmas story, that is the heart of the Gospel, that is heart of the Johannine writings, and that, to put it simply, is why we celebrate Saint John in the days immediately after Christmas.
‘Little children, love one another.’
John 21: 19b-25:
At first, this too may not seem to be an appropriate feastday to celebrate in the days immediately after Christmas. Even chronologically it creates difficulties for tradition says Saint John was the last of the disciples to die, making his death the one that is separated most in terms of length of time from the birth of Christ.
In art, Saint John the Evangelist is frequently represented as an Eagle, symbolising the heights to which he rises in the first chapter of his Gospel.
For Saint John, there is no annunciation, no nativity, no crib in Bethlehem, no shepherds or wise men, no little stories to allow us to be sentimental and to be amused. He is sharp, direct and gets to the point: ‘In the beginning …’
But the Prologue to Saint John’s Gospel is one of the traditional readings on Christmas Day, so many of us immediately associate his writings with this time of the year.
Saint John the Evangelist is unnamed in the Fourth Gospel. Yet tradition identifies him with the John who is:
● one of the three at the Transfiguration
● one of the disciples sent to prepare a place for the Last Supper
● one of the three present in the Garden of Gethsemane
● the only disciple present at the Crucifixion
● the disciple to whom Christ entrusts his mother from the Cross
● the first disciple to arrive at Christ’s tomb after the Resurrection
● the disciple who first recognises Christ standing on the lake shore following the Resurrection
The Beloved Disciple, alone among the Twelve, remains with Christ at the foot of the Cross with the Mother of Christ and the women and he is asked by the dying Christ to take Mary into his care (John 19: 25-27). After Mary Magdalene’s report of the Resurrection, Peter and the ‘other disciple’ are the first to go to the grave, and the ‘other disciple’ is the first to believe that Christ is truly risen (John 20: 2-10).
When the Risen Christ appears at the Lake of Genesareth, ‘that disciple whom Jesus loved’ is the first of the seven disciples present who recognises Christ standing on the shore (John 21: 7).
Saint Paul names Saint John as one of the pillars of the Church in Jerusalem (see Galatians 2: 9). Later, tradition says, he takes over the position of leadership that Saint Paul once had in the Church in Ephesus and he is said to have lived there and to have been buried there.
According to a tradition mentioned by Saint Jerome, in the second general persecution, in the year 95, Saint John was arrested and sent to Rome, where he was thrown into a vat or cauldron of boiling oil but miraculously was preserved from death.
According to ancient tradition, during the reign of the Emperor Domitian, Saint John was once given a cup of poisoned wine, but he blessed the cup and the poison rose out of the cup in the form of a serpent. Saint John then drank the wine with no ill effect. A chalice with a serpent signifying the powerless poison has become one of his symbols.
Domitian then banished Saint John to the isle of Patmos. It was there in the year 96 he had those heavenly visions recorded in the Book of Revelation. After the death of Domitian, it is said, he returned to Ephesus in the year 97, and there tradition says he wrote his gospel about the year 98. He is also identified with the author of the three Johannine letters.
The tradition of the Church says Saint John lived to old age in Ephesus. Jerome, in his commentary on Chapter 6 of the Epistle to the Galatians (Jerome, Comm. in ep. ad. Gal., 6, 10), tells the well-loved story that Saint John continued preaching in Ephesus even when he was in his 90s.
He was so enfeebled with old age that the people carried him into the Church in Ephesus on a stretcher. When he was no longer able to preach or deliver a long discourse, his custom was to lean up on one elbow on each occasion and to say simply: ‘Little children, love one another.’ This continued on, even when the ageing John was on his deathbed.
Then he would lie back down and his friends would carry him back out. Every week in Ephesus, the same thing happened, again and again. And every week it was the same short sermon, exactly the same message: ‘Little children, love one another.’
One day, the story goes, someone asked him about it: ‘John, why is it that every week you say exactly the same thing, “little children, love one another”?’ And John replied: ‘Because it is enough.’ If you want to know the basics of living as a Christian, there it is in a nutshell. All you need to know is. ‘Little children, love one another.’
According to church tradition recorded by the early church historian Eusebius, Saint John died in peace at Ephesus, in the third year of Trajan, that is, the year 100, when he was about 94 years old. According to Saint Epiphanius, he was buried on a mountain outside the town. The Basilica of Saint John the Theologian gave the later name of Ayasuluk to the hill above the town of Selçuk, beside Ephesus.
John 21: 19b-25 (NRSVA):
19 After this he [Jesus] said to him, ‘Follow me.’
20 Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them; he was the one who had reclined next to Jesus at the supper and had said, ‘Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?’ 21 When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, ‘Lord, what about him?’ 22 Jesus said to him, ‘If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? Follow me!’ 23 So the rumour spread in the community that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but, ‘If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?’
24 This is the disciple who is testifying to these things and has written them, and we know that his testimony is true. 25 But there are also many other things that Jesus did; if every one of them were written down, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.
