Dear Redeemed of God, God has a name! And it is that name by which you are saved. Y’shua, the name which means YHWH is salvation—Iesos in Greek, Joshua in one form in English, Jesus as English speakers commonly call Him. YHWH saves, YHWH is Savior, God is Savior!

Born in a barn in Bethlehem, the Son of God is one with man, and like man, He takes a name. It was the name given to Him by Himself through the messenger Gabriel to both Mary, His mother, and Joseph, His guardian. “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS.” (Luke 1:30-31) “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:20-21) He shall be called Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.

I actually went into the office today. I needed to do so in order to write the sermon for tomorrow's Divine Service. I went in with one idea for a sermon; what I ended up writing was something completely different. I find it interesting when that happens. I also put together half sheet handouts for tomorrow and Epiphany.

I made a trip to Walmart to get a few fixings for tonight and tomorrow. I found some cupcakes decorated with the Minions from Despicable Me 2. They happen to be some of Tirzah's favorite fictional characters.

Back home, I texted a couple of folks to determine whether or not we should have Bible Study this week. We decided to cancel.

Then, it was time to get stuff ready for tonight's activities. As usual, we had snacks for supper: cocktail sausages, chips and dips, tater tots, nachos, and carrots and dip...well, carrots were available.

We were going to watch the ball drop in New York for Eastern New Year, but the station cut out with a minute to go for 10 minutes of uninterrupted news...great. Oh well, the kids will still go to bed, as we have church in the morning.

I don't know if I'll last to midnight or not, though...

Our high today was in the low single digits. It got above 0, but not for long. As I write this, it's about -17 outside.

Our garbage was supposed to have been picked up last week, but the roads in town were really icy, so they canceled pickup for our town. We're normally picked up every two weeks, but we were added to the rotation today. I wasn't going to hold my breath about them coming out today, but they did.

Beyond that, I didn't want to venture outside, so I stayed home today. I did a little thinking and planning for Thursday's sermon, having already come up with an idea for Sunday's on Sunday. Tomorrow, I do plan on going into the office to write the sermon.

I played a little more Minecraft with the kids, developing my world a little more, restructuring my rail system, and in some ways, making it more complex.

To relax on my day off, I showed off what I had created in Minecraft to the kids. They were in awe of what I had learned to do with rails and minecarts. They played with me some as I continued to improve upon what I had built. Basically, the day was spent in that.

I played a game of NHL 15 this morning before church. Kicked the snot out of the Pittsburgh Penguins playing as the Tampa Bay Lightning. I meant to charge the controller when I was done, but forgot to plug it in.

After getting ready for church, we headed over that way. I was surprised to be the first ones there this morning, but that gave me time to change the paraments quickly to red since we were celebrating Holy Innocents today (sermon posted). The crowd was a little sparse today, especially compared to what we had on Christmas.

There wasn't any catechesis today. I scheduled today off with Christmas being just four days ago. After church, we went to Safeway.

After lunch, the kids finally played Minecraft on the PS4. I don't get the game, but I'm thinking about giving it a try just so I know what's going on.

After supper, we all had ice cream. We got some fixings for it at Safeway. It made for a nice treat.

Now, we're all tired and just about ready for bed.

Four days ago, you just finished singing this wonderful hymn about the heralding angels’ message to the shepherds in the field as Jesus was born:

Hail, the heavenly Prince of Peace!
Hail, the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings,
Risen with healing in His wings.
Mild He leaves His throne on high,
Born that man no more may die;
Born to raise the sons of earth;
Born to give them second birth.
Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the new-born King!” (“Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”, TLH 94:3)

No sooner do we close the hymnal on that stanza and we come to the Fourth Day of Christmas, “celebrated” as the feast of the Holy Innocents, Martyrs. As you heard in the text appointed for this day,

Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying:
“A voice was heard in Ramah,
Lamentation, weeping, and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children,
Refusing to be comforted,
Because they are no more.

The Prince of Peace is “born that man no more may die,” and today we “celebrate” the deaths of the male children in Bethlehem two-years old and younger. Jesus’ birth and the celebration thereof is marked by slaughter, there is blood on His birth.

"Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying:
'A voice was heard in Ramah,
Lamentation, weeping, and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children,
Refusing to be comforted,
Because they are no more.'" - Matthew 2:16-18

Lully, lulla, thow littell tine child,
By by, lully, lullay, thow littell tyne child,
By by, lully, lullay!

O sisters too, how may we do
For to preserve this day
This pore yongling for whom we do singe
By by, lully, lullay?

Herod, the king, in his raging,
Chargid he hath this day
His men of might in his owne sight
All yonge children to slay,—

That wo is me, pore child, for thee,
And ever morne and may
For thi parting nether say nor singe,
By by, lully, lullay.

Alright, so this update is just going to be this week. For the last four days of the year, I’ll be doing individual updates like I did to start the year off. As for this week, it was a pretty busy one which ended with a time of relaxation with family and a friend. But the busyness is to be expected with Christmas being in the week. A service on December 24, another on the 25th, and that’s in addition to what normally happens on Sunday.

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us...”

How often have you thought about those words from today’s Gospel? I mean, really thought about them?

It’s so easy this time of year to get caught up in the Christmas story as told by St. Luke. Pregnant Mary, no room in the inn, finding room in a stable, giving birth, manger, swaddling cloths, angels singing, shepherds wondering. “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men.” (Luke 2:14) These are all great things, things to marvel over, things to rejoice about. “For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:11)

But John gives us a different perspective. He fills in the blanks that, as we read Luke, don’t realize are there. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” The Word of God is God; practically inexplicable and wholly incomprehensible beyond what John says. There is another person to this Godhead, the Word, and He is God. He was there in the beginning; of course He was, since He is God.

The family made their way from Nazareth to Bethlehem for the census. Mary was tremendously pregnant; she could give birth at any moment. They couldn’t find room in the inn—it’s a small town, but that’s where they had to go to register, and so did many, many others. They find a place to stay; it’s warm and dry, but surrounded by barn animals. Mary gives birth, wraps her Son in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger.

Angels sang. The whole creation rejoices at the birth of the Son. Shepherds made their way to see the sight of which they were told. What do they see?