Anno Domini Podcast: Recent Episodes
Joe Stout
A podcast dedicated to the supremacy of Christ over all things, including our days, weeks, and months. We explore how Christ is revealed through the cyclical life of the church calendar year. Anno Domini in the Year of our Lord.
Often hymns both old and new speak of going to heaven when you die as though heaven is our final home. Scripture speaks of something else though. It speaks of our life being a seed that, when planted in the ground, waits patiently for the day when it will rise again.
Hello everyone and Welcome to episode #16 of the Anno Domini Podcast. A podcast dedicated to the supremacy of Christ over all things including our days, weeks, and months.
Join me as we explore how Christ is revealed through the cyclical life of the church calendar year. We’ll discover how this calendar once structured culture and how it can again. We’ll also discuss practical ways to observe and celebrate these holy days in our quest to glorify God and live the good life in the midst of all good He has given us.
The James Jordan article I reference: http://www.biblicalhorizons.com/open-book/no-28-concerning-halloween/
It has been over 5 months since our last episode of the Anno Domini podcast. During those 5 months, we have been observing the period of the Church calendar known as Ordinary time. We are approaching the end of this period with the coming celebration of Reformation Day and All Saints Day. On these days, we celebrate the life of the church as it has grown in maturity through its reformation as well as the lives of those saints that have gone on to glory from Abel to Zachariah and from Stephan to the present. Historical The calendar can be divided roughly into two halves. The first half, beginning at Advent, marks the life of Christ and includes celebrations such as Christmas, Epiphany, Easter, Pentecost, etc. During the first half of the church year we celebrate the life of Christ. This is a season of special days and feasts: a festal or festive time. The second half of the church year is marked by the Ordinal numbers of weeks going back to Pentecost. Ordinal numbers signify a position relative to something else. Therefore, Last Sunday, October 25th, was the 21st Sunday after Pentecost. This ordinary time is certainly not mundane or boring, or forgettable, but simply isn’t marked by any feasts. Instead, each Lord’s Day is marked with it’s ordinal position relative to Pentecost. This is important because while the first half of the Church year marks the life of Christ, the second half marks the work of the Spirit, given at Pentecost. This is the work of the Spirit as He brings about transformation through the ministry of the Church during Ordinary time. Extraordinary things can happen during Ordinary time which we will soon see.
This leads us into the two holidays which mark the beginning of the end of Ordinary time; Reformation Day on October 31st and All Saints Day on November 1st.
Let’s start with Reformation Day, this actually was liturgically observed last Sunday October 25th. If you attend a reformed church, it is likely they referred to it as Reformation Sunday. Often, reformed churches take the entire month of October to mark the reformation but the actual day on the calendar is this Saturday the 31st. On Reformation Day, we celebrate the glorious Protestant Reformation that is officially marked as starting on October 31st, 1517. This is the day in history, in the midst of Ordinary time, that Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the castle church door in (vit-en-berg) Wittenberg Germany. Within this document, Luther took an extraordinary step of faith by calling out the massive corruption within the catholic church at the time. Luther specifically took issue with the church selling indulgences. Believers were promised that buy indulgences would get their loved ones out of purgatory and into heaven. This of course is high-handed, oppressive, and shameless wickedness and Luther’s extraordinary act of courage began in earnest a protest that had been forming in the catho
The bottom line is that our allegiance is to our God and Creator and to His people. When we sin it is against Him. When we are forgiven it is because of His mercy. When we walk in freedom it is because of His grace. A double portion. This gospel is independent of any nation, tribe, or tongue. We are Christians first. Period. Nothing should come before our unity as Christians.
Song: We All Believe in One True God Passage: Genesis 1-2:4, Acts 2 14a, 22-36, Matthew 28:16-20 (download lectionary here)
Hello everyone and Welcome to episode #15 of the Anno Domini Podcast. A podcast dedicated to the supremacy of Christ over all things including our days, weeks, and months.
Join me as we explore how Christ is revealed through the cyclical life of the church calendar year. We’ll discover how this calendar once structured culture and how it can again. We’ll also discuss practical ways to observe and celebrate these holy days in our quest to glorify God and live the good life in the midst of all good He has given us.
Last week I said that Pentecost might be the most important day we mark on the Church Calendar. My reasoning is that only with the coming of the Holy Spirit, are those of us who belong to Christ are actually given new hearts. Jesus said that we would be born again by the Spirit. The Father sends the Son. The Son atones for the sins of His people, and the Spirit gives them new hearts so that they can approach the holiness of the Father. It is this beautiful trinitarian reality that we celebrate on Holy Trinity Sunday. Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, living in perfect harmony, three in one and one in three. The triune God head. Practical Trinity Sunday is here. We are now beginning a new time within the Church Calendar; Ordinary Time. While the first half of the Church year focuses on the Life of Jesus, the second half focuses on the life of the Church now that the Spirit has come and filled our hearts with love of God and love of His people. This is where we get our idea of things being ordinary and special. The first half is special because it is all about the life of Christ, the second half is ordinary, or numbered, because we, the saints that comprised His bride, the Church, are being transformed into a better representation of Him. Ordinary isn’t boring, in fact, without ordinary you don’t have special. Things are only special if they are set against ordinary things. We are now living in the time of Pentecost and therefore we number our weeks as they correspond to the Pentecost Sunday when the Spirit was given to us. In this way we balance our focus on the life of Christ and the life of Christ’s people as they try and become more like Him. Biblical Each episode of the Anno Domini podcast, we try and look at some or all of the readings found in the church lectionary. For those of you who are new, the lectionary is simply a prepared set of readings that are connected in a germane way to the day or week of the Church Calendar. This is a set group of readings that ALL the church is reading together regardless personal devotions. Usually there is an Old Testament Reading, A Psalm, a Gospel passage, and an Epistle reading. These passages usually share commonalities although sometimes you have to work to spot them. For Trinity Sunday the passages are from Genesis 1-2:4, Matthew 28:16-20 and Acts 2:14a, 22-36. I will actually be reading snippets of each of these passages to highlight why they were chosen for Trinity Sunday. Let’s start with the passage from Genesis.
