St. Peter's Episcopal Church, Port Royal, VA
We are a small Episcopal Church on the banks of the Rappahannock in Port Royal, Virginia. We acknowledge that we gather on the traditional land of the first people of Port Royal, the Nandtaughtacund, and we respect and honor with gratitude the land itself, the legacy of the ancestors, and the life of the Rappahannock Tribe. Our mission statement is to do God’s Will in all that we do.
By Br. Geoffrey Tristram, SSJE
“Each of us can light a candle in the darkness and bring good news to a world in so much need. Is there someone I need to change the way I look at; to see them with God’s eyes? Or is there something bold and courageous I can do, to bring God’s Good News into this broken world which God so loves? Make good news this coming year.”
The designation of this day, Jan. 1 as Feast of the Holy Name is new to the 1979 revision of The Book of Common Prayer. Previous Anglican Prayer Books called it the Feast of the Circumcision. January 1 is the eighth day after Christmas Day, and Luke’s Gospel records that eight days after his birth the child was circumcised and given the name Jesus.
The liturgical commemoration of the circumcision probably originated in France. The Council of Tours in 567 enacted that the day was to be kept as a feast day to counteract pagan festivities connected with the beginning of the New Year.
The Feast of the Holy Name has been celebrated in the Roman Catholic Church (usually on January 1) since sometime in the 15th century. The Lutheran church also commemorates the Feast of the Holy Name on January 1.
The early preachers of the Gospel lay stress on the name as showing that Jesus was a man of flesh and blood, though also the son of God, who died a human death and was raised by God from death to be the Savior.
The name “Jesus” is from the Hebrew Joshua, or Yehoshuah, “Yahweh is salvation” or “Yahweh will save.” Devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus is particularly derived from Phil 2:9-11, which states that God highly exalted Jesus “and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth.” This scriptural devotion is paraphrased by the hymn “At the name of Jesus” (Hymn 435) in The Hymnal 1982. Other hymns that express devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus include “To the name of our salvation” (Hymns 248-249) and “Jesus! Name of wondrous love!” (Hymn 252).
1. St. Stephen Dec. 26
Stephen was among the earliest Christian martyrs, stoned to death for his beliefs. St. Paul not only witnessed the event but held the garments of those stoning Stephen which he regretted later on and carried a lasting sense of guilt.
2. John the Apostle Dec. 27
John, one of the Apostles, possibly lived the longest life associated with the Gospel, an author in that time and Evangelist spreading the Gospel to many in the Mediterranean area who were not of Jewish background. He is believed to be the only Apostle not martyred for the cause. He is associated with the Gospel that bears his name, 3 Epistles and possible authorship of the Book of Revelation.
3. Holy Innocents Dec. 28
The term “Holy Innocents” comes from Matthew’s Gospel Chapter 2. When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, King Herod, fearing for his throne, ordered that all the male infants of Bethlehem two years and younger be killed. These children are regarded as martyrs for the Gospel — “martyrs in fact though not in will.” This can be compared to the conduct of Pharoah in Exodus 1:16. “When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.”