Podcasts about Christmastide

What's up, dudes? We here at Totally Rad Christmas are saddened by the passing of Chris Rea. His song “Driving Home for Christmas” is a staple in the UK. It tells of the calm of Christmastide, of driving to see family, and feeling memories flood back. Give us a buzz! Send a text, dudes!Check us out on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Totally Rad Christmas Mall & Arcade, Teepublic.com, or TotallyRadChristmas.com! Later, dudes!

January 11, 2026: May God's words be spoken, may God's words be heard. Amen. Now, if you have been here these past few weeks of Christmastide and the Feast of the Epiphany, you would be right thinking that Jesus sure grows up fast, I mean we just celebrated his birth, then last week he's a kid being visited by Magi, and now he's a grown man! I mean, at this rate, a week from now should be Palm Sunday, right? Wrong. Well, sort of – Ash Wednesday is coming up in just a few weeks, so buckle up. Still, you couldn't be blamed for feeling a bit of lectionary whiplash right about now. Kinda the way you feel the day after Christmas when there's stuff in the stores for Valentine's Day, which I do NOT appreciate given that happens to be my birthday, and there is no need to rush it. But, back to the texts we heard today from the Gospel of Matthew and from Isaiah. In the gospel we here the story of Jesus' baptism. Left off of what we heard today, is what Jesus does just afterward. He is led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit where he encounters evil. And in the wake of all that has happened in our nation this past year, and most recently, this past week, it would seem a message we very much need today. I will speak more about that in a minute, but it is important to first underscore what we are hearing in today's texts – about Christ's baptism, yes, but also about our own. Our collect today, the prayer we offered at the beginning of this service, was this: “Grant that all who are baptized into his Name may keep the covenant they have made…” This isn't just a dunk in some water – this is a contract with God – a covenant we make in the name of Christ, and that is sealed by the Holy Spirit. And in our passage this morning from Isaiah, we hear some of what that covenant requires of us. About the prophet, God says “I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.” Now, think about that…and then hear again the vows we all make at baptism either for ourselves, or was made by our parents, and Godparents, and we later confirmed. We promise to “seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbor as ourselves, and striving for justice and peace among all peoples, respecting the dignity of every human being.” See, the thing is…when we are baptized, we are baptized into something…or really baptized into someone. It is an identity that comes with a calling – the calling to free the captives, fight for justice and peace, and to love and serve. We are baptized into a life of Christ – because we are the body of Christ alive in the world today. And as the body of Christ, we don't just leave the waters of baptism, grab a towel, and continue as though nothing happened. We do as he did after his baptism – we live the life we are called to live – a life of ministry in a broken world – a life of wilderness moments when we are challenged, and pushed to the brink. And Lordy, we are in the wilderness now. This past week our government continued its horrific, unconstitutional, racist, and cruel violence against the people of our nation. Renee Nicole Good, a US citizen and young mother of three, was gunned down while in her car by an ICE agent in Minneapolis this past Wednesday. Her wife, Becca Good, is left to care for their 6 year old son. The video of the attack is brutal to watch, and the lies about her and the incident by our government just add to the horror. Renee is not the first to be killed, or tortured, or imprisoned unlawfully. She sadly will not be the last. In fact, on Thursday, the very next night, two more people were shot by ICE agents in their vehicle in Portland. These are very dark days for our nation and for the world. Like many of you, I have been at more than one vigil in response – one of them just down the street from my home on the Newton Green– which is in the middle of a very red part of our Garden State. Like the other vigils, it was a community gathered in love amidst tragedy and hate. Sadly, even as we stood together, someone shouted out from a passing truck “ICE, ICE, Baby!” The cruelty of our President and his followers seems to be the point. Yet we were not deterred, and continued to stand together to be a witness to the horror that has taken yet another life. One of the things I have said at these vigils is that our faith is one that follows a man who preached love and peace, and was executed by the government because of it. Yet his resurrection taught us all that light will always overcome darkness, life is stronger than death, and love will always defeat hate. It is the only thing that can. Renee Good understood that truth. Her wife, Becca Good, said in a statement after her murder, said: “I am now left to raise our son and to continue teaching him, as Renee believed, that there are people building a better world for him. That the people who did this had fear and anger in their hearts, and we need to show them a better way.” Indeed we do. We must. Because love is the only way out of this long national nightmare. We must stand as a testament to the power of love – to heal, to restore, to change the world – because that is what we committed to in our own baptism. So, we will keep on fighting for the suffering Christ in our midst, never forgetting Renee and all the other victims. That is how we will change the world – one step, one vigil, one march, one act of kindness, one moment of courage at a time. But that does not mean the road will be easy for us. It certainly wasn't for Jesus. He had his time in the wilderness, and we are now deep within it too. Today, we are faced with a seemingly never-ending onslaught of cruelty by those who should be servants of the people. We are worn to the bone by the vitriolic hate our President, his team, and his supporters spew nearly hour by hour, all amid a daily avalanche of lies and purposeful misdirection by the ones we are supposed to trust. The purpose is to knock us off center and keep us so disoriented that we feel helpless, hopeless, and filled with rage. Why would they want this? It's simple really – it is so we respond with the same in kind. For evil knows that darkness will feed darkness, hate will fuel hate, violence will breed violence. They fan the flames to incite those who oppose them to be just like them, which will give them fodder to increase the violence in a never-ending cycle. And in moments like this, it is very tempting to give into it. Why not fight fire with fire – violence with violence, hate with hate. We feel so drawn to it, do we not, if we are honest with ourselves? But the thing is, we need to consider who tries to draw us to hate and violence. Remember what happened to Jesus in the wilderness – the evil one spoke to him – catching him when he was worn from his long journey in that place – and showing him a path forward that seemed so simple. If Jesus would only turn aside from God, everything would be great – he would be great – the evil one said. You could understand the temptation. I mean – he was promised he could turn stone into bread – that would solve all the hunger in the world. He could be made king over everyone – imagine today if you could take the power away from all the world's brutal dictators, including our own? Yet Jesus knew that isn't the path toward peace, toward wholeness, toward grace. It wasn't for him, and it most certainly isn't for us. To be clear – righteous anger at injustice is good and will propel us to act like Christ, and overturn tables of oppression. But anger rooted in hate will only lead to violence and a turning away from Christ – that can never be our way forward. No, not for those who are baptized into him. We are meant to choose another way. At that vigil the other night in Newton, the organizer wanted to close with the hymn Amazing Grace, but wasn't sure of the words. So, I stood beside her and helped lead everyone in singing those lyrics of redemption. One of those verses is: Through many dangers, toils, and snares, I have already come; 'tis grace that brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home. Grace is God's gift to us, and it, not hate, will always lead us through the wilderness and to home – where we will be grounded in the knowledge and love of Christ, and renewed to live as we are called to live in our baptismal covenant. And folks – that will change the world. It really will. God's grace is how we will get through this. Love is how we will change it. After I spoke at the vigil in Newton, a young mother of two boys – a teen of about 14 years old or so, and the other about 10 – came up to me. The teen apparently had told his mom after listening to me that he wanted to go to church, and she – a person who had been harmed by her own church experience – wanted to know where I was a priest, feeling that it would be inclusive. Since our parish is so far from where this was, I told them of another one they should try. That conversation filled me with hope – to see young people yearning for a relationship with God. And it is certainly something seen a lot these days as church attendance by all ages is on the rise. I believe that this is a sign of the future of the church, as people seek a way forward, and they witness us living out our lives in Christ. Because so many people today are yearning for an alternative to the madness they are witnessing. In a world filled with conflict, violence, hate, war, poverty, and abuse of the environment – seekers hope to be connected to something they sense is larger than all of that – stronger than all of that – to a God that loves unconditionally, and a faith community that reflects that love openly, consistently, and with intention. They are looking for comfort and peace, yes, but most especially, they want to know that God loves them in a place that welcomes everyone, amid a world that wants to exclude them. That is why what we do here is so important. It feeds us in a time of deep hunger, but it also is food for the world. Here is where we are given the strength for our wilderness journey. Here we offer that food of life to others. Here we are reminded of our baptismal contract with God – a life of prophetic witness, rooted in the love of Christ, that calls us to speak truth, to act for justice, to stand for peace, to offer hope and love to a people in darkness. We have made a commitment to God to be the ones to speak up against those who traffic in hate and violence. To be the ones to stand against those who seek to oppress and marginalize. To be the ones to respond to hate with love and lies with truth. And especially to be the ones to counter the racist, homophobic, and sexist, words and actions by earthly rulers and proclaim in the streets, in the halls of government, in our churches, and everywhere in the world that God loves EVERYONE– NO EXCEPTIONS – and so will we. For like the prophet in Isaiah, and like our savior in whose name we are baptized, we too were given “as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.” There are many in prisons now – dungeons of bigotry and oppression, poverty, hopelessness, loneliness, and addiction. This is not time to throw the covers over our head and attend the church of the Holy Comforter. This is not a time to tune out. This is not a time to not pay attention. This is not a time to forget who we are, and whose we are. This is the time for us to be who we were born and baptized to be – prophets of his light, grace, and love – God's beloved agents of transformation. And there is nothing – no President or other leader, no ICE agent or army, no person or organization, that can stop what we, together, and by God's grace, will bring about – the overturning of evil, and the restoration of the world. They may have killed Renee Good, but by the good in each of us, rooted in the love of Christ – we will prevail. Amen. For the audio, click below, or subscribe to our iTunes Sermon Podcast by clicking here (also available on Audible): Sermon Podcast https://christchurchepiscopal.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Sermon-January-11-2026-1.m4a The Rev. Diana L. Wilcox Christ Church in Bloomfield & Glen Ridge January 11, 2026 The First Sunday After The Epiphany 1st Reading – Isaiah 42:1-9 Psalm 29 2nd Reading – Acts 10:34-43 Gospel – Matthew 3:13-17 The post “The Good In Us” appeared first on Christ Episcopal Church.

