Daybook: January 1, 2011

On this first day of 2011, I’m introducing a new feature here at TG Darkly:  the Daybook.  “Daybooks” are devotional guides that track the Church’s liturgical year.  They feature hymns, Psalms, scriptures, lives of the Saints, sermon quotes, and other prompts for spiritual reflection.  As part of my spiritual discipline for this year, I endeavor to offer a Daybook post each day.  I’ll be drawing from a variety of ancient and contemporary sources across denominational traditions.  I hope these posts will serve for readers as a window onto the richness of Christian spirituality and a pointer towards worship.

January 1, 2011

Lectionary

Luke 2:16-21: “So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.”

Life

Today the Eastern church celebrates the life of St. Basil the Great. Basil was a remarkably educated man, who had studied both in Athens and with the desert hermits in Egypt, Syria and Palestine before founding a monastery in Cappadocia. Threatened with persecution from the Arian emperor Valens, Basil responded, “If you take away my possessions, you will not enrich yourself, nor will you make me a pauper. You have no need of my old worn-out clothing, nor of my few books, of which the entirety of my wealth is comprised. Exile means nothing to me, since I am bound to no particular place. This place in which I now dwell is not mine, and any place you send me shall be mine. Better to say: every place is God’s.”

Prayer

May his Name remain for ever and be established as long as the sun endures;
may all the nations bless themselves in him and call him blessed.
Blessed be the Lord GOD, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous deeds!
And blessed be his glorious Name for ever!  and may all the earth be filled with
his glory.  Amen.  Amen.  (Ps. 72:17-19)