the last Friday of the year

                                      Psalm  20:7

     

     Some put 

     their trust 

     in chariots 

     and some 

     in horses, 

     but we will 

     call upon

     the Nameof the Lord our God.

Thursday Evening Prayer

                           The Revelation to John 1:4

Grace 

to you 

and 

peace 

from him who is, & was, & is to come.

Today is the Fifth Day of Christmas and an opportunity to appreciate (thanks to the Google Doodle!) Charles Macintosh, born this day n 1766 (d.1843) a Scottish chemist and the inventor of waterproof fabric.

  John 7:46

“Never

 has 

anyone 

spoken 

like this.”

How silently, how silently

The wondrous gift is given

So God imparts to human hearts

The blessings of His heaven.

No ear may hear His coming

But in this world of sin

Where meek souls will receive him still

The dear Christ enters in.

 O Little Town of Bethlehem By Phillips Brooks 

Evening Prayer of Holy Innocents Day

                         Antiphon on Psalm 19 for tonight 

  Their

  sound 

  has 

  gone   

  out  

  into 

   all 

    the lands, 
      and their message  
        to the ends of the earth.

  

The commemoration of the slaughter of the Holy Innocents of Bethlehem.

                                                              Matthew 18:7 

 “Woe to 

the world 

because of 

stumbling 

blocks!

Occasions 

for stumbling 

are bound to 

come, but 

woe to the one 

by whom the stumbling block comes!” 

Received, 

we pray, 

into the arms 

of your mercy 

all  innocent 

victims; and

 by your 

great might 

frustrate the designs of evil tyrants and establish 

your rule of justice, love, and peace  - Collect 

This year's commemoration of the slaughter of the Holy Innocents of Bethlehem by King Herod cannot be ignored. The reality of it, the darkness, the sheer weight of the darkness of it shoves aside all our self-satisfied and oh so well orchestrated liturgies and brocade vestments. (And remember that it was  boys under the age of 2, those  who could pose a threat to King Herod, who were murdered, since girls were of no consequence whatsoever. And how far have we come in this realm?)  And don’t bother telling me that there is 

no corroboration outside of Holy Scripture for this for reality goes well beyond mere fact.   

No, this this year the reality and the brutality of it speaks so loudly that I cannot  ignore it. Not with millions of refugees looking for asylum, not with hundreds and thousands of people dying, literally dying, to get out of word zones. Not with the bombing of hospitals and schools by the Syrian and Russian armies in Aleppo. And that  is only one spot. No, the blood of the Holy Innocents cry out this year from all over the globe, scream out, proclaiming not with words but by their death the darkness of the evil that  the Incarnate One has come to conquer. And weirdly enough He conquers it by dying as well.

The Feast of St John, Apostle and Evangelist as well The Third Day of Christmas.

                                                    The Benedictus

                                                         (BCP Pg 92) 

Blessed 

be the

God of 

Israel, 

for he 

has 

come 

to his 

people 

& set 

them 

free

Shed  upon us, O God, 

the brightness of your

light that you shone 

upon the faithful &

aged John on Patmos,

bringing vision & hope.  

Evening of S Stephen

                                           Acts 8:1

And 

Saul 

approved 

of their killing Stephen. 

The Feast of St Stephen, the second day of Christmas.

  Psalm 28:2

Hear the voice

of my prayer 

when I cry 

out to you, 

when I 

lift up 

my hands 

to your 

holy of holies. 

I find The Feast of Stephen both disconcerting and disorienting. I have spent 

all of Advent trying to keep away from jumping the gun into the Incarnation and here, on the second day of the Feast, we are already forced away from the warm and fuzzy birth narrative to the actual cost of discipleship 

in daily life. As the music director from my childhood would have said,  that's so we don't the em-PHA-sis on 

the wrong sylABLE. And to tell the truth, that feels 

really appropriate this year. (In fact, if you look at 

the Daily Office Lectionary in the BC,P there are 

no readings given until the 29th because they are all 

Holy Days. (Is your creche still up? I hope, so, but it's 

not a static thing...The angels and shepherds and sheep 

are outa there…  they’ve are gone about their business, 

as have we…   

Christmas night

                                John 3:34

 He 

 whom 

 God

 sent 

 speaks 

 the 

 words 

 of God 

 for he gives the Spirit without measure.  

I wonder what Christmas night was like for Mary and Jospeh. The Eve was angel-sung, but by the next night, tonight, the skies were silent again and the shepherds, those extraordinary, rough clad but gentle men who had appeared and gathered round them, who had been such welcome but unexpected company, had left and gone back to the hills and their sheep (Were they forever changed?) and Mary and Joseph were alone.

Christmas morning

 Christmas Antiphon 

 on Psalm 85

Truth 

has 

sprung 

up 

from 

the 

earth, 

and 

righteousness 

has looked 

down from heaven.

   A very Merry Christmas to you. 

Christmas eve

                                             Canticle 11 

          

           

         Arise,

         shine, 

         for 

         your 

         light 

         has 

         come,

         and the 

         glory of the Lord 

         has dawned upon you.

December 24th

                                 A morning oblation 

Beauti-

ful, O 

Love, 

thous are, 

print thine 

image 

on my heart. 

Fairer than the rising sun, 

fairer than the dawn begun;

Fairer, my Beloved, by far Than all 

thy earthly tenderness is thy mystical caress. 

O Antiphon at Evening Prayer on the 23rd

O Emmanuel, our King & Law- 

giver,

the 

De-

sire 

of 

all 

na-

tions and their salvation: 

Come & save us, O Lord, our God. 

                             turn your royal crown 

upside down & make it a manger for 

your newborn flesh to lie in. 

Friday, December 23rd

                                    Based on the Collect for 4 Advent

Purify our con-science, Almighty God, by your 

daily visitation, that your Son, 

at his coming, may find in us 

space to be born and room to grow. 

O Antiphon for the Evening of the 22nd

       O King 
       of the 
       nations 

       and their  

       Desire, 

       you are 

       the corner-

       stone that 

       makes us 

       both one: 

       Come and 

       save the creatures 

       whom you fashioned from clay.