Listen along to a special homily from a Sunday in Christmastide.

If you are new around here, we have a yearly tradition today, January 6th. Epiphany. The tradition of you and I just chatting. The last day of Christmastide. Day 12 of the 12 days of Christmas. This Epiphany episode is the only time all year that I sit in this podcast studio alone. It matters to me that y'all know this. It matters because, in part, I want today to feel like a one on one conversation, like we're getting coffee. Except you know me, I'm drinking tea. In December, Emily P. Freeman joined us on the podcast and gave us a few leading questions for shaping our year. As I thought about this episode today, there are two questions, inspired by Emily, I want to answer for you: What are we stopping this year?  What are we starting this year?  These are not just for That Sounds Fun podcast, this are for all things AFD Inc- from my writing, to speaking, to podcasting. I want to give you a full view of what God might be up in 2026 to through the work my team and I get to do and make. . . . . . Join our NEW Substack Here! . . . . . This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp: Sign up and get 10% off at BetterHelp.com/thatsoundsfun. . . . . . NYTimes bestselling Christian author, speaker, and host of popular Christian podcast, That Sounds Fun Podcast, Annie F. Downs shares with you some of her favorite things: new books, faith conversations, entertainers not to miss, and interviews with friends. #thatsoundsfunpodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this Christmastide homily, Jackson Cole reflects on angels as created spiritual messengers who worship Jesus and proclaim His supremacy throughout all Creation. The messages they carry often begin with the same refrain, "Fear not," echoing a reality that is only true in union with Christ: "Perfect love casts out fear."

Click here for bulletin

Feast of the Epiphany (trans.) – January 4, 2026: May God's words be spoken, may God's words be heard.  Amen. Today we celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany.  The actual feast is on January 6th, and today would be the Second Sunday after Christmas.  Still, this year, the story of the magi's visitation to Jesus would have been a part of the text choices for today, so all good. Now, this feast, which occurs on Tuesday, ends our Christmastide – our twelve days of Christmas.  So, as I said in previous years, don't let anyone give you a hard time about still having the tree up.  Besides, they can be thankful you don't celebrate Christmas until Candlemas on Feb. 2,nd as some do!  Every year we tell the story of the Magi who travel from the East to bring gifts to the Christ child, and as it is good to repeat each time the origin of this story of the three wise guys. Matthew, the only gospel account of the magi, never tells us how many there were, or even if they were all men. But since Matthew mentions three gifts, later Christian tradition came to identify three of them. And in the late sixth century Armenian Infancy Gospel, the Magi are even given the names-Melkon or Melchior, Balthasar, and Gaspar. But just as we don't really know the names of the people who wrote the gospels, we also don't know the names of these folks, so call them whatever you want – Larry, Mo, and Curly –really up to you. This story is one that is celebrated not only because of gifts, but as a symbol that the child born to us at Christmas was for all the people of the world, because the sages came from lands so very far away. Whatever you name them, we know you can't call them “on time.”  As we hear today, Jesus was not a baby anymore, but a child, and living in a house.  Apparently, Waze or Google Maps was not available to these Eastern travelers.    Well, even if they were late, and brought really weird gifts to a young child, each year we like to tell the story of their visit…   Loud Knock Heard From The Back Ceremonial Music Plays As King Approaches King 1 presents Mother Diana with gift. Mother Diana opens the box, inside is a snow gauge.  Mother Diana reads the scroll aloud – “We saw a star and were guided by its light to the Christ child.  As we moved along, we needed to always check that we were still on the right path.  The truth is – While being too restricted is not good for anyone, taking an occasional measurement on your life journey does allow you to be sure you are still on the right path.  His life should be the measure you use.” Mother Diana rolls up the scroll and says, Thank you great sage!  While I love a beautiful snowfall, let's hope I don't need to use this too often.  Now, as I was saying…   Loud Knock Heard From The Back Ceremonial Music Plays As King Approaches King 2 presents Mother Diana with gift. Mother Diana opens the box, inside is Bluetooth speaker, and a scroll.  Mother Diana reads the scroll aloud – “We stopped along the way at the palace of King Herod.  He told us to return and tell him where we found the Christ child.  Yet we were warned in a dream not to return to Herod, and went home by another way. The truth is – There is a lot of noise in the world, and many voices will try to tell you who you are, where you are to go or what you are to do.  Be sure you are listening to the right one.” Mother Diana rolls up the scroll and says, This is sooooo cool!  I can't wait to set this speaker up.   Now, as I was saying…   Loud Knock Heard From The Back Ceremonial Music Plays As King Approaches King 3 presents Mother Diana with gift. Mother Diana opens the box, inside is a wreath of bird food, and a scroll.  Mother Diana reads the scroll aloud – “We brought gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh to the baby Jesus.  Impractical?  Perhaps. But a symbol of who he was to be for the world – King, God, and Sacrifice.  Yet he was clear about the gift we are to bring in his name, and it was none of those things. The truth is – Food is essential for life, and the law of God in our time, and yours now, is to care for the stranger among us.  How you feed others is the gift of love you bring to Christ.”  Mother Diana rolls up the scroll and says… Wow – thank you great sage – I am so excited to think about this gift – it looks so pretty.  Let's see…three magi, three gifts, I guess we must be done.  So…   Loud Knock Heard From The Back Ceremonial Music Plays As King Approaches King 4 presents Mother Diana with gift. Mother Diana opens the box, inside is a mixing spoon and a scroll.  Mother Diana reads the scroll aloud – “The star awakened us to something important happening in the world, and Christ stirred us to new life. The truth is – There are important things happening in the world now too, and Christ desires us all to come to him, to follow him, to be him in the world. This is a time to be stirred up.”  Well, thank you great and final sage??? – You have given me a lot to think about.   Are we done?  [look around] Well, this is an assortment of cool gifts, right?  A snow gauge, a Bluetooth speaker, a bird food wreath, and a mixing spoon.  These Magi have given us something to really think about, haven't they?  The thing is, these all might be quirky gifts, but the magi did manage to come up with just what we need this year.  Especially in this time when it seems the world is spinning and we struggle to know where to go or what to do. Especially in this moment in the world where the voices of bigotry and hate are not only prevalent, they are coming from our nation's leaders. Especially now, when we hunger for righteousness, and hear the cries of the vulnerable who are starving for lack of shelter, food, and most especially – love. Especially now, when we are worn to the bone, but there is oh so much more work to do in the name of Christ. These gifts we received today can be a reminder to us all of who we are and whose we are, and what that means for us as we welcome the Christ child into our hearts. As we move through the world, there will be many who try to guide our paths. The measure of our lives will not be like measuring snow, which is needed only for a season, and tells us only what is true in a snapshot of time.  It will be how we measure up to our commitment to the Christ born to us that will be most important for us to keep in our heart and mind.  Here, at this table, and among other travelers in our faith, we are able to check-in, gauge our lives, and adjust as needed. This world is filled with so many angry and hateful voices, who will try to lead us to abandon the Jesus in our midst to the cross.  For he told us that he is in the immigrant, the sick, the poor, and the imprisoned.  But like those sages of long ago, we are meant to listen to his voice, not to these others.  How do we discern which is which?  His will always be the voice of compassion, generosity, kindness, and love.  We will always be reminded of that voice here too – in the scripture and at this table.  So many cry out in hunger – hunger to be seen, to be heard, to be fed, to be loved.  All of creation groans from our abuse and neglect too.  We feed on him here, so that we can feed him in the world.  The food of life that is Christ, is to strengthen us for the journey, that we may feed others, caring for them and all of creation by his love shining in us and through us. And finally, the world is too dangerous and dark for us to be silent, to be hesitant, or to hide away.  We must not only be stirred up, we must stir up the conscious of the world!  There is no time to waste, not a moment to spare. People are dying – physically, emotionally, spiritually – God's children – our sisters and brothers.  What is done to any one of them is done to Jesus himself.  We cannot sit here in the warmth of his love, and then ignore his pain when we leave.  If we do, we render Christmas meaningless for ourselves, and all the world. The wise folks brought Jesus symbols of who he was – gold for a king, incense for a deity, myrrh for a sacrifice.  Today they bring symbols of who we are as followers of that Christ child.  And just as that night so long ago changed everything, letting all the world know that God's love is stronger than hate, that light will always overcome darkness, and that death is forever defeated by life – by our lives lived in Him the angels continue to rejoice in heaven as he is reborn in each of us at Christmas, and every day we open our hearts to Him. So, with all that in mind, as I do each year I offer this quote by Michael Dougherty. “When the carols have been stilled, when the star-topped tree is taken down, when family and friends are gone home, when we are back to our schedules, the work of Christmas begins…to welcome the refugee, to heal a broken planet, to feed the hungry, to build bridges of trust, not walls of fear, to share our gifts, to seek justice and peace for all people, to bring Christ's light to the world.” May we, like the magi, be willing to follow where God leads us, trusting that there is always another path to take that will lead us out of darkness into light –His light.  May we know that we need no star, only an open heart, to see the God who yearns to love us – and wants so much to be in relationship with us.  And most especially, that once we receive the gift of Christmas, the Christ child, in our hearts, that we do the work of Christmas and share that light with the world.  Because it is we, not the magi, who are now meant to reveal Christ to a world who hungers for God's love.  Christmas isn't over…it's only just begun. Amen. Based upon a concept by the Rev. Phillip Dana Wilson – Used with permission. For the audio, click below, or subscribe to our iTunes Sermon Podcast by clicking here (also available on Audible): Sermon Podcast https://christchurchepiscopal.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Rec-001-Homily-Visit_of_the_Magi-2026.m4a   The Rev. Diana L. Wilcox Christ Church in Bloomfield & Glen Ridge January 4, 2026 The Feast Of The Epiphany (Trans.) 1st Reading – Isaiah 60:1-6 Psalm 72:1-7,10-14 2nd Reading – Ephesians 3:1-12 Gospel – Matthew 2:1-12   The post A Visit From The Wise Guys – 2026 appeared first on Christ Episcopal Church.

