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Second Sunday after Christmas

Preaching
Second Sunday after Christmas - A
Jeremiah 31:7-14
Elizabeth Achtemeier
Preaching and Reading the Old Testament Lessons
With an Eye to the New
Jeremiah 31 is a part of what has been known as the Little Book of Comfort that is made up of chapters 30 and 31 in the Jeremiah corpus, and that announces the Lord's future salvation of the people whom he has sent into Assyrian and Babylonian exiles on account of their sin. The introduction to chapter 31, verse 1, states that the salvation is intended for both the northern and southern kingdoms of Israel, and 31:2--20 are specifically directed to the peoples of the northern kingdom. Thus, we have mention of Samaria (v. 5), Jacob (vv. 7, 11), Ephraim (vv. 6, 9, 18, 20), and Rachel (v.
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It is a well-known cliché that “God never gives us more than we can handle”, but I have sometimes found that not to be so. When my youngest brother died of brain cancer at age five, it was more than I could handle. When my first husband was emotionally and physically abusive, it was more than I could handle. When my second husband and I lost our twin sons at birth, it was more than I could handle. The COVID pandemic was more than we could handle. Wars and violence are often more than we can handle. Homelessness, poverty, grief, and loss are often more than we can handle.
John N. Brittain
I suppose we are all a little bit nervous about the prospect of a sermon on a Bible story as familiar and sometimes as overworked as the Parable of the Prodigal Son. "What can I possibly say that hasn't been said before?" And I know what's going through your minds: "Are we going to be subjected to the same old sermon yet another time?" Confronting a familiar Bible passage like this mid-Lent really serves to address the discipline of reading Scripture as part of our devotional life, particularly passages that are very familiar.
Charles D. Reeb
A. A. Milne, the creator of Winnie the Pooh, wrote a simple, yet telling poem in his work, Now We Are Six:

When I was One, I had just begun.
When I was Two, I was nearly new.
When I was Three, I was hardly Me.
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The Village Shepherd

Janice B. Scott
Call to worship:

 While the Prodigal Son was still far off, his father saw him, ran to him, put his arms around him and kissed him. In our worship today, let us turn to God so that he may run to us, put his arms around and kiss us.

Invitation to confession:

 Jesus, for the times when we run away from you,

Lord, have mercy.

 Jesus, for the times when we have wasted our inheritance on dissolute living,

Christ, have mercy.

 Jesus, when we return to you,

Lord, have mercy.

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