For 23 December 2016, December 23, based on Luke 1: 57-66
Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her.
 On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him Zechariah after his father. But his mother said, “No; he is to be called John.†They said to her, “None of your relatives has this name.†Then they began motioning to his father to find out what name he wanted to give him. He asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.†And all of them were amazed. Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue freed, and he began to speak, praising God. Fear came over all their neighbors, and all these things were talked about throughout the entire hill country of Judea. All who heard them pondered them and said, “What then will this child become?†For, indeed, the hand of the Lord was with him.
Scripture passage from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright 1989, 1993, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
About Deborah Wilhelm
Dr. Deborah Wilhelm is an Adjunct Professor of Preaching and Evangelization at the Aquinas Institute of Theology and a lecturer in theology at the Loyola New Orleans Institute for Ministry. Her most recent book is Preaching Racial Justice, which she edited with Fr. Gregory Heille and Fr. Maurice Nutt. An active preacher, teacher, writer, retreat leader, and Camaldolese Benedictine Oblate, she lives and prays among the rivers, trees, and blackberry vines of rural Oregon.
23 Dec 2016
Let God Name that New Life
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Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her.
 On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him Zechariah after his father. But his mother said, “No; he is to be called John.†They said to her, “None of your relatives has this name.†Then they began motioning to his father to find out what name he wanted to give him. He asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.†And all of them were amazed. Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue freed, and he began to speak, praising God. Fear came over all their neighbors, and all these things were talked about throughout the entire hill country of Judea. All who heard them pondered them and said, “What then will this child become?†For, indeed, the hand of the Lord was with him.
Scripture passage from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright 1989, 1993, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
About Deborah Wilhelm
Dr. Deborah Wilhelm is an Adjunct Professor of Preaching and Evangelization at the Aquinas Institute of Theology and a lecturer in theology at the Loyola New Orleans Institute for Ministry. Her most recent book is Preaching Racial Justice, which she edited with Fr. Gregory Heille and Fr. Maurice Nutt. An active preacher, teacher, writer, retreat leader, and Camaldolese Benedictine Oblate, she lives and prays among the rivers, trees, and blackberry vines of rural Oregon.