Fr. Bliss, our senior pastor, preaches on the second Sunday of Christmastide.Intro for Sermon Podcasts Outro for Sermon AudioWe are a community hoping to live the Jesus-way in our city as a people of God's hospitality, God‘s restoration, and God's shalom. Learn more about All Souls Charlottesville: www.allsoulscville.com

Join us for this second week of Christmastide as we continue to dwell upon the mystery of the Incarnation of Christ.  Text: John 1:1-18

This is the Sunday evening liturgy during Christmastide for the Compline podcast from the Center for Worship and the Arts at Samford University. For more about the Center for Worship and the Arts, as well as the resources we provide, visit us at https://www.samford.edu/worship-arts/. CREDITS:© 2023 Center for Worship and the Arts, Samford University.Engineered and produced by Wen Reagan for the Center for Worship and the Arts at Samford University. SPOKEN WORD:Wen Reagan, Stacy Love, Tracy Hanrahan, Meagan Kennedy, Pierce Moffett, Eden Walker. MUSIC:“Compline #10 – Christmastide Medley” by Wen Reagan, © 2023 Sursum Corda Music (BMI).“Compline #11 - NOEL NOUVELET” Arrangement by Wen Reagan, © 2023 Sursum Corda Music (BMI).“Joy to the World (Adventian Version)” by Blacknall Arts. Arrangement by Wen Reagan, © 2022 Sursum Corda Music (BMI). TEXTS:The liturgical words for this podcast series include original phrasings, but were primarily curated and designed from several public domain sources, including “An Order for Compline” from the Anglican and Episcopal Book of Common Prayer and collects collected from Grace Cathedral and the University of Notre Dame. SOUNDS:The following sound effects were used in this podcast series and are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, PO Box 1866, Mountain View, CA 94042, USA."Door, Front, Opening, A.wav" by InspectorJ (www.jshaw.co.uk) of Freesound.org."Door, Front, Closing, A.wav" by InspectorJ (www.jshaw.co.uk) of Freesound.org.“06 – Crackling Candle.wav” by 14GPanskaLetko_Dominik of Freesound.org.“Lights a Candle Light with a Match” by straget of Freesound.org.The following sound effects were used in this podcast series and are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, PO Box 1866, Mountain View, CA 94042, USA.“Soft Shoes Walking on a Dirt Road” by Nagwense of

Steve Curry closing Epiphany and kicks off the new year with a sermon out of Luke 2 and the story of the prophetess, Anna. Steve encourages us to follow the example of Anna - fasting, praying, proclaiming, and longing for the return of Christ.

Jeremiah 31:7-14 | Psalm 84 | Ephesians 1:3-10 | Matthew 2:1-12

"Chosen in Christ"; Christmastide; Eph. 1:3-14; The Rev. Sergio Sapunar.

The Word made flesh. On this second Sunday of Christmastide, Rev. Robert Brown shared from the prologue to John's Gospel, one of the most magisterial and theologically rich passages in all the New Testament. These carefully crafted words are often the first that new Christians read in the Bible. John uses "simple," familiar words-- words that new Christians can be nourished by. Yet they are words that even many lifetimes of study and meditation could not possibly plumb the depths of. Woven into its tapestry are some of the most intricate designs and vibrant colors one could possibly imagine: teaching about the very being of the triune God; creation and new creation; the Light of the world shining in the darkness;  the Gospel's purpose; the Incarnation of the divine Word; the Word made flesh, God dwelling with his people, the sacred tabernacle--the nexus between heaven and earth--embodied in Jesus, the God-man. This sermon is a quick guided tour beneath the surface of some of those familiar words, phrases, and concepts in an attempt to whet our appetites for a rich feast of meditative contemplation and--by the power of the Spirit--consideration of the written incarnate Word in our own lives. Note: The artwork associated  with this podcast (viewable on the Epiclesis website but not through Apple iTunes) is titled "The Word Made Flesh" by Donald Jackson.