Genesis 1:26-28 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creep
On Pentecost we celebrate an unraveling of the curse of Babel, tongue’s in Christ are now united in love and truth instead of divided and confused. On this day we celebrate that when the Spirit comes, people are changed, lives are renewed, and the Gospel marches on in victory.
Song: Come Down O Love Divine Passage: Numbers 11:24-30, Acts 2 1-21, John 7:37-39 Hello everyone and Welcome to episode #14 of the Anno Domini Podcast. A podcast dedicated to the supremacy of Christ over all things including our days, weeks, and months.
Join me as we explore how Christ is revealed through the cyclical life of the church calendar year. We’ll discover how this calendar once structured culture and how it can again. We’ll also discuss practical ways to observe and celebrate these holy days in our quest to glorify God and live the good life in the midst of all good He has given us.
Pentecost has come! Christ is Risen, is Ascended and is Reigning, and now in the kindness of God the Spirit has been poured out onto all believers. Just as at the beginning of the world the Spirit hovered over the waters of the deep and from the formless and void was brought forth a new creation, on Pentecost, the Spirit hovers over His lost children and recreates them into living sacrifices fitted with tongues of fire from heaven. On Pentecost we celebrate an unraveling of the curse of Babel, tongue’s in Christ are now united in love and truth instead of divided and confused. On this day we celebrate that when the Spirit comes, people are changed, lives are renewed, and the Gospel marches on in victory. On the Day of Pentecost, that great vision of hope that came to Moses in the wilderness became not just a hope only but a reality. What was his vision and hope and how was it fulfilled? That is what we will find out together as we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit on this glorious Day of Pentecost. Biblical There are three major readings for Pentecost. One is from of course Acts 2 where we learn about the story. However there is an Old Testament reading as well from Numbers 11 as well as a 3 verse section from the Gospel of John. All together it is Numbers 11, Acts 2, and John 7. In Acts chapter 2 we read the story of the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. The believers are together with one accord in Jerusalem during the most holy week of the Jewish calendar. Jerusalem is filled with people from all over the known world. All of a sudden there is a mighty wind. This wind however isn’t whistling through the eaves of the house, oh no this wind is INSIDE the house and what’s more coming with the tremendous wind comes FIRE! This fire descends and rests on each of the heads of the believers and they are filled with the Holy Ghost. They then began to speak in a variety of real languages which, not by accident, were spoken by the multitudes that had come from all over the region to Jerusalem. We are given an extensive list of the many nations present each of which is hearing the gospel preached in his or her own language for the very first time. Some marvel that plain Galileans could speak fluently the many languages present. Some mock, and explain it away by saying they were drunk. And then Peter rises and gives his first real sermon preaching the good news that God has come to dwell among us and made His Son Jesus both Lord and Christ. The multitudes are convicted and 3000 souls were converted.
This is familiar ground to many of us. There is a temptation though to fall into the modern day trap of thinking atomistically instead of holistically. To the modern man, everything can be reduced to atoms or at least to the simplest of its parts. We say you’re sick because a tiny virus has infected you. We say you’re healthy because tiny building blocks
"...the 40 days following that glorious Easter morning are filled with joy unspeakable, countless alleluias, and hope that does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts as a result of the Resurrection of Christ. However His resurrection was a part of His over all mission to save the world. The next step following Resurrection is Ascension and glory!"
Listen to the hymn! Read the podcast transcript! Welcome to episode #13 of the Anno Domini Podcast. A podcast dedicated to the supremacy of Christ over all things including our days, weeks, and months.
Join me as we explore how Christ is revealed through the cyclical life of the church calendar year. We’ll discover how this calendar once structured culture and how it can again. We’ll also discuss practical ways to observe and celebrate these holy days in our quest to glorify God and live the good life in the midst of all good He has given us.
Happy Ascension Day to you! It has been over 6 weeks since the last episode of Anno Domini and in that time we continue to celebrate the resurrection of Christ. During family worship I often will begin with the words “Christ is Risen, Alleluia!” to which my wife and children reply “He is risen indeed, Alleluia!” While Lent, the 40 days preceding Easter are marked with repentance, and a sort of bittersweet dread knowing that the cross awaits, the 40 days following that glorious Easter morning are filled with joy unspeakable, countless alleluias, and hope that does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts as a result of the Resurrection of Christ. However His resurrection was a part of His over all mission to save the world. The next step following Resurrection is Ascension and glory!
Historical / Practical
When we look through the list of commonly celebrated Church Calendar days, Ascension Day and the following Ascension Sunday are two days that are often altogether ignored by Christians. It’s very rare for a church to have an Ascension Day service and most churches won’t even give it any mention on the proceeding Sunday. The significance is often not understood as celebrating this day has fallen out of practice and because of this, one of the most important days of the Christian calendar is missed and often without a second thought. I hope to change that perspective in some small way today. So let me begin with this, just as Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness alone, fasting, and being tempted by the devil, so now having been raised to life and having been given a glorified body, He will spend His last 40 days on earth fellowshipping with His people, eating and drinking, and enjoying His victory over death. At the conclusion of these 40 days we are told in the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles that Jesus was taken up in and received into a cloud of glory and the disciples were unable to see Him. He was received into the glory cloud and the two cherubim flanking the entrance into this glory cloud, came and promised the disciples that He would one day come again in this same way. For Jesus, after He ascended into glory, we are told throughout the New Testament that He was seated at the right hand of God to reign over everything until He has put the last enemy under His feet, death itself.
