Friday 24 December 2021 (Christmas Eve) DAILY LECTIONARY

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Friday 24 December 2021  (Christmas Eve)
DAILY LECTIONARY

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Baruch 4:36-5:9

Look towards the east, O Jerusalem,
   and see the joy that is coming to you from God. 
Look, your children are coming, whom you sent away;
   they are coming, gathered from east and west,
at the word of the Holy One,
   rejoicing in the glory of God. 

Take off the garment of your sorrow and affliction, O Jerusalem,
   and put on for ever the beauty of the glory from God. 
Put on the robe of the righteousness that comes from God;
   put on your head the diadem of the glory of the Everlasting; 
for God will show your splendour everywhere under heaven. 
For God will give you evermore the name,
   ‘Righteous Peace, Godly Glory’. 

Arise, O Jerusalem, stand upon the height;
   look towards the east,
and see your children gathered from west and east
   at the word of the Holy One,
   rejoicing that God has remembered them. 
For they went out from you on foot,
   led away by their enemies;
but God will bring them back to you,
   carried in glory, as on a royal throne. 
For God has