A Sermon for the Second Sunday after Christmas Isaiah 61:1-3 & St. Matthew 2:19-23 by William Klock Today's Gospel lesson picks up where last Sunday's left us with Joseph, Mary, and Jesus in Egypt.  St. Matthew tells us: After the death of Herod, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt.  “Get up,” he said, “and take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel.  Those who wanted to kill the child are dead.”  So he got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel.  But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling Judea instead of his father Herod, he was afraid to go back there.  After being advised in a dream, he went off to the region of Galilee.  When he got there, he settle in a town called Nazareth.  This was to fulfil what the prophet had spoken, “He shall be called a Nazarene.”  (Matthew 2:19-23) The Gospels of Christmastide tell us the Nativity story from St. Matthew's perspective.  They jump around a bit, so we don't quite get the story in order—the part about the wise men, of course, is saved for this coming week—for Epiphany.  But our Gospel today picks up towards the end of Matthew's second chapter. Matthew 2 begins with the wise men arriving in Jerusalem, following an unusual star—some think it was the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn.  In those days the planet Jupiter was associated with kings and many people associated Saturn with the Jews.  Seeing their conjunction, the wise men—astrologers from the East—concluded that a great king had been born in Israel.  They naturally went to Herod, and were probably surprised to find he knew nothing about any of this.  Herod sent them on their way, but he was troubled.  Like I said last week, I doubt Herod saw a serious threat here, but he was evil enough to think to himself, “Hey, if this kid exists, I might as well kill him…just in case.”  So he asked the wise men to stop on their way home to tell him what they had found.  When they returned by a different route, Herod just decided to murder all the baby boys in Bethlehem, two years old and younger. And so Herod's soldiers marched to nearby Bethlehem and did just that.  For Matthew's Jewish readers, this sure called to mind their own story—how long ago Pharaoh had tried to stamp them out by having all their baby boys drowned in the Nile.  Now it's happening again, and that's Matthew's subtle way of telling us that God is getting ready, once again, to visit and to deliver his people.  It shows us the depth of the darkness of a fallen world full of sin and death, but it also says that the light is about to break through.  Or as Mr. Beaver puts it in the popular children's book as he sees the snows of winter melting and flowers beginning to blossom: “Aslan is on the move.” When St. John opens his Gospel by talking about light coming into the darkness, this is what he has in mind.  This is why Jesus had to be born right in the middle of it.  Jesus didn't come to deliver his people from the outside.  He came in such a way that he identified with them, he became one of them—one of us—and he knew their suffering, he knew their pain, he knew their tears.  He knew the deep, deep darkness.  He was touched by the demands of Caesar, demanding and pushing his people around: Go here!  Go there!  So that I can count you, so that I know what's mine.  He was touched by the wickedness of Herod.  A true King of the Jews would have known that his people belonged to God, but Herod saw them as his.  He could kill them at will.  Jesus experienced the darkness. Why? Consider the names that the angel revealed to Joseph before Jesus was born.  Joseph was understandably upset when he found out Mary was pregnant.  He was prepared to quietly divorce her.  But then the Lord spoke. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.  She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”  (Matthew 1:20-21) And Matthew comments on this, saying:   All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:          “Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,                   and they shall call his name Emmanuel” (which means, God with us). (Matthew 1:22-23) You shall call his name Jesus.  Jesus was a common name.  It's a variant of “Joshua” and it means “Yahweh Saves”, “The God of Israel Saves”.  And it was a common name precisely because of the darkness in which the people lived.  They were desperate for the Lord to save them and we know that especially in the time in which Jesus was born the people were particularly expectant—the worse things got, the stronger their hopes became—and things were horrible.  And so, as Joshua led God's people into the promised land, Jesus was sent to lead his people in a new and bigger and better exodus into a new and bigger and better promised land.  In the first exodus the Israelites were delivered from Egypt, declared to be God's son, and entered into a covenant with him.  “I will be your God and you will be my people,” he had promised.  He took up his dwelling in their midst.  Matthew wants us to understand here that in Jesus, a new exodus is about to take place.  Not from Egypt, this time, but from sin and death.  He will, in Jesus, establish a new covenant and through that new covenant he will make a new people—a people in whom he will dwell, not just in their midst, but actually in them. And yet it's in Matthew's commentary that we see the “how” of it all.  This he says is to fulfil what Isaiah spoke: “The virgin shall conceive and bear a son and he shall be called Emmanuel, which means ‘God with us'.”  Matthew quotes from Isaiah 7:14.  Now, no one before Matthew ever seems to have understood this passage as pointing to the future Messiah.  Isaiah had spoken these words over seven centuries earlier and he spoke them to King Ahaz of Judah during another very dark time for the Lord's people.  The king of the northern tribes of Israel had made an alliance with the king of Syria and they laid siege to Jerusalem.  King Ahaz and his people were scared, but through the prophet the Lord exhorted them to stand firm in faith.  They were to trust him and he would vanquish their enemies and this promised child was a sign.  A young woman, perhaps Ahaz's wife or daughter or Isaiah's own wife, would bear a son and before he's old enough to know the difference between good and evil the Lord would make good on his promise to deliver his people.  The child was to be prophetically called “Emmanuel—God with us”, giving assurance to the people that the Lord had heard their cries from the darkness, that he would visit them, and that he would deliver them. Just as the exodus in the days of Moses became an image of the ministry of Jesus leading his people out of sin's bondage, the baby—Emmanuel—born in the reign of Ahaz became another image of Jesus' ministry.  In him God once again had heard the cries of his people from the darkness—the darkness of Herod, the darkness of Caesar—in Jesus he visited his people, and in Jesus he delivered them.  Even more so, Jesus is literally “God with us”.  In him God took on our human flesh, becoming one with us.  He was born not in some privileged palace to wealthy or noble parents, but to a humble couple just as they were being submitted to the indignity of Roman rule.  Almost immediately he was made a refugee by the wicked and murderous King Herod.  In Jesus, God is truly with us in every way imaginable, sharing our nature, sharing our life, sharing our pain, sharing our griefs, sharing our humanity—sharing our everything.  Jesus has come into the darkness and into the pain and into the grief.  This is how the Lord saves. Joseph and Mary's flight to Egypt underscores just how Jesus came into the midst of the darkness and not just that he's come and joined us in it, but that he's found us in the darkness, so that he can lead us out.  After telling us about the angel warning Joseph to flee to Egypt, Matthew tells us that this took place to fulfil what the prophet Hosea wrote: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”  But Hosea wasn't looking forward to the Messiah—to Jesus—when he wrote those words.  He was talking about Israel.  She was the Lord's son and the Lord called that son and rescued that son out of Egypt.  And now Jesus is constituting a new Israel where the old Israel had failed.  He is the Lord's Son and the Lord will call him from Egypt as he once did Israel.  Matthew points to Jesus as the fulfilment and the culmination of Israel's story. And then as Matthew writes about the slaughter of the children of Bethlehem, he quotes from Jeremiah's prophecy: “A voice was heard in Ramah,          weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children;          she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.” (Matthew 2:18) It might seem like an odd passage to quote.  When Jeremiah wrote those words he was writing to the people of Judah during their exile in Babylon.  It's a passage, first, of mourning.  The children of Rachel had lost everything.  Think of the darkness of the world.  Israel had lost it all: her land, her prosperity, her temple.  Everything that the Lord had promised and everything that reminded them of their status as the Lord's people had been taken away.  Had the Lord forgotten them?  That was what they asked as they wept by the river of Babylon.  But Jeremiah then wrote about the Lord renewing his covenant with Israel.  When she had repented he would restore her to the land he had promised and he would make her prosperous again.  Eventually the Lord did restore Israel.  She returned from exile.  She rebuilt Jerusalem and rebuilt the temple.  But the darkness remained.  And so Matthew recalls the time of the exile, of Israel in mourning, and he does so to say that in Jesus, the Lord is acting once again to rescue his people from the darkness, from their exile, and to restore and renew his covenant with them. And, finally, at the end of today's Gospel we're told that when the family returned from Egypt and heard that Archelaus was in power, Joseph decided to settle the family in Nazareth—about as far from Archelaus as he could get.  And Matthew says in verse, 23, that this was “so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene.” Again, Matthew doesn't use or quote the prophets the way we might expect him to, as if there's a one-to-one equation between Isaiah or Jeremiah and the events surrounding Jesus' birth.  Verse 23 continues to raise questions after two thousand years, because there is no mention of Nazareth anywhere in the Old Testament.  None of the prophets says anything about Jesus being a Nazarene.  The most likely explanation is that Matthew was making a word play.  In Isaiah 11:1 the prophet wrote about the Messiah: There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,          and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.   They key word is the word “branch”.  In Hebrew the word is nazir, which sounds like Nazareth or Nazarene.  It's not the sort of thing we would do with an Old Testament text, but it's just the sort of sounds-like word game that was common then.  The point is that Jesus has a royal lineage.  The Lord had established a covenant with David that his house would be established forever.  In the course of history, David's house eventually fell.  No descendant of David ever returned to the throne after the exile, but the covenant was still there.  A shoot from the cut-off and seemingly dead stump of Jesse—David's father—would one day come forth and that branch—that nazir—would bear fruit. Do you see what Matthew is doing here?  Think of the big picture—the sweep of Israel's story as it's told in the Bible.  That's what Matthew is getting at with these quotes from and references to the prophets.  Matthew's putting the great themes of the story of God and Israel in front of us and showing how, in Jesus, the story is reaching its climax.  Quoting Hosea he reminds us of the Exodus.  Quoting Isaiah 11—the passage about the branch or nazir from Jesse—he reminds us of the covenant the Lord established with David.  And quoting Jeremiah 31 he gives a vivid picture of Israel's need for rescue and of the darkness in which the world was lost.  Again, Jesus didn't parachute into history at random.  Matthew stresses that Jesus came when the time was exactly right and that he came as the culmination of Israel's story.  In him all the covenants and promises the Lord had made to Israel are brought together and fulfilled.  Jesus is Israel, which is why St. Paul can talk about gentiles like us being grafted into Israel.  John the Baptists warned, as he preached the need for repentance in preparation for Jesus' coming, that the Lord would lay his axe to the dead wood of Israel while raising children for Abraham from the stones. Brothers and Sisters, this means that by faith in Jesus, you and I are now part of this story—the story that goes back to God's covenant with Abraham, to the Exodus from Egypt, and to the covenant with David.  All those who are in Jesus the Messiah—all those who have turned aside from everything that is not Jesus and instead have laid hold of him in hoping faith with both hands,who have given him their faith, their loyalty, their allegiance—share in the great story of Israel and of Israel's God and in his promise to deliver the world from the darkness and to deliver us from our bondage to sin and death.  As Jesus came to bring light into the darkness—into the darkness of Caesar's empire and of Herod's brutal and murderous cruelty, Jesus has come to bring light into our darkness. Listen to the words of our lesson from Isaiah 61:1-3.  These were the words Jesus preached from in the synagogue in Nazareth at the beginning of his ministry and they were words he claimed for himself.  This is what he came to do.  This is how he came to be light in the darkness. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,          because the Lord has anointed me  to bring good news to the poor;          he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives,          and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor,          and the day of vengeance of our God;          to comfort all who mourn; to grant to those who mourn in Zion—          to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,  the oil of gladness instead of mourning,          the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;  that they may be called oaks of righteousness,          the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.   This is Jesus—the Lord's salvation.  This is what it looks like for God to be with us.  He has delivered us from bondage to sin and from the fear of death, its wages.  There's darkness all around.  Again, all we have to do is turn on the evening news, read the paper, or look on the Internet.  And we each have our own struggles with the darkness.  We struggle with our own sins.  We struggle with our own strained and broken relationships.  We struggle to make ends meet.  We struggle through pain and sickness and death.  Brothers and Sisters, Jesus has come into the darkness.  He has shared it with us.  He knows and he understands.  And so Jesus speaks good news to us, he binds up our broken hearts.  He takes away the ashes that have been poured on our heads and the sackcloth we've been wearing in mourning and gives us beautiful headdresses and garments of praise.  He is light in our darkness.  He is God with us.  Isaiah says that this is so that we will be called “oaks of righteousness” planted by the Lord so that he will be glorified. Having God with us brings amazing transformation.  Imagine the chaos of the world all around, lost in sin, everyone struggling to get on top.  Think of our own suffering and pain and grief.  And then picture what we become when God is with us.  Isaiah says we are oaks of righteousness.  Look at those huge oak trees outside the windows.  They've been here forever.  As our building deteriorated in the 50s, 60s, and 70s those trees only got stronger and bigger.  The storms come and go.  Every once in a while one of those big storms damages the church building, but the trees are there as strong as ever.  They're an illustration of what Jesus has called us to be: light in the darkness, oaks in the storm, standing firm, making him known, providing a place of shelter to any who will come, living as pockets of his new creation, and inspiring everyone around us to give glory to God.  He has not abandoned us.  In Jesus he saves.  In Jesus he has come to be with us—to find us in the darkness and to make us light. Let us pray: Almighty God, you have poured upon us the new light of your incarnate Word:  Grant that this light, enkindled in our hearts, may shine forth in our lives; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