For most Christians, this is a fairly familiar story although hardly celebrated. While the coming of Christ into the world gets a LOT of attention, Here at the Anno Domini podcast, we did 8 episodes during Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany and yet here we’re only doing 1 episode for Christ’s victorious ascension and His enthronement over all creation. Why do we ignore what could be argued is the most important part of Christ’s life, His coronation as King? Good Friday and Easte
"The resurrection is the axis on which the entirety of Christianity hangs. As Paul tells us, if Christ has not risen then we, Christians, ought to be more pitied than anyone else. We are delusional beings following nothing but a mirage. Throw out the resurrection and you are left with an empty shell that is no more unique, redemptive, or salvific than every other religion the deceived of this world have to offer."
Easter Sunday Song: Christ Jesus Lay in Deaths Strong Bands Passage: Exodus 14 + Psalm 16 Hello everyone and Welcome to episode #12 of the Anno Domini Podcast. A podcast dedicated to the supremacy of Christ over all things including our days, weeks, and months.
Join me as we explore how Christ is revealed through the cyclical life of the church calendar year. We’ll discover how this calendar once structured culture and how it can again. We’ll also discuss practical ways to observe and celebrate these holy days in our quest to glorify God and live the good life in the midst of all good He has given us.
Well folks this is the day we’ve all been waiting for. The day when Christ, who came in the very flesh of man yet was also also fully God conquered death and the grave and rose from the tomb. Death could not hold Him. Christ is risen! Practical Easter Sunday. Resurrection Sunday. The day in which Christians everywhere can offer one another the following greeting “Christ is risen” and they can be certain to receive back the glorious reply “He is risen indeed.” Our faith rests upon the very real, historical, and literal resurrection of the body of Christ. As the Apostles Creed so aptly puts it
“I believe in God, the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth;
And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord;
who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, dead, and buried.
He descended into hell.
The third day he rose again from the dead.
He ascended into heaven,
and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father almighty.
From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.”
The resurrection is the axis on which the entirety of Christianity hangs. As Paul tells us, if Christ has not risen then we, Christians, ought to be more pitied than anyone else. We are delusional beings following nothing but a mirage. Throw out the resurrection and you are left with an empty shell that is no more unique, redemptive, or salvific than every other religion the deceived of this world have to offer.
We need creed’s like the Apostles Creed because we are constantly being tempted to water down the potency of the gospel. The Apostles Creed is a line in the sand stating, here is where the faith lives and dies. To compromise on anything in this creed is to compromise the gospel itself. But more than creeds, we need a Savior to whom the creed really belongs. Having faith is nothing special…many people have incredible faith. No it is not the amount of faith we have that matters, it is in whom we place our faith that makes the difference between right and wrong, life and death, heaven and hell. If we have but the tiniest scrap of faith, say faith the size of a mustard seed, faith that is nothing to brag about but that faith is placed directly in the loving care of Christ, we are promised there is nothing that cannot be done. Entire mountain ranges can be torn from their roots and drowned in the sea should God so desire. Christians have the best creeds because they are true they are not only beautiful and awe inspiring but they barely begin to scratch the glory of the one to whom they are written about. Biblical There are 10 passages to be read on Easter. 5 on Easter m
The path toward salvation involves our King suffering execution for crimes He didn’t commit, sins He was not guilty of, and punishment He did not deserve. This is the Good News that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. And He died for us, on Good Friday.
Good Friday
Song: Stricken Smitten and Afflicted
Passage: Isaiah 53
Hello everyone and welcome to episode #11 of the Anno Domini Podcast. Today’s episode is all about Good Friday. It is common to wonder why the Church would celebrate the sorrows of the cross. the The beautiful polyphonic choir you are enjoying is singing a rendition of Psalm 51 written in 1630 by Gregorio Allegri titled: Miserere mei, Deus which is my clumsy pronunciation of the Latin phrase: “Have mercy on me, O God”
This song was originally written to be exclusively sung in the Sistine Chapel Holy Week. Transcribing the song was forbidden and so only those who happened to be present in the Sistine Chapel during Holy Week would ever hear this song. That is until a 14 year old boy, visiting Rome from Austria attended a Wednesday night service during Holy Week and heard the song sung. He then transcribed the song on paper later that night entirely from memory. The forbidden song was now available for the world to hear and enjoy. Oh and the 14 year old genius who accomplished this? His name was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Practical
Good Friday is the time on the Church Calendar year when Christians remember their Lord in His sorrow. Christ was deserted after giving His disciples the “new” commandment to love one another. Instead of loving Him their King with their actions, they all fled and even Peter denied knowing Him. This was a bitter time in the history of the world. As Jesus said speaking to the Jews “But this is your hour--when darkness reigns." The perfect and spotless lamb of God would be
Good Friday usually involves gathering together for an evening service. Parishioners enter quietly and leave quietly. There is a atmosphere of sobriety and somberness. This isn’t the service for glad handing and swapping fishing stories with your social groups. It is a time of mourning and pondering upon the wickedness of mankind and the truly heroic nature of God’s work here on earth. This day is called Good Friday for that very reason. Although mankind, left to our own devices and desires is very bad, God sent His Son into the world to save the world. The path toward salvation involves our King suffering execution for crimes He didn’t commit, sins He was not guilty of, and punishment He did not deserve. This is the Good News that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. And He died for us, on Good Friday.
