The sermon for January 1 was based on Luke 2:21.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

The world is refusing to set time from the birth of Christ. Non-Christians have taken offense to A.D., Anno Domini, which is Latin for "in the year of the Lord," being on everything from coins, to government documents, to school textbooks. You won't find a recent textbook dating things B.C., "before Christ" or A.D. "in the year of the Lord." They use B.C.E., Before the Common Era, and C.E., Common Era. Non-Christians don't want to think of themselves as living in the year of the Lord Jesus. But you are different. You glory in the fact that you live in a year of the Lord Jesus and not just in some common era.

You are not a commoner adrift in a Common Era with no point of reference. Your point of reference is not the world around you. You are a royal person of royal birth. You began your year when John the Baptist came preaching in the Gospel, "Prepare the way of the Lord; the Kingdom has arrived." You began your year on the First Sunday of Advent when you again heard that Jesus was coming. You were reminded once again that you are AD, i.e. in a year of the Lord. Don't plunge yourself back into the Common Era.

Did you notice that many Protestant churches didn't have services on Christmas Day? Such a church is plugging into the American culture. But not only does such a church plug into the society around her, she also plugs her people into that society. So it is with New Year's Day services. Having begun your year more than a month ago, should you now reset your watch from Church time back to world time? Should you who are a royal, co-regent with Christ Jesus mark time like the common people of the world?

I think most Christians, once they grasp the royal concept of the Church Year, come to like it. They don't mind being unplugged from the world around them. They don't mind that they march to a different drummer than the common world. They don't mind being taken from the arms of the baby new year of 2006 and placed into the arms of the eternal Christ-Child.

Unlike the world around you which connects today with a cute baby wearing a sash that says 2006, you connect the end of one calendar year and the beginning of another to the Babe in the manger who was born to save you. While the commoners living in their common era are placed into the hands of a babe that ages faster than they do, you are placed into the hands of the eternal, all powerful, God.

But then comes this festival of the Circumcision of our Lord, and the Baby Jesus starts to look all too human, all too weak, all too ordinary. Part of the reason the culture of the common era has overrun the Church, replacing the festival of the Circumcision of Jesus with the celebration of the New Year, is because the circumcision of Jesus is somewhat of an embarrassment. Not only is it practical to be on the same page in church as you are in the world, it's down right unattractive to think of the circumcision of Jesus. A poor family having a Baby in a stable can be worked into the "good will" among neighbor's theme that most cultures have at the end of the year. The wise man coming from afar fits in nicely with the common people thinking of the New Year as a new start, a new quest. But the circumcision of Jesus just doesn't fit in anywhere.

You are never going to find a Christmas display in or outside of the Church with something representing the Circumcision of our Lord. It is uncommon to introduce the circumcision of Jesus into Christmas. Yet you are keeping this holy festival this eighth day of Christmas. You are not common. You are royal in Christ. You have been saved from the common era. Now you celebrate the life of Christ, who has saved you.

The circumcision and naming of Jesus shows you that Jesus came to stand under the Law for you. The Old Testament Law commanded that every male be circumcised on the eighth day. By being circumcised, Jesus was being obligated to keep the whole Law, as Paul says in Galatians. Jesus is placed under all the "thou shalts" and "thou shalt nots." All the "do's" and "don't's", all the "have to's" and "must's" and "ought's" were placed upon Jesus. The name given to Him at His circumcision lets you know what Jesus did with this heavy burden. Jesus means "God saves." The only way Jesus could save sinners under the Law is by keeping the Law. This Jesus did. He kept all the shalt's and shalt not's, all the dos and don'ts, all the ought's and had betters.

If you feel like a whole laundry list of commands, demands, and oughts await you in 2006, think again. If you think God will follow you around in 2006 with a check list of all the things you had better do, achieve, or accomplish, think again. Jesus took upon Himself all your obligations when He was circumcised. The Circumcision of Jesus will not allow you to think that there is a list of things you had better do before you can ever claim heaven as your own. The Circumcision and Naming of Jesus declares: Every single Law, demand, or command of God that needs to be kept before you can go to heaven has been already kept, fulfilled, and met by Jesus.

Of course, the year of the Lord 2006 might not be that much on your mind. You might be preoccupied with the year of the Lord 2005. What a mess you made in that year! How you let people down! How you hurt people! How you argued and fought with the people closest to you! How you sinned in the same ways you resolved you were done with! 2006 looks bleak because you're despairing over what you did in 2005. The Circumcision of Jesus helps here too.

By this festival you are reminded that you are placed into the arms of a Baby who suffered, cried and bled for you. Circumcision is neither painless nor bloodless. This is the first time your Lord and Savior shed His holy blood for you. Without the shedding of Blood there can be no forgiveness of sins, as God says in Hebrews, but He also says there that the blood of goats and bulls never took away anyone's sins. Only the Blood of a Man who is God can take away sins because only the blood of a God/Man is thick enough and rich enough to cover your sins.

Go ahead take one last look at 2005. See your sins sticking up here and there showing just how wretched you really are. See how you have disowned your Lord and brought shame on His name. See how you have lived as a common sinner in the year of your Lord Jesus. Now see Jesus being circumcised and His Blood dripping down over your life in holy Baptism. One teeny, tiny drop of the Blood of God covers the sins of the entire world, but your God sheds His Blood both at His circumcision and on the cross to flood your life with forgiveness. Look back at 2005 now. Not one sin, not one shortcoming, not one shame can rear its ugly head. Yours sins of 2005 are forgiven and forgotten.

You know what commoners do to celebrate this day? They use parties, people, food and drink to make them forget 2005 and look forward to 2006. But you are not a commoner; you are a royal. Your celebration of this time of year also has people, food and drink; but since you live in a year of the Lord, your celebration is of Christ and what He did for you in 2005 and will do for you in 2006. You don't celebrate in order to forget or pretend; you celebrate because you remember Jesus and His promises. The people with whom you celebrate are royals, like you. The food and drink at the center of your celebration is the very Body and Blood of God. And so you celebrate. Jesus has been Circumcised to save you from having to live under the fear and guilt that are common to sinners of every era. Fear and guilt are not to be found in any year of the Lord.

The common people see New Year's Day as a day of hope. The year is fresh and new, having no disasters, no failures, no problems as of yet. But really, how is January 1st any different from December 31st? For you who are royal, every day is a day of hope. Every day is fresh and new, because all the disasters and failures and problems of your past are forgiven in Christ. You awake each morning with the sign of the cross, born anew through holy Baptism into Christ. Your slate is clean every day, every moment. Today is the eighth day, and you are a new creation in Christ. Your sins of the past are absolved, and you are free to live your new life in the year of the Lord, each and every day. Amen.

The Peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Based on a sermon by Rev. P. R. Harris.

Last Updated: 7/15/2008