On the 11th day of Christmas, we are invited to imagine what is coming to life in and around us in ways that are outside the traditional expectations of how and where we experience God.

Christmastide 2, Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23 Jeffrey Stewart 

 Matthew 2:1-15

Titus 2: 11-15; Luke 2: 21; Haydock Commentary Please consider donating to help keep this podcast going by going to buymeacoffee.com/catholicdailybrief Also, if you enjoy these episodes, please give a five star rating and share the podcast with your friends and family

This is the Thursday evening liturgy during Christmastide for the Compline podcast from the Center for Worship and the Arts at Samford University. For more about the Center for Worship and the Arts, as well as the resources we provide, visit us at https://www.samford.edu/worship-arts/. CREDITS:© 2023 Center for Worship and the Arts, Samford University.Engineered and produced by Wen Reagan for the Center for Worship and the Arts at Samford University. SPOKEN WORD:Wen Reagan, Stacy Love, Tracy Hanrahan, Meagan Kennedy, Pierce Moffett, Eden Walker. MUSIC:“Compline #10 – Christmastide Medley” by Wen Reagan, © 2023 Sursum Corda Music (BMI).“Compline #11 - NOEL NOUVELET” Arrangement by Wen Reagan, © 2023 Sursum Corda Music (BMI).“Joy to the World (Adventian Version)” by Blacknall Arts. Arrangement by Wen Reagan, © 2022 Sursum Corda Music (BMI). TEXTS:The liturgical words for this podcast series include original phrasings, but were primarily curated and designed from several public domain sources, including “An Order for Compline” from the Anglican and Episcopal Book of Common Prayer and collects collected from Grace Cathedral and the University of Notre Dame. SOUNDS:The following sound effects were used in this podcast series and are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, PO Box 1866, Mountain View, CA 94042, USA."Door, Front, Opening, A.wav" by InspectorJ (www.jshaw.co.uk) of Freesound.org."Door, Front, Closing, A.wav" by InspectorJ (www.jshaw.co.uk) of Freesound.org.“06 – Crackling Candle.wav” by 14GPanskaLetko_Dominik of Freesound.org.“Lights a Candle Light with a Match” by straget of Freesound.org.The following sound effects were used in this podcast series and are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, PO Box 1866, Mountain View, CA 94042, USA.“Soft Shoes Walking on a Dirt Road” by Nagwense of

This is the Wednesday evening liturgy during Christmastide for the Compline podcast from the Center for Worship and the Arts at Samford University. For more about the Center for Worship and the Arts, as well as the resources we provide, visit us at https://www.samford.edu/worship-arts/. CREDITS:© 2023 Center for Worship and the Arts, Samford University.Engineered and produced by Wen Reagan for the Center for Worship and the Arts at Samford University. SPOKEN WORD:Wen Reagan, Stacy Love, Tracy Hanrahan, Meagan Kennedy, Pierce Moffett, Eden Walker. MUSIC:“Compline #10 – Christmastide Medley” by Wen Reagan, © 2023 Sursum Corda Music (BMI).“Compline #11 - NOEL NOUVELET” Arrangement by Wen Reagan, © 2023 Sursum Corda Music (BMI).“Joy to the World (Adventian Version)” by Blacknall Arts. Arrangement by Wen Reagan, © 2022 Sursum Corda Music (BMI). TEXTS:The liturgical words for this podcast series include original phrasings, but were primarily curated and designed from several public domain sources, including “An Order for Compline” from the Anglican and Episcopal Book of Common Prayer and collects collected from Grace Cathedral and the University of Notre Dame. SOUNDS:The following sound effects were used in this podcast series and are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, PO Box 1866, Mountain View, CA 94042, USA."Door, Front, Opening, A.wav" by InspectorJ (www.jshaw.co.uk) of Freesound.org."Door, Front, Closing, A.wav" by InspectorJ (www.jshaw.co.uk) of Freesound.org.“06 – Crackling Candle.wav” by 14GPanskaLetko_Dominik of Freesound.org.“Lights a Candle Light with a Match” by straget of Freesound.org.The following sound effects were used in this podcast series and are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, PO Box 1866, Mountain View, CA 94042, USA.“Soft Shoes Walking on a Dirt Road” by Nagwense of