Biblical
Our biblical portion from the lectionary is found at the end of Isaiah 52 and all of chapter 53. Let’s hear the word of God and discuss it.
Behold, my servant shall act wisely;
he shall be high and lifted up,
and shall be exalted.
As many were astonished at you—
his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance,
and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—
so shall he sprinkle many nations.
Kings shall shut their mouths because of him,
for that which has not been told them they see,
and that which they have not heard they understand.
Who has believed what he has heard from us?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquit
"We should be eating good bread, hearty chunks that satisfy and not puffed rounds of styrofoam. We should be drinking the potent cup of blessing which in Scripture is always wine and it should be good wine. We should be feasting because we were at one time at war with God. But now by the broken body and shed blood of Christ we can come in peace to the Lord's Table."
Maundy Thursday Song: How Sweet and Awful is the Place Passage: 1 Corinthians 23-32 Hello everyone and Welcome to episode #10 of the Anno Domini Podcast. A podcast dedicated to the supremacy of Christ over all things including our days, weeks, and months.
Join me as we explore how Christ is revealed through the cyclical life of the church calendar year. We’ll discover how this calendar once structured culture and how it can again. We’ll also discuss practical ways to observe and celebrate these holy days in our quest to glorify God and live the good life in the midst of all good He has given us.
We are well into Holy Week and with the Kingly and Joy Filled entrance of the previous Palm Sunday comes the sinking realization that our King of Glory, received with the praise and adulation fit for the King of Kings, will soon be Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted, stripped of His glory and will be nailed to the cross at the hands of wicked men. As awful as this, Christ knew this was coming. He told His disciples in Luke chapter 18 verse 31-34 “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished. For He will be delivered to the Gentiles and will be mocked and insulted and spit upon. They will scourge Him and kill Him. And the third day He will rise again.” This means Jesus knew exactly what was coming. He knew the agonizing death that awaited Him. He knew that He was about to become the vilest of sin for His people. The spotless Lamb of God, would take on and bear every sin, every single sin of His people. Even those sins that seem to our dulled senses “small”, He would bear for our sake. He knew also His own Father in Heaven would turn His back on Him in Justice leaving Him utterly forsaken. Jesus knew all of these things but instead of turning inward, instead of turning the focus on Him and the monument task that awaited Him in just a few short hours. Well instead of having a pity party, being in a bad mood, ranting, letting off some steam, having a few drinks to relax….instead of doing any of those things, Christ sat down with His disciples and washed them, and taught them, and fed them. He gave His church one of our most treasured gifts on that most Holy Thursday…Maundy Thursday. Practical Maundy Thursday which is also called Holy Thursday is celebrated the day before Good Friday. The word Maundy is an ancient word that comes from Middle English and Old French words that and is based on the Latin root that means “commandment.” It refers to the teaching of Christ during the Last Supper when Jesus tells His disciples “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Christ was emphatic during His earthly ministry that He did not come to set aside or change the law of God. He fully submitted Himself to His Father’s Law. Except for those parts that found their completion in His death, burial, and resurrection, things like dietary restrictions, ceremonial laws of uncleanness, sacrificial ordinances, etc., we are promised that Heaven and Earth will pass away before the smallest part of God’s Law passes away. Therefore when Christ tells us He is giving us a “new” commandment we should try and understand this as not “new” as in novel but new as in the way Christ comes to make ”all things new.” In other words, He
"As Jesus comes into Jerusalem, riding on the tops of the trees just as He had done against the Philistines, we are told He curses the fig tree symbolizing the nation of Israel, weeps over the coming destruction of Jerusalem, and then goes on to do battle with those who would turn his Father's house into a den of thieves. This is a King going forth to war. "
Palm Sunday Song: The Son of God goes Forth to War Passage: Psalm 118:19-29 Hello everyone and Welcome to episode #9 of the Anno Domini Podcast. A podcast dedicated to the supremacy of Christ over all things including our days, weeks, and months.
Join me as we explore how Christ is revealed through the cyclical life of the church calendar year. We’ll discover how this calendar once structured culture and how it can again. We’ll also discuss practical ways to observe and celebrate these holy days in our quest to glorify God and live the good life in the midst of all good He has given us.
Welcome back friends. My name is Joe Stout and my wife Elizabeth and I and our 8 children live in the wet and occasionally sunny Pacific Northwest. For those of you who may be new, this podcast, Anno Domini which literally means “In the Year of our Lord”, this podcast explores the year of the Lord as it has been traditionally marked on the Church Calendar. Our first episode started at the beginning of the Church New Year which this year fell on December 1st. Unlike our modern tradition of marking January 1st as the new beginning, the Church calendar marks the first Sunday of Advent, or the coming of Christ unto a dark world, as the perpetual new beginning. We begin by celebrating the coming of Christ in His various ways. Since the dates are different each year, this cycle was from December 1st through December 23rd. After Advent of course we celebrate Christmastide or Christmastime with Christmas Eve, and then all 12 days of Christmas. We then move into the period of Epiphany, the revealing of Christ unto a broken world which falls from January 6th through February 25th this season. Ash Wednesday, which this year fell on February 26th marks the beginning of the Season of Lent, the season in which we find ourselves now. As I remarked in the last episode, “the time of lent precedes the victory of Christ on the cross…Jesus was tempted for 40 days … was humbled to the point of death on a cross and during all of this faithfully obeyed His Father in Heaven. Because He was faithful in this, God raised Him up to glory and Christ calls us to follow the same path.”
