Joshua 1,1-9. Circumcision of Jesus. New Year’s Day

 Joshua 1,1-9 0825

ut in nomine Iesu Neujahrstag 11

✠ Circumcision of the Lord, and Name of Jesus. W ✠

Christian III of Denmark, Christian ruler, ✠ 1559

1. January 2025

1. ℣ At the Name of Jesus:

    ℟ Every knee shall bow (Philippians 2,10 vul)

  ut in nomine Iesu omne genu flectatur. 

2. One year draws to a close and a new year begins. As Christians, each day of the year is grounded upon Yahweh. His Word exhorts us to daily be strong and courageous. Luther put it this way: let us fear, love and trust in the Lord. 

3. The sinful flesh hears fear and twists it to terror, love to loathing, trust to doubt. The sinful flesh runs from God, ignores Him and relishes in doing things its own way. The sinful flesh is a prodigal son or daughter who wastes away every blessing God bestows. Every sinful prodigal loathes to return to God because to return to God reveals that the sinner cannot live life on his or her own. 

4. Prodigals cannot evade God. He knows where we are and the dire straights our sins put us in. God is patient, kind and merciful. He delights in making His presence known in our lives. As He delivered Israel from Egyptian tyranny and slavery, so He delivers the sinner from the ravages of sin. 

5. Where we are weak, Christ is strong. Where we are cowardly, Christ is courageous. Christ’s birth brings peace on earth, peace to us. The start of a new year is another promise of peace. Christ exhorts us to rest in His strength and delight in His courage. 

6. „The year that lies ahead well have the oft repeated and the ordinary, as well as the new and the unique. We shall live it all ‘in the Lord’—the days we find ourselves overflowing with good things, we live them all ‘in the Lord’“ (Nagel 40). 

7. Now greet the swiftly changing year,

With joy and penitence sincere.

Rejoice! Rejoice! With thanks embrace

Another year of grace. (lsb 896,1 2026 Cithara Sanctorum 1636).  Amen.

Nagel, Norman. Selected Sermons of Norman Nagel: From Valparaiso to St. Louis. Frederick W. Baue, Ed. Copyright © 2004 Concordia Publishing House.