Can joy be anything but denial in a rage-filled public life? Michael Wear joins Mark Labberton to reframe politics through the kingdom logic of hope, agency, and practices of silence and solitude. As 2025 closes amid political discord, we might all ask whether joy can be real in public life—without denial, escapism, or contempt. "… Joy is a pervasive and constant sense of wellbeing." In this conversation, Michael Wear and Mark Labberton reflect on joy, hope, responsibility, and agency amid a reaction-driven politics. Together they discuss the realism of Advent; the limits of our control; how kingdom imagination reframes anger; hope beyond outcomes, dignity under threat, and practices (including silence and solitude) that restore clarity. Episode Highlights "Joy is a pervasive and constant sense of wellbeing. … Joy is not a technique to then get people to do what you want them to do." "God's Kingdom is the range of his effective will." " Someone whose hope is rightly placed sees that a dignity denying culture does not have the final say." "Our will is effective and those things in which our will is not effective." "The pattern of domination and violence is an old one." About Michael Wear Michael Wear is the Founder, President, and CEO of the Center for Christianity and Public Life, a nonpartisan nonprofit that contends for the credibility of Christian resources in public life, for the public good. He has served for more than a decade as a trusted advisor to civic and religious leaders on faith and public life, including as a presidential campaign and White House staffer. He is the author of The Spirit of Our Politics: Spiritual Formation and the Renovation of Public Life and Reclaiming Hope: Lessons Learned in the Obama White House About the Future of Faith in America. Learn more and follow at https://www.michaelwear.com. Helpful Links and Resources Michael Wear, The Spirit of Our Politics https://www.zondervan.com/9780310367239/the-spirit-of-our-politics/ Michael Wear, Reclaiming Hope https://www.thomasnelson.com/9780718082338/reclaiming-hope/ Center for Christianity and Public Life https://www.ccpubliclife.org/ A National Call to Silence and Solitude https://www.silenceandsolitude.org/ Dallas Willard: "Personal Soul Care" https://dwillard.org/resources/articles/personal-soul-care Howard Thurman, Jesus and the Disinherited https://www.beacon.org/Jesus-and-the-Disinherited-P1781.aspx Show Notes End of 2025, cusp of Christmas; fraught public moment; joy as the lynchpin for faithful presence in politics and public life Joy held with pain, suffering, complexity Refusing denial while trusting a God who relentlessly pursues the world in love and hope Joy intertwined with hope, responsibility, agency Where does responsibility end and faithful agency begin? "Willard would say joy is a pervasive and constant sense of wellbeing." " It is very difficult to have joy if you are taking responsibility for things that are not your responsibility." Public life as joyless space; lacking imagination for joy amid provocation, antagonism, and constant political showmanship "If there are places in our life where we can't conceive of joy, it's a problem with our view of God." Misplaced responsibility, misplaced hope; joy collapses when taking on burdens that aren't ours and treating agency as ultimate "God's kingdom is the range of his effective will." "We each have our own little kingdoms … where what we say to be done is done." Politics reveals limits; a clarity about what we can do, what we can't do, and what we must import into the rest of life "Our will is effective, and there are things in which our will is not effective." "Faithfulness is not the ability to determine a righteous outcome … to everything in which our lives touch." False responsibility, obscured agency Are we taking charge of what isn't ours while ignoring the real choices we do have? "That's a recipe for joylessness." Poked and prodded by provocations; entertainment, antagonisms, and helplessness normalize reaction and justify complicity Anger as political fuel Many assume that raising your voice is the only faithful posture inside the public arena. "I've had people respond to me: 'How am I going to get anything done in politics without anger?'" "Political imagination has been taken over by a political logic as opposed to a kingdom logic." Relearning responsibility and agency; hope not grounded in our effectiveness, but in what God is doing beyond our reach. "Ultimate hope lies outside of the range of our effective will." "It is in that realm in which we are perfectly safe." Hope is for a life that pervades all things. "So when your hope is in the right place, you can hope for a whole range of things." " Someone whose hope is rightly placed sees that a dignity denying culture does not have the final say." Hope and joy "when your back is against the wall" Allen Temple Baptist Church: Joy at the margins of culture Fannie Lou Hamer Howard Thurman, Jesus and the Disinherited First Presbyterian Church in Evanston, IL Michael Wear, The Spirit of Our Politics Psalm 23 as distress-psalm: Enemies are still present, yet God leads beside still waters and cares most in greatest distress. "Take off the old self with its practices and put on the new self." "Put on Christ now in a way that will affect everything around us." Herod: The paranoid leader Advent into Christmastide—what it means to dwelling in Emmanuel "This is why the incarnation is such an extraordinarily important cornerstone: It's that God enters in through Jesus into our world, in a world in which, yes, there may be great praises in heaven and on earth from those who understand something at least of who he is and what he's there to do. But it also lands him in a world of immediate physical and familial vulnerability of political and social, if not military, violence." Are we protected from vulnerability, or living in precarity? The pattern of domination and violence Refusing forgetfulness as 2026 approaches with fresh pressures and fresh calling. National call to silence and solitude; disinvesting from reactionary instincts to engage the world with renewed vision and clarity. silenceandsolitude.org "Silence and solitude… can infuse your public activity with right vision and right clarity." #MichaelWear #MarkLabberton #ChristianPublicLife #ChristianPolitics #SpiritualFormation #Joy #Advent #SilenceAndSolitude #Hope #PublicWitness Production Credits Conversing is produced and distributed in partnership with Comment Magazine and Fuller Seminary.  

How was your Christmas?  Christmas Day is always so magical, but once the presents are opened and life starts to settle back into normal, I sometimes feel that quiet post-holiday letdown. Do you feel that too?  That's why I love this in-between time after Christmas. The days between December 25th and early January are actually called Christmastide — that cozy stretch where you don't quite know what day it is, and everything feels a little slower.  In today's episode, we're talking about how to use this season intentionally, from reflecting on what matters most, to gently starting to plan for 2026 in a way that doesn't feel overwhelming.  If planning ahead ever feels heavy, especially as a busy mom, we're going to keep this simple, light, and doable. Grab a warm drink, take a deep breath, and let's ease into it together. Alright — let's get started. I pray this blesses you! Michelle Reminder: I've got some exciting things coming in January that will help you design the right routines, rhythms, and systems for the year ahead, so let's stay connected via email, connect with me at contact@byrdmichelle.com.     PS If you need some extra accountability or help with productivity hacks, time management tools, mapping out a more efficient daily or weekly schedule, time blocking and so much more. We will break down what isn't working in your schedule, create new personalized goals for you, and determine the next new steps you need to take to have more freedom and live with more joy and laughter!   Grab a coaching call with me at: https://calendly.com/byrd-michelle/bonus-one-time-un-stuck-time-management-coachin-clone Email: contact@byrdmichelle.com website: www.byrdmichelle.com Free Productivity Planner - my gift to you! www.byrdmichelle.com  Come join our Facebook Group: The Busy Vibrant Mom https://www.facebook.com/groups/2315591962144641/  

This is the Tuesday evening liturgy during Christmastide for the Compline podcast from the Center for Worship and the Arts at Samford University. For more about the Center for Worship and the Arts, as well as the resources we provide, visit us at https://www.samford.edu/worship-arts/. CREDITS:© 2023 Center for Worship and the Arts, Samford University.Engineered and produced by Wen Reagan for the Center for Worship and the Arts at Samford University. SPOKEN WORD:Wen Reagan, Stacy Love, Tracy Hanrahan, Meagan Kennedy, Pierce Moffett, Eden Walker. MUSIC:“Compline #10 – Christmastide Medley” by Wen Reagan, © 2023 Sursum Corda Music (BMI).“Compline #11 - NOEL NOUVELET” Arrangement by Wen Reagan, © 2023 Sursum Corda Music (BMI).“Joy to the World (Adventian Version)” by Blacknall Arts. Arrangement by Wen Reagan, © 2022 Sursum Corda Music (BMI). TEXTS:The liturgical words for this podcast series include original phrasings, but were primarily curated and designed from several public domain sources, including “An Order for Compline” from the Anglican and Episcopal Book of Common Prayer and collects collected from Grace Cathedral and the University of Notre Dame. SOUNDS:The following sound effects were used in this podcast series and are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, PO Box 1866, Mountain View, CA 94042, USA."Door, Front, Opening, A.wav" by InspectorJ (www.jshaw.co.uk) of Freesound.org."Door, Front, Closing, A.wav" by InspectorJ (www.jshaw.co.uk) of Freesound.org.“06 – Crackling Candle.wav” by 14GPanskaLetko_Dominik of Freesound.org.“Lights a Candle Light with a Match” by straget of Freesound.org.The following sound effects were used in this podcast series and are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, PO Box 1866, Mountain View, CA 94042, USA.“Soft Shoes Walking on a Dirt Road” by Nagwense of

How God meets us in the twelve days of Christmas.