As we enter Holy Week, the culmination of Lent, let us remember the promise of God found James 4:10, “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.” Practical As I pointed out in the last episode, The period from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday is 40 days not including the Lord’s Day each week. This means that Palm Sunday is a unique holy day in that it falls within the Lenten Season but being that it is on a Sunday, any fasting would be abstained from since the Lord’s Day is meant to be celebrated with feasting and rest. Palm Sunday kicks off Holy Week which is the big finale of the Lenten season and concludes on Easter morning.
Since part of the Anno Domini podcast centers around how we are to practically celebrate these holy days, I ought to give an account of the current events surrounding Palm Sunday 2020. As of the recording of this episode we are watching a local, national, and global historical event unfold. I’m of course speaking of the Chinese Virus that began in Wuhan China in December of 2019 and has spread around the globe. This virus is causing governments, gripped by fear, to self immolate entire economies, isolate people to their homes and hospital beds, and most egregious of all, forbid the gathering of people anywhere and everywhere for any reason at all. This means that for the last several weeks, showing up fo
"With Christ entering the desert for 40 days of temptation we will transition from our celebration of His epiphany into the celebration of Lent. As the days lengthen and spring approaches we will daily be reminded that Easter is on the move and the days of the power of sin over God’s people has ended."
Song: O God of Earth and Altar (Prayer for the Nation) Passage: Joel 2:12-19 A Simple Church Year Catechism - Lent & Easter Hello everyone and Welcome to episode #8 of the Anno Domini Podcast. A podcast dedicated to the supremacy of Christ over all things including our days, weeks, and months.
Join me as we explore how Christ is revealed through the cyclical life of the church calendar year. We’ll discover how this calendar once structured culture and how it can again. We’ll also discuss practical ways to observe and celebrate these holy days in our quest to glorify God and live the good life in the midst of all good He has given us.
Welcome back! My name for those just joining us is Joe Stout and the last few weeks have been extremely eventful in the Stout household. We welcomed with joy the birth of our 5th daughter, Ruthie Jane. Both Elizabeth and baby Ruthie are doing wonderfully well, God be praised. It’s been a little over 7 weeks since our last podcast. So In that episode I introduced the season of Epiphany in which we celebrate the manifestation or revealing of Christ to the world. He is revealed on Epiphany to the Magi, revealed to the world through His public baptism, revealed at the temple to Simeon, revealed to His inner circle on the mountain through His transfiguration and finally, His manifestation culminates as Christ goes into the desert and reveals Himself to Satan where he does battle for 40 days. With Christ entering the desert for 40 days of temptation we will transition from our celebration of His epiphany into the celebration of Lent. As the days lengthen and spring approaches we will daily be reminded that Easter is on the move and the days of the power of sin over God’s people has ended.
As a quick reminder we will look at for different segments, we generally start with the practical ways of celebrating a holiday or season of time, we then examine the biblical rationale for the holiday, then we look at how the holiday has been celebrated in history and finish with a hymn or psalm of music that we examine and listen to together. So let’s get started
Practical Starting with the practical side, In the Stout house, we have never observed Lent or Ash Wednesday for that matter. This is due really to a combination of reasons the biggest one being that observing this time wasn’t a part of our families upbringing. We tend to emulate the way we were raised and that is a design feature not a bug. Kids turning out like their parents is how God made the world. It shouldn’t surprise us. Personally, this is an area of huge blessing for both Elizabeth and I as we had and still have righteous parents who raised us in the fear and admonition of the Lord. In fact in many cases we also had righteous grandparents going back several generations. We ought to go in the ways of our Father when our father’s go in the ways of the Lord. As GK Chesterton once observed, “these are the days when the Christian is expected to praise every creed except his own.” Christians shouldn’t fall into that temptation. We ought to feel a deep comfort in following the paths our father’s have laid for us provided those paths were honoring to God law. I say this because I have no paths to follow on this one; no prior experience to hearken back to. On the plus side, Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent have no sentimental or nostalgic value for me or my wife that could cloud God’s voice. On the negative
"Westerners now generally start our Christmas preparations unfortunately on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, and work at a frenzied pace to get everything ready for 1 day only. We then give all or most of our gifts on December 25th and many even have the tree and decoration taken down by the next day. It hasn’t always been like this though."
Song: Setting of Psalm 67
Passage: Isaiah 60:1-9
Dutch Children Act out the Epiphany
Hello everyone and Welcome to episode #7 of the Anno Domini Podcast. A podcast dedicated to the supremacy of Christ over all things including our days, weeks, and months.
Join me as we explore how Christ is revealed through the cyclical life of the church calendar year. We’ll discover how this calendar once structured culture and how it can again. We’ll also discuss practical ways to observe and celebrate these holy days in our quest to glorify God and live the good life in the midst of all good He has given us.
We have made it through the season of Advent and now we approach our next holiday on the Church calendar; Epiphany. Epiphany is the culmination of the Christmas season and comes after the 12 days of Christmas is over. It is a time when we celebrate the coming of the Messiah unto the Gentiles and up until the 19th century, it was on par with Christmas Day itself earning itself the title of “little Christmas.” As I’ve said before, Epiphany, like any of the feast and festivals found on the Church Calendar are not a requirement for Christians to observe but a blessings for those who enjoy the liberty found in the gospel. Christ came that we might have life and have it abundantly. If celebrating a holiday that is found only in tradition and not in the revealed Word of God bothers your conscience, then by all means sit this celebration out. Just remember this: Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. The Lord’s day is not a day that we have the option to take or leave. It is the day God has set aside for us to rest and worship Him. To celebrate the victory of the Christ over Sin, Satan, and Death itself.
