Christmas
Hymns NEH 24, 25, 28, 26
St Michael and All Angels – a Parish under the Patronage of Our Lady of Walsingham
COLLECT
Almighty God, you have given us your only-begotten Son to take our nature upon him and as at this time to be born of a pure virgin: grant that we, who have been born again and made your children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by your Holy Spirit; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
FIRST READING (Isaiah 52: 7-10)
A reading from the book of the prophet Isaiah.
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace, who brings good news, who announces salvation, who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns.’
Listen! Your sentinels lift up their voices, together they sing for joy; for in plain sight they see the return of the Lord to Zion.
Break forth together into singing, you ruins of Jerusalem; for the Lord has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem.
The Lord has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM (From Ps 98)
## Response: All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of God.
1. Sing a new song to the Lord
for he has worked wonders.
His right hand and his holy arm
have brought salvation. R.
2. All the ends of the earth
have seen the salvation of our God.
Shout to the Lord all the earth,
ring out your joy. R
3. Sing psalms to the Lord with the harp
and with the sound of music.
Acclaim the King, the Lord
with trumpets and the sound of the horn. R.
SECOND READING (Hebrews 1: 1-4)
A reading from the letter to the Hebrews.
Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.
HOLY GOSPEL (John 1: 1-14)
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.