Check out KINDLE's Advent Devotional series, highlighting portions of Holden's Evening Prayer and strands, practices and outcomes that help us live as Christ-like Servant Leaders.Rebekah Freed shares her reflection of the Cultivating Faith practice of Pray Unceasingly through Hebrews 4:16, Genesis 32 and Luke 8.  Check out all KINDLE practices here.  Check out all the devotions on KINDLE's Youtube Channel.Merry Christmastide!Connect with us! Instagram: @emilyphoenix or @kindle_social Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KINDLEServantLeaders If you have a question to ask or story to share about one of this season's topics, we would love to hear from you. Send an email to emily.phoenix@kindleservantsleaders.org and we will share it along the way! Download episode discussion guides at: https://www.kindleservantleaders.org/podcast/

This is the Monday evening liturgy during Christmastide for the Compline podcast from the Center for Worship and the Arts at Samford University. For more about the Center for Worship and the Arts, as well as the resources we provide, visit us at https://www.samford.edu/worship-arts/. CREDITS:© 2023 Center for Worship and the Arts, Samford University.Engineered and produced by Wen Reagan for the Center for Worship and the Arts at Samford University. SPOKEN WORD:Wen Reagan, Stacy Love, Tracy Hanrahan, Meagan Kennedy, Pierce Moffett, Eden Walker. MUSIC:“Compline #10 – Christmastide Medley” by Wen Reagan, © 2023 Sursum Corda Music (BMI).“Compline #11 - NOEL NOUVELET” Arrangement by Wen Reagan, © 2023 Sursum Corda Music (BMI).“Joy to the World (Adventian Version)” by Blacknall Arts. Arrangement by Wen Reagan, © 2022 Sursum Corda Music (BMI). TEXTS:The liturgical words for this podcast series include original phrasings, but were primarily curated and designed from several public domain sources, including “An Order for Compline” from the Anglican and Episcopal Book of Common Prayer and collects collected from Grace Cathedral and the University of Notre Dame. SOUNDS:The following sound effects were used in this podcast series and are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, PO Box 1866, Mountain View, CA 94042, USA."Door, Front, Opening, A.wav" by InspectorJ (www.jshaw.co.uk) of Freesound.org."Door, Front, Closing, A.wav" by InspectorJ (www.jshaw.co.uk) of Freesound.org.“06 – Crackling Candle.wav” by 14GPanskaLetko_Dominik of Freesound.org.“Lights a Candle Light with a Match” by straget of Freesound.org.The following sound effects were used in this podcast series and are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, PO Box 1866, Mountain View, CA 94042, USA.“Soft Shoes Walking on a Dirt Road” by Nagwense of

Isaiah 61:10-62:3

A homily delivered on 1st Sunday of Christmastide by Kendall Carter. The passages for the day were - Isa 61:10—62:5; Ps 147:12-20; Gal 3:23—4:7; John 1:1-18

Click here for bulletin

Luke 2:22-40Jacob Wang, Youth PastorDesert City ChurchPhoenix, AZ

In this Christmastide reflection, Pastor Jay Ewing explores Jesus as the Door of the Sheep—the One who offers protection, belonging, and true life. Drawing on John 10 and the imagery of shepherds, doorposts, and God's faithful care throughout Scripture, this episode invites listeners to rest in Christ as the safe passage into salvation, nourishment, and peace.

Originally boradcast 1/3/2021 NOTES John 1:1-18 Jeremiah 31:7-14 Psalm 147:12-20 w Richard Bruxvoort Colligan Psalmimmersion.com @pomopsalmist Patreon  Ephesians 1:3-14 w Mason Parks

This is the Sunday evening liturgy during Christmastide for the Compline podcast from the Center for Worship and the Arts at Samford University. For more about the Center for Worship and the Arts, as well as the resources we provide, visit us at https://www.samford.edu/worship-arts/. CREDITS:© 2023 Center for Worship and the Arts, Samford University.Engineered and produced by Wen Reagan for the Center for Worship and the Arts at Samford University. SPOKEN WORD:Wen Reagan, Stacy Love, Tracy Hanrahan, Meagan Kennedy, Pierce Moffett, Eden Walker. MUSIC:“Compline #10 – Christmastide Medley” by Wen Reagan, © 2023 Sursum Corda Music (BMI).“Compline #11 - NOEL NOUVELET” Arrangement by Wen Reagan, © 2023 Sursum Corda Music (BMI).“Joy to the World (Adventian Version)” by Blacknall Arts. Arrangement by Wen Reagan, © 2022 Sursum Corda Music (BMI). TEXTS:The liturgical words for this podcast series include original phrasings, but were primarily curated and designed from several public domain sources, including “An Order for Compline” from the Anglican and Episcopal Book of Common Prayer and collects collected from Grace Cathedral and the University of Notre Dame. SOUNDS:The following sound effects were used in this podcast series and are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, PO Box 1866, Mountain View, CA 94042, USA."Door, Front, Opening, A.wav" by InspectorJ (www.jshaw.co.uk) of Freesound.org."Door, Front, Closing, A.wav" by InspectorJ (www.jshaw.co.uk) of Freesound.org.“06 – Crackling Candle.wav” by 14GPanskaLetko_Dominik of Freesound.org.“Lights a Candle Light with a Match” by straget of Freesound.org.The following sound effects were used in this podcast series and are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, PO Box 1866, Mountain View, CA 94042, USA.“Soft Shoes Walking on a Dirt Road” by Nagwense of

“Truth Springs Up” is our sermon for Christmastide, taken from Psalm 85:11. This sermon was preached by Rev. Jason Garwood on Sunday, December 28th, 2025, during the Covenant Renewal Worship Service at Cross & Crown Church in Warrenton, Virginia. Learn more about our church and mission at www.crosscrownchurch.com.

Following Advent & Christmas Eve, we spend a couple of weeks observing Epiphany. Cale Freeman preaches out of 1 John 1 to remind us that true fellowship and joy are found in the proclamation of the incarnation.

Isaiah 62:1-5, Psalm 147, Galatians 4:4-7, John 1:1-18

"The Light Overcomes the Darkness"; Christmastide; John 1:1-18; The Rev. Dcn. J.D. Meeder.

This is the Thursday evening liturgy during Christmastide for the Compline podcast from the Center for Worship and the Arts at Samford University. For more about the Center for Worship and the Arts, as well as the resources we provide, visit us at https://www.samford.edu/worship-arts/. CREDITS:© 2023 Center for Worship and the Arts, Samford University.Engineered and produced by Wen Reagan for the Center for Worship and the Arts at Samford University. SPOKEN WORD:Wen Reagan, Stacy Love, Tracy Hanrahan, Meagan Kennedy, Pierce Moffett, Eden Walker. MUSIC:“Compline #10 – Christmastide Medley” by Wen Reagan, © 2023 Sursum Corda Music (BMI).“Compline #11 - NOEL NOUVELET” Arrangement by Wen Reagan, © 2023 Sursum Corda Music (BMI).“Joy to the World (Adventian Version)” by Blacknall Arts. Arrangement by Wen Reagan, © 2022 Sursum Corda Music (BMI). TEXTS:The liturgical words for this podcast series include original phrasings, but were primarily curated and designed from several public domain sources, including “An Order for Compline” from the Anglican and Episcopal Book of Common Prayer and collects collected from Grace Cathedral and the University of Notre Dame. SOUNDS:The following sound effects were used in this podcast series and are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, PO Box 1866, Mountain View, CA 94042, USA."Door, Front, Opening, A.wav" by InspectorJ (www.jshaw.co.uk) of Freesound.org."Door, Front, Closing, A.wav" by InspectorJ (www.jshaw.co.uk) of Freesound.org.“06 – Crackling Candle.wav” by 14GPanskaLetko_Dominik of Freesound.org.“Lights a Candle Light with a Match” by straget of Freesound.org.The following sound effects were used in this podcast series and are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, PO Box 1866, Mountain View, CA 94042, USA.“Soft Shoes Walking on a Dirt Road” by Nagwense of

This is the Wednesday evening liturgy during Christmastide for the Compline podcast from the Center for Worship and the Arts at Samford University. For more about the Center for Worship and the Arts, as well as the resources we provide, visit us at https://www.samford.edu/worship-arts/. CREDITS:© 2023 Center for Worship and the Arts, Samford University.Engineered and produced by Wen Reagan for the Center for Worship and the Arts at Samford University. SPOKEN WORD:Wen Reagan, Stacy Love, Tracy Hanrahan, Meagan Kennedy, Pierce Moffett, Eden Walker. MUSIC:“Compline #10 – Christmastide Medley” by Wen Reagan, © 2023 Sursum Corda Music (BMI).“Compline #11 - NOEL NOUVELET” Arrangement by Wen Reagan, © 2023 Sursum Corda Music (BMI).“Joy to the World (Adventian Version)” by Blacknall Arts. Arrangement by Wen Reagan, © 2022 Sursum Corda Music (BMI). TEXTS:The liturgical words for this podcast series include original phrasings, but were primarily curated and designed from several public domain sources, including “An Order for Compline” from the Anglican and Episcopal Book of Common Prayer and collects collected from Grace Cathedral and the University of Notre Dame. SOUNDS:The following sound effects were used in this podcast series and are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, PO Box 1866, Mountain View, CA 94042, USA."Door, Front, Opening, A.wav" by InspectorJ (www.jshaw.co.uk) of Freesound.org."Door, Front, Closing, A.wav" by InspectorJ (www.jshaw.co.uk) of Freesound.org.“06 – Crackling Candle.wav” by 14GPanskaLetko_Dominik of Freesound.org.“Lights a Candle Light with a Match” by straget of Freesound.org.The following sound effects were used in this podcast series and are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, PO Box 1866, Mountain View, CA 94042, USA.“Soft Shoes Walking on a Dirt Road” by Nagwense of

