1. The historic creeds are brief summations of Scriptural truth. Their use has been to combat heresy by gifting the words of faith and crediting Christ alone for salvation.
  2. Servetus arrested in Geneva on this day in 1553 and we commemorate two women: Florence Nightingale and Clara Maass. The reading is by R.S. Thomas, "Praise."
  3. On this day, we remember the incorporation of the Wycliffe Bible Translators in 1942. Also, William Blake, a critic of the Church of England, died on this day in 1872. The reading is William Blake's, "The Divine Image" from 1789.
  4. On this day, we remember two medieval figures whose respective movements out-sized their own lives: Clare of Assisi d. 1253 and Nicholas of Cusa d. 1564. The reading is the St. Francis Prayer, of unknown authorship but attributed to St. Francis.
  5. On this day, we remember two Reformation figures, Kaspar Olevianus b. 1536 and Phillip Nicolai b. 1556. The reading is a poem turned hymn by Nicolai, "How Bright the Morning Star."
  6. On this day, we remember two martyrs under Nazi Germany, Edith Stein and Franz Jagerstetter. Our reading is about another martyr, "St. Stephen" by Malcolm Guite.
  7. On this day, we remember the "Robber" Ecumenical council at Ephesus in 449 and the banishment of Roger Williams in 1635. Our reading is a poem by Mary Bowley Peters, "All Must Be Well."
  8. On this day, Pope John XXII of Avignon was elected in 1366, and Frank Buchman, a founder of the Oxford Group, died in 1961. Our reading is by Cliff Ashby, "A Stranger in this Land."
  9. In 1801, on this day, was arguably the most significant Christian event in US history, the Cane Ridge Revival. But also on this day, five years later, the Holy Roman Empire was disbanded. Our reading is "The Contrite Heart" by William Cowper.
  10. On this day, we remember the northern renaissance 16th-century artists Dürer, Cranach, and Grunewald. Today is also the 85th birthday of poet Wendell Berry, born in 1934. Our reading is his poem, "Enemies."
  11. In just over five minutes, we learn of the Papal encyclical Aeterni Patris from 1879, we remember missionary James Chalmers, born on this day in 1841, and we hear our reading "A Word Made Flesh is Seldom" by Emily Dickinson.
  12. On this day, we remember Rochester native Augustus Strong, born 1836, and we remember the death of Alexander Solzhenitsyn in 2008. Our reading is from James Macualey, "In the Twentieth Century."