5 Days Until - Countdown to Jubilee

FOR TODAY Read the Collect for the Feast of The Holy Name: Eternal Father, you gave to your incarnate Son the holy name of Jesus to be the sign of our salvation: Plant in every heart, we pray, the love of him who is the Savior of the world, our Lord Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen. The Feast of The Holy Name falls eight days after Christmas. It acknowledges the Jewish tradition of a newborn boy being circumcised and named on the eighth day after birth. Jesus is the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. The name "Jesus" is from the Hebrew Joshua, or Yehoshuah, "Yahweh is salvation" or "God will save." The idea that Jesus saves can arouse a variety of reactions. For some it stirs up memories of shame and guilt. For others it awakens a moment of profound revelation. Still for others it enkindles a passion for liberation from oppression. Others have written about the difference between the idea of being saved "from" versus being saved "for." For a first century Hebrew, the notion of salvation was intertwined with healing and freedom. Given the many implications of the idea that God saves, it still hearkens us to ponder that God is a God who acts in our lives.

FOR FURTHER REFLECTION How does the notion that Jesus saves resonate with you? If you were to name Jesus in a way that expresses how God has acted in your life, what name would you give?

JESUS This is our theme for our last week of devotions: Jesus. Rather than offer technical answers, orthodox dogma or theological doctrine, let's give this week to our sanctified imagination and ponder our own creed about Jesus. Let us trust that doing so is not for the lack of faith or heretical inclination, but that it awakens our desire to more deeply cultivate our response to the question, who do I say Jesus is? Find all previous daily devotionals here

Join us for our 50th Jubilee Celebration events, December 3-5, online. Details can be found here: www.diocgc.org/just-mercy-just-jesus.