Practical and Historical Have you ever heard of the 12 days of Christmas? You’ve know the song but contrary to popular belief now, the first day of Christmas is actually Christmas Day or December 25th and each following day until the evening of the January 5th or 12th day which is also called Twelfth Night those are the 12 days of Christmas. Westerners now generally start our Christmas preparations unfortunately on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, and work at a frenzied pace to get everything ready for 1 day only. We then give all or most of our gifts on December 25th and many even have the tree and decoration taken down by the next day. It hasn’t always been like this though. Before the 19th century, when the industrial revolution put an end to extended celebrations, Epiphany was more important than Christmas Day itself. We would spread our gift giving and merry making out over 12 days, each day celebrating a different aspect of Christianity and our history. One day we would celebrate the first martyr of the Church, Stephan, another day we mark and mourn the slaughter of the innocents by the hand of the Romans and Herod in Bethlehem. This would all be building up to the very biggest part of the celebration which happens on the evening of January 5th or Twelfth night which was the eve of the Feast of the Epiphany. These were times meant for singing and caroling from door to door. A time of feasting and eating lots of great food with friends and family. It was also a time for making and eating something called Kings Cake which has many many variations with the version I’m most familiar with being called Panettone. Usually a dried bean would be placed on one side of the cake and a dried pea placed somewhere on the other side. The men and boys eat the side co
"Christmas stands for the total invasion of the world of sin and darkness by the king of glory. This means that idols will fall, strongholds will be torn down, and the powers of this age will carry their power no longer. When we wish someone a Merry Christmas we are not just wishing them happiness...it is far more than that"
Song: The First Noel
Passage: Isaiah 9:2-7
For Unto Us a Child is Born: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_f7jhk-IjDo Download the Album Advent: https://joestout.bandcamp.com/album/advent
Hello everyone and Merry Christmas! Welcome to episode #6 of the Anno Domini Podcast. This is a podcast dedicated to the supremacy of Christ over all things including our days, weeks, and months.
Join me as we explore how Christ is revealed through the cyclical life of the church calendar year. We’ll discover how this calendar once structured culture and how it can again. We’ll also discuss practical ways to observe and celebrate these holy days in our quest to glorify God and live the good life in the midst of all good He has given us.
Welcome back again friends. I hope you have all had a restful day full of feasting, family, and fantastic merry making. I began the show by wishing everyone a very merry Christmas. Those are words that have been fought over for several years now. It can be considered a political statement in the clown world we now live in merely to wish someone a Merry Christmas. But I believe that as our Lord told us, the sons of the world are more shrewd than those of us in the light. They understand the meaning of Christmas better than we do at times and when they come to this understanding they mutter along with Gollum “we hates it”. Christmas stands for the total invasion of the world of sin and darkness by the king of glory. This means that idols will fall, strongholds will be torn down, and the powers of this age will carry their power no longer. When we wish someone a Merry Christmas we are not just wishing them happiness. In our vernacular Merry means happy or cheerful and so it should however a man I admire greatly by the name of George Grant shared with me something quite insightful regarding that word Merry. Quote from him…”The word “merry” is from an old Anglo-Saxon word which literally means "valiant," “illustrious,” “great,” or “gallant.” Thus, to be merry is not merely to be mirthful, but to be mighty. In Shakespeare, we read of fiercely courageous soldiers who are called “merry men.” Strong winds are “merry gales.” Fine days are marked by “merry weather.” So, when we say "Merry Christmas," we are really exhorting one another to take heart and to stand fast!
And so dear listener we note that to say Merry Christmas is nothing short than to wish the hearer to be consumed by the love of Christ and that all his or her idols, strongholds, and towers of trust will be torn down by the invasion of God into the world. The incarnation of God into flesh.
Christmas is now here. Advent is over and Christmastime has begun. Today is the first day of Christmas, there are twelve and at the end of these twelve days Christ will be revealed to the world through Epiphany at least as the church calendar reckons it. Just as a reminder to my listeners that there are no holy days that Christians are bound to… save the weekly Lord’s Day itself. All of this is extra goodies on top of the weekly rest Christ has given us. These days of feasting, celebration, and reflection are here to strengthen our walk with God not bind up burdens upon our backs. As we explore the practical, biblical, historical and musical, remember that God created a world fill with good things because he is the best kind of extravagant. He could have given us a world in which everything was efficient, practical, and economical. A worl
No transcript for this episode.
Merry Christmas Everyone!
Amid the Silence Christmas Carol: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDcHZ9i8KSk
"We are in the season of Advent which is a time of longing and of joy. A time when we sing and pray and hope with all the saints, Maranatha or Come Lord Jesus. Our minds are bent in this way knowing He has already come and that He will one day come again. Like many of the promises of Scripture, Advent reminds us that God’s kingdom on earth has come in an “already but not yet” kind of way. Advent keeps us longing whether in joy, in pain, or in the groaning that all of creation experiences for the coming and fulfillment of the kingdom of God. The revealing of the sons and daughters of the King and the redemption of the body. This unraveling of the curse began when the Christ child, as the hymn tells us, the world’s redeemer, first revealed his sacred face."