What's up, dudes? It's Christmas Eve! Yes, today begins Christmastide. To celebrate, I've got Thom Crowe from ‘Tis the Podcast and Art Kilmer from A Cozy Christmas with to talk about the Octavo Kalendas Ianuarii. The Proclamation of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ is a traditional chant that summarizes salvation history.Originally a part of the office of Prime, the chant was effectively abolished with the reform of Vatican II. That all changed in 1980 when Pope John Paul II re-introduced it prior to the Nativity of The Lord: Mass During the Night. While not in its traditional placement, it still ushered in Christmas grandly. One could even argue, it brought the Proclamation to more prominence.The chant runs through salvation history, beginning from the creation of the world. Then, it catalogues major events of the Judeo-Christian faith: the creation of man, the great flood, the sacrifice of Abraham, the exodus from Egypt. After listing David and Daniel, it segues into secular history with the Olympiad and the reign of Caesar Augustus. It ends on a triumphant note with the actual birth of Christ.Reciting tones? Yep. Historical Cliff's Notes? Uh huh. Elevated pitch for the mention of Christ's birth? Only if everyone has to genuflect as well! So grab your missal, put on your cassock and surplice, and pray along to this episode on the Kalenda: The Proclamation of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ!'Tis the PodcastFB: @tisthepodcastBlueSky: @tisthepodcast.bsky.socialIG: @tisthepodcastFB Group: Tis the Podcast GroupA Cozy ChristmasFB: @cozychristmaspodcastIG: @cozychristmaspodcastBlueSky: @cozychristmas.bsky.socialGive us a buzz! Send a text, dudes!Check us out on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Totally Rad Christmas Mall & Arcade, Teepublic.com, or TotallyRadChristmas.com! Later, dudes!

In this episode, host Jessica Woodbury returns for a special Christmas episode interviewing Maxine Hanks on the significance of Mary in the Christmas narrative. They discuss the importance of Advent as a time for personal reflection and spiritual growth, highlighting the metaphor of light emerging from darkness, or the spiritual womb. The conversation delves into the historical context of Christian Holy Days and how they can serve as spiritual practices, encouraging listeners to connect with the divine through rituals. Maxine also emphasizes that Mary's identity extends beyond motherhood, offering insights into her life through the Genesis of Mary, an apocryphal text. They delve into Mary's divine calling and her role as a priestess and prophetess. Additionally, they reflect on the concept of Mary as a queen and her connection to the divine feminine, as well as the idea of Sophia as a representation of higher femininity. The conversation encourages listeners to contemplate their own spiritual journeys and the divine light waiting to be born within them during the Christmas season.Maxine Hanks is on Instagram at www.instagram.com/mormonfeminisms

Join Desert Oracle Radio for an audio tour of how the American Desert celebrates Christmastime, or Christmastide. With festive soundscapes by RedBlueBlackSilver. Desert Oracle Radio (c)(p) 2017-2025 http://DesertOracle.comSupport the show: https://www.patreon.com/desertoracleSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How do we make space for our grief in the midst of what is often called a joyful season? What happens when the traditions we once cherished become painful reminders of those no longer at our table?Author Lanier Ivester understands the deep ache of loss and how it reshapes the holidays. After walking through multiple griefs—many within a single year—Lanier found herself reimagining the Christmas season traditions she once loved. Through that process, she discovered how to honor her grief while allowing traditions to evolve in ways that nurture connection and relationship.In her book, Glad and Golden Hours: A Companion for Advent and Christmastide, Lanier shares cherished practices—many of which were passed down from her mother and explores the rich theology of the Christmas season—a theology that embraces both joy and sorrow in sacred tension.In this episode, Davey sits down with Lanier to discuss how grief transforms our experience of the holidays, the invitation Advent offers to bring both our celebration and lament before God, and how to thoughtfully engage—or release—traditions after loss.If you or someone you love is hurting this Christmas, this conversation offers a gentle reminder: this season is spacious enough to hold your pain and still whisper the hope of Christ—Emmanuel, God with us. Website: https://lanierivester.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lanierivester/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LaniersBooks/ Book: Glad and Golden Hours: A Companion for Advent and Christmastide https://amzn.to/46TBND515% Code off any Glad and Golden Hours products at rabbitroom.com Code: KITCHEN15Every story shared through Nothing is Wasted becomes part of a living legacy and you can be a part. Join the legacy and give today: www.nothingiswasted.com/legacyofhope Stories matter. They inspire, uplift, and remind us we're not alone in our pain. Hope in the Valley: 42 Days of Healing Through the Psalms After Loss, Grief, and Tragedy is a new devotional featuring real stories from the Nothing Is Wasted community—offering strength, comfort, and hope in life's hardest moments. Order your copy today at: www.nothingiswasted.com/hopeinthevalley Wondering where to get started on your journey towards healing? Join Davey on our next FREE, live Zoom call and find out how you can begin to take back your story and how Nothing is Wasted can help. Sign up today at: www.nothingiswasted.com/starthere Looking for help in navigating the valley of pain and trauma? Our Nothing is Wasted coaches can help: www.nothingiswasted.com/coaching Want a pathway through your pain? The Pain to Purpose Course can lead you through all you've been through: www.nothingiswasted.com/paintoppurpose Please donate today at MercyShips.org/podcast Visit www.OmahaSteaks.com for 50% off sitewide during their Sizzle All the Way Sale. And for an extra $35 off, usepromo code FUN at checkout. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Historically, the celebration of Christmas and Carnival could overlap, and there is some reason to believe that customs associated with the former were inherited by the latter. A clue to this calendrical shift is offered by the Christmas song, “Carol of the Bells,” which uses the melody of an old Ukrainian New Year;s carol, one which dates back to the era in which New Year was celebrated in March (hence the springtime imagery of its original Ukrainian lyrics). Ukrainian postcard commemorating the folk song”Shchedryk” source of “Carol of the Bells” After a brief look at the variable date chosen to celebrate the New Year throughout European history, we take some time to rethink our modern understanding of what constitutes the Christmas season.  The common notion that the season ends on December 25 or January 1, possibly including the weeks leading up to those dates, in historical understanding, was reversed, with Dec. 25 representing the start of Christmastide, which at the very least ran until Epiphany (Jan. 6) or Candlemas (Feb. 2). The merger of Christmas and Carnival is not only aided by the historically later end date of Christmastide, but also the variable start date for Carnival. A number of regional dates preferred for those festivities are discussed with Germany’s initiation of festivities on November 11 being the earliest. Another reason to suspect that Carnival inherited some of its customs from Carnival is the carnivalesque quality of the Christmas Feast of Fools celebrated anywhere from Dec. 26 to January 6.  The wild, and sometimes dangerous revels celebrated on those days (and discussed in Episode 100) were ended by local bishops at roughly the same time that Carnival celebrations in France and Germany emerged, suggesting  re-channeling of anarchic impulses and customs. Our discussion then turns to the Roman New Year, the January Kalends, which likely inspired chaotic elements around the Feast of Fools. Of particular interest here are accounts of celebrants dressing in animal hides and horns. a custom that seems to have survived in certain Carnival traditions, including a number discussed in my Carnival book.  One of these, the Kurent of Slovenia, who happens to be rather similar to the Austrian Krampus across the country’s northern border. In Western Bulgaria too, another Carnival figure, the Kuker, in western regions also makes  use of animal hides and horns (as well as bells).  Bulgaria also provides us with an interesting 20th-century case study of the merger of the traditions of Christmas (or “Surva,” the Bulgarian New Year) merging with springtime fertility customs of Carnival, both strands being associated with the Kuker. We wrap up with a brief look at Slavic celebrations of the Christmas cycle as Koliade (various spellings), a name for Christmastide and the customs associated with it, particularly door-to-door “good luck visits” incorporating short plays and songs, kolyadka in Ukrainian, the original of “Carol of the Bells” (Shchedryk/”Bountiful Evening”) being one of these songs “New Year’s Carols” (Kolędnicy noworoczni) from “A Polish Year in Life, Tradition and Song” (1900). The sources for this show are Mr. Ridenour’s books The Krampus and the Old, Dark Christmas and A Season of Madness, Fools, Monsters, and Marvels of the Old-World Carnival.