Liturgical resources Part 2 (Saint John the Evangelist):
Liturgical Colour: White
Penitential Kyries:
Lord, you are gracious and compassionate.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
You are loving to all,
and your mercy is over all creation.
Christ, have mercy
Christ, have mercy.
Your faithful servants bless your name, and speak of the glory of your kingdom.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
The Collect of the Day:
Merciful Lord,
cast your bright beams of light upon the Church;
that, being enlightened by the teaching
of your blessed apostle and evangelist Saint John,
we may so walk in the light of your truth
that we may at last attain to the light of everlasting life
through Jesus Christ your incarnate Son our Lord.
Introduction to the Peace:
We are fellow-citizens with the saints
and of the household of God,
through Christ our Lord,
who came and preached peace to those who were far off
and those who were near. (Ephesians 2: 19, 17)
Preface:
In the saints,
you have given us an example of godly living,
that, rejoicing in their fellowship,
we may run with perseverance the race that is set before us,
and with them receive the unfading crown of glory.
The Post-Communion Prayer:
Grant, O Lord, we pray,
that the Word made flesh proclaimed by your apostle John
may ever abide and live within us;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Blessing:
God give you grace
to share the inheritance of Saint John the Evangelist and of his saints in glory:
Suggested Hymns:
Exodus 33: 7-11a:
647, Guide me, O thou great Jehovah
Psalm 117:
351, From all that dwells below the skies
359, Laudate Dominum
Hebrews 2: 10-18:
212, Jesus, grant me this, I pray
652, Lead us, heavenly Father, lead us
635, Lord, be my guardian and my guide
108, Praise to the Holiest in the height
114, Thou didst leave thy throne and thy kingly crews
627, What a friend we have in Jesus
I John 1: 1-9:
613, Eternal light, shine in my heart
418, Here, o my Lord, I see thee face to face
553, Jesu, love of my soul
587, Just as I am, without one plea
429, Lord Jesus Christ, you have come to us
81, Lord, for the years your love has kept and guided us
104, O for a thousand tongues to sing
557, Rock of ages, cleft for me
490, The Spirit lives to set us free
John 21: 19b-25:
460, For all the saints in glory, for all your saints at rest (verses 1, 2u, 3)
226, It is a thing most wonderful
605, Will you come and follow me
Also suitable:
146, A great and mighty wonder
459, For all the saints, who from their labour rest
461, For all thy saints, O Lord
588, Light of the minds that know him
172, O come, all you faithful (Adeste, fideles (verses 1, 2, 6, 7b)
471, Rejoice in God's saints, today and all days!
PART 3: Another creative idea:
In previous years, Limerick’s ‘New Year’s Eve Extravaganza’ promised to be a tremendous treat as dramatic illuminations are projected onto King John’s Castle, followed by a spectacular fireworks display, when the skies of Limerick will transform into an explosion of colour. In the past, in pre-Covid days, families and people gathering in Limerick City for New Year’s Eve celebrations were promised ‘a dazzling end to’ the year, with musical entertainment while the walls of King John’s Castle came alive with specially commissioned video projections to animate the façade of the castle, turning it into a giant tapestry.
The illuminations at King John’s Castle were staged thanks to collaboration between Shannon Heritage and the Limerick School of Art and Design LIT, with grant funding and support from Limerick City and County Council.
Despite the restrictions we have all lived with in the past year, this is a good time to look back and forward with eyes of faith in company with one another and with God. The beginning of redemption, the beginning of the New Covenant, the beginning of the New Year … once again, as TS Eliot opens and closes ‘East Coker’:
In my beginning is my end
… In my end is my beginning
In our Gospel reading for the First Sunday of Christmas, the Child Jesus becomes a Child of the Covenant. In the Epistle reading, we are reminded that in Christ each of us becomes a Child of the Covenant.
Methodists have a long tradition of making and renewing their covenant with God at the New Year. John Wesley’s ‘Covenant Prayer’ prayer is normally said by Methodists at New Year’s Eve services.
A modern version of this prayer prays:
I am no longer my own, but yours.
Use me as you choose;
rank me alongside whoever you chose;
put me to doing, put me to suffering;
let me be employed for you, or laid aside for you,
raised up for you or brought down low for you.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
With my whole heart I freely choose to yield
all things to your ordering and approval.
So now, O glorious and blessed God,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
you art mine, and I am yours.
So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth,
let it be ratified in heaven. Amen.
Covenant hymns:
104, O for a thousand tongues to sing
247, When I survey the wondrous cross
537, O God, our help in ages past
601, Teach me, my God and King
604, We turn to Christ anew
605, Will you come and follow me
606, As the deer pants for the water
636, May the mind of Christ my saviour
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
Material from the Book of Common Prayer is copyright © 2004, Representative Body of the Church of Ireland.
The hymn suggestions are provided in Sing to the Word (2000), edited by Bishop Edward Darling. The hymn numbers refer to the Church of Ireland’s Church Hymnal (5th edition, Oxford: OUP, 2000).
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