feast

The Transfiguration of our Lord

The Transfiguration of our Lord is a movable feast day that falls on the Last Sunday after the Epiphany. Today was the Feast of the Transfiguration in churches that use the three-year lectionary; churches that use the one-year lectionary celebrated the Transfiguration a few weeks ago, and are wrapping up their “Pre-Lent” season today. The Feast of the Transfiguration is also the Sunday that marks the “farewell to alleluias” before Lent begins.

The Transfiguration is found in all three synoptic Gospels (Matthew 17:1-13; Mark 9:2-12; and Luke 9:28-36).  It is in these readings that Jesus’s disciples see Him in His glory on the mountaintop, accompanied by Moses and Elijah. The disciples are so excited about the wonder that they are seeing that Peter even offers to construct three tents, that they might stay on the mountain. Like the day of Jesus’s baptism, God the Father speaks out from Heaven, and recognizes Who Jesus is, and tells the disciples to listen to Him.

As we prepare for Lent, we share the feelings of the disciples, as expressed in the words of the hymn, “‘Tis Good. Lord, To Be Here:”

Tis good, Lord, to be here!
Yet we may not remain;
But since Thou bidst us leave the mount,
Come with us to the plain. Lutheran Service Book #414, verse four

The Baptism of Our Lord

The Baptism of Our Lord is a movable feast day which is celebrated the first Sunday after the Epiphany. This means that it can fall anywhere from January 7th (if Epiphany is on a Saturday), to January 13th (as it does this year, when Epiphany was on a Sunday).

The baptism of Jesus is found in all three synoptic Gospels (Matthew 3:13-17; Mark 1:9-11; Luke 3:21-22), immediately before His temptation. In the Gospel of John, on the other hand, John the Baptist simply mentions what he observed when Jesus was baptized (John 1:32-34), but doesn’t give a firsthand account of the event.

Along with creation, this is the main time we see all three members of the Trinity present together. It also marks the beginning of the public ministry of Jesus.

December 25–The Nativity of Our Lord–Christmas Day

From the Treasury of Daily Prayer:

Advent prepared us for the coming of the Savior, the fulfillment of the promise first made in the Garden of Eden in response to the sin of Adam and Eve. Christmas is the day we celebrate that hope fulfilled. Jesus is the only hope of the world, because Jesus is the only one who could set us free from our sins. The commemoration of the Nativity of Our Lord puts before us once again the story of the long-awaited King who left His heavenly throne to enter time and become human like one of us. When God wanted to save you from your sins, He did not send a prophet or even an angel. He sent His own Son into human flesh just like ours.

December 24–The Nativity of Our Lord–Christmas Eve

From the Treasury of Daily Prayer:

The exact date of the birth of Jesus is not known, and during the earliest centuries of the Church it seemed to have little significance. This followed the Early Church’s tradition of honoring and celebrating a Christian’s death as his or her birth date into eternity and the ongoing presence of Jesus. Likewise the life, work, death, and resurrection of Christ was of much greater importance to early Christians than the early details of His life. The earliest nativity feast, Epiphany (January 6), celebrated both the birth and Baptism of Christ. However, in the fourth century great Christological controversies that questioned Christ’s divinity and humanity raced throughout Christianity. By AD 336, December 25 had been established in Rome as the celebration of Christ’s birth, a festival welcomed particularly by orthodox Christians in the West. From Rome, Christ’s natal festival spread throughout the Western Church. In Eastern traditions of the Church, Epiphany remains the principal celebration of the birth of Jesus.

The Holy Trinity

From the Treasury of Daily Prayer:

Having celebrated the greatest event in God’s history of salvation, the death and resurrection of the Son of God, we pause a bit at the Feast of the Holy Trinity to consider the essence of God. Certainly the essence of God is beyond our weak comprehension, but He has graciously revealed Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. When we want to summarize all the Holy Scripture says about God as our Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier, we call Him the Holy Trinity. Even beyond the glorious summary of the persons and work of God found in the Creeds, to speak of God as the Holy Trinity says at one time all the many things that the Scriptures say about God. Our worship never ceases confessing our faith in the triune God and giving glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.