Song: From East to West Text: Isaiah 7: 10-17 Liturgical Calendar Download Hello everyone and welcome to episode #4 of the Anno Domini Podcast. A podcast dedicated to the supremacy of Christ over all things including our days, weeks, and months.
Join me as we explore how Christ is revealed through the cyclical life of the church calendar year. We’ll discover how this calendar once structured culture and how it can again. We’ll also discuss practical ways to observe and celebrate these holy days in our quest to glorify God and live the good life in the midst of all good He has given us.
We have now reached the beginning of the fourth week of the new church year. Last week was Gaudete Sunday or the Sunday of Rejoicing. This Lord’s Day is the 4th and final Sunday of Advent this year and by this time on Wednesday morning we will have completed the time of Advent and we will begin the joyful 12 days of Christmas also known as Christmastime or Christmastide. If this is your first time with us, my name is Joe Stout and I my wife and I and our 7 (soon to be 8) children decided to spend a year following the liturgical calendar. The following podcasts are produced in real time as a way of documenting the experiences discovered as a result of our attempt to structure our lives as so many of our Christian brothers and sisters have done in the past and are doing today. Our hope is that we will find that the liturgical calendar can give a framework for what we emphasize and when we emphasize it. We are in the season of Advent which is a time of longing and of joy. A time when we sing and pray and hope with all the saints, Maranatha or Come Lord Jesus. Our minds are bent in this way knowing He has already come and that He will one day come again. Like many of the promises of Scripture, Advent reminds us that God’s kingdom on earth has come in an “already but not yet” kind of way. Advent keeps us longing whether in joy, in pain, or in the groaning that all of creation experiences for the coming and fulfillment of the kingdom of God. The revealing of the sons and daughters of the King and the redemption of the body. This unraveling of the curse began when the Christ child, as the hymn tells us, the world’s redeemer, first revealed his sacred face.
I think I will continue, at least for now, the structuring of this podcast into 4 parts, practical, biblical, historical, and musical. It interests me and so far I haven’t run out of things to say about each. My wife might think I won’t ever run out of things to say…about anything and she might be right. The point is, I care deeply about practical Christianity. I don’t want it just in my head as intellectual knowledge. I also don’t wa
The Third Sunday of Advent is here! This day should be marked with Joy and Rejoicing. We have much to rejoice over because the King of Kings is drawing near, the Savior of the World is here. So take joy dear Christians, Christ has overcome the darkness.
Song: Lift Up Your Heads Text: Isaiah 35 Click HERE to listen to and download the new album "Advent"
Hello and welcome to episode #3 of the Anno Domini Podcast. A podcast dedicated to the supremacy of Christ over all things including our days, weeks, and months.
Join me as we explore how Christ is revealed through the cyclical life of the church calendar year. We’ll discover how this calendar once structured culture and how it can again. We’ll also discuss practical ways to observe and celebrate these holy days in our quest to glorify God and live the good life in the midst of all good He has given us.
Welcome back to week 3 of our year-long journey of following the liturgical church calendar. My name is Joe Stout and I will be your host today. My wife and I and our 7 children decided to spend a year following the liturgical calendar. Since the church new year started on Dec. 1st 2019 with the First Sunday of Advent we are now at the Third Sunday of Advent which is sometime called Gaudete (pronounced GOW Day Tay) Sunday which I will explain my understanding of later. This day should be marked with Joy and Rejoicing. We have much to rejoice over because the King of Kings is drawing near, the Savior of the World is here. So take joy dear Christians, Christ has overcome the darkness. Just a quick housekeeping note that Christians are called to keep one holy day only and that is the weekly Lord’s day. These days, weeks, and seasons of celebration are merely intended as a way of worshipping God with our entire being and provide communal focus to our lives as one body in Christ. We worship together, rejoice together, weep together…the Church calendar provides an opportunity for this and nothing more. This is the new covenant and if celebrating Christmas or Easter or Lent afflicts your conscience then by all means abstain. We all get to spend eternity together celebrating whichever way you choose.
This podcast is divided into four parts. We start with practical ways to celebrate the holiday. We then move on to a biblical portion connected to the celebrated day chosen from the Lectionary, (see podcast #2 if you would like more information on the Lectionary). Our third section looks into historic ways in which the Church and our forefather’s have followed the calendar and the tools, traditions, and insight that has sprung from that. We finish the podcast with an in depth look at an ancient hymn that can be tied to the holiday.
Let’s get started.
Practical On the practical side of Advent celebrations I’ve got to say that celebrating holidays is a ton of work. When we look at the plethora of ways the Jews angered Yahweh in the old testament we often see a refusal to celebrate his commanded feast days at the forefront. In other words, God told His people to rest or party or somehow tried to bless them by giving them good works to do, they complained, corrupted the work, or simply ignored the feast day all together. While I certainly don’t want to condone their sin, I can also understand why not resting or celebrating is tempting. There is usually a lot of preparation that goes into the feast or celebration. This can make it hard to want to obey because what we think of as a blessing is usually self centered. We want peace and quiet, we want to veg out, we want to do our own thing and not be hindered by intentionally resting. We can sometimes conflate resting and relaxing. While they seem similar they can reveal themselves to be very different in their acts. Relaxing is like taking a long shower or sitting in a hot
"The second Sunday of Advent is here and with it there is continued eager anticipation at the coming of the Lord. This past week has been a joy for my family as we have taken each day to mark out in both small and large ways, the season of Advent. Advent is the beginning of the Church Calendar year and after Advent will come Christmastime and then Epiphany."
Song: Of the Father’s Love Begotten Text: Isaiah 11: 1-10 Lectionary Download. Hello and welcome to episode #2 of the Anno Domini Podcast. A podcast dedicated to the supremacy of Christ over all things including our days, weeks, and months.
Join me as we explore how Christ is revealed through the cyclical life of the church calendar year. We’ll discover how this calendar once structured culture and how it can again. We’ll also discuss practical ways to observe and celebrate these holy days in our quest to glorify God and live the good life in the midst of all good He has given us.
Welcome back to week 2 of our year-long journey of following the church calendar. My name is Joe Stout and I will be your host. I live in the Pacific Northwest with my lovely wife Elizabeth and our 7 soon to be 8 children. The second Sunday of Advent is here and with it there is continued eager anticipation at the coming of the Lord. This past week has been a joy for my family as we have taken each day to mark out in both small and large ways, the season of Advent. Advent is the beginning of the Church Calendar year and after Advent will come Christmastime and then Epiphany. I’d like to mention that I understand some Christians are uncomfortable with the idea of feasts days, fast days, festal and ferial days and the like. Paul certainly does not bind us to any of the days celebrated as a part of the church calendar. In fact it’s very important to note that ALL of these church calendar feasts that we discuss on the show are totally optional. We are living in the new covenant now and the only feast day that is required of us is the weekly Lord’s day Sabbath. This weekly period of celebration, feasting, and rest is the only true calendar we need and the only one we are bound by God to keep. But don’t worry, our God is so kind He blesses us with a festival every week. Truly His yoke is easy and His burden is light. Practical The podcast is divided into 4 sections. Practical, Biblical, Historical, and Musical. I’m thinking I’ll start with the practical because it will give a good opportunity at the beginning of the show to give a report on how things went since the last celebratory day. I’ll try and talk about the practical things my wife and children and I did to mark the season. So how did last week go? It was awesome. I love Advent because it gives Elizabeth and I the freedom to make everything a celebration. Generally we try and give actual presents on each Sunday of Advent. These are usually not huge gifts and this last week was no exception. Our kids have been totally into drinking tea. Even the 3 year old wants to have tea. He doesn’t want to actually drink the tea be he does NOT want to be left out. So this past week Elizabeth went to the goodwill and found 6 Christmas themed coffee mugs. She then filled them with bags of tea and instant coffee, the coffee was for oldest son Charles who prefers coffee to tea. We then wrapped the goody filled mugs up and gave them to the kids during our Advent liturgy that way they could actually have tea while we celebrated.
During the week we focus the kids attention on experiences together as times of celebrations. On monday there was a free orchestra concert that my mother-in-law took the kids too. Advent celebration. On Tuesday we went out and had pizza with everyone.
"In this podcast we explore together how Christ can be revealed to us through the cyclical life of the church calendar year. How this calendar once structured culture and how it can again. We’ll also explore practical ways to observe and celebrate these holy days in our quest to glorify God and live the good life in all He has given us."
Song: Savior of the Nations Come Text: Isaiah 2: 1-5 Download the Advent & Christmas Devotional Hello and welcome to the first episode of the Anno Domini Podcast. A podcast dedicated to the supremacy of Christ over all things including our days, weeks, and months.
In this podcast we explore together how Christ can be revealed to us through the cyclical life of the church calendar year. How this calendar once structured culture and how it can again. We’ll also explore practical ways to observe and celebrate these holy days in our quest to glorify God and live the good life in all He has given us.
Now since this is episode one I’d like to lay some ground work for what to expect. I’d like to explore over the next year how God fearing, Christ following, Spirit filled, Christians can benefit from following the Church Calendar year. Personally, I come from a protestant, reformed, evangelical background and have very little experience with the Church Calendar outside of Christmas and Easter. This is a journey on which I embark with little more than a passion to learn and report back what I’ve found.
Now for a quick disclaimer that will likely be standard to every episode. The only “holy day” or holiday that I believe Christians are held to keeping is the weekly sabbath. No, I’m not referring to the old testament jewish sabbath but the new covenant Sunday sabbath, the day of the Lord, or Lord’s day. From the creation of the world, we’ve been resting once per week. It’s the fourth commandment and the only holiday or day set apart that I believe Christians are covenantally required to keep and what a blessing this Sabbath is to us. All the other days we will examine and celebrate are simply experiential ways of worshiping God with our whole being. We close our eyes, bow our heads, and kneel to pray not because there is a bible verse requiring us to do so but because we worship with our heart, soul, body, and mind. Following the liturgical calendar is a similar experience. While not commanded, it can be simply another way we can submit to the glory and the supremacy of Christ in all things by celebration. And as Christians living in the year of our Lord 2019, we have every reason to celebrate.
With the disclaimer out of the way let’s get started.
We will generally follow four segments per show. The first will be an introduction to the holiday with some biblical references in support of the celebratory focus. Secondly, we will look at the historic ways this holiday has been celebrated and how it shaped culture. Thirdly we will examine a few practical suggestions for how you and your family might celebrate the day. The last segment will likely be the longest as we will be examining an ancient or not so ancient hymn that is based on or connected to the theme of the holiday.
I’ll try and get these episodes out two or three days in advance of the holiday so that you can have time to prepare for the day if you want to.
Let’s get started.
This week’s episode is all about Advent. On December 1st, Anno Domini 2019 the Church militant will celebrate the 1st Sunday of Advent.
A couple of definitions to help. Anno Domini is the latin phrase for “in the year of our Lord.” We often simply use the abbreviation AD. This is the year 2019 AD. The entire calendar system of the world is based off the resurrection of Christ. This is one of the many ways in which Christ is saving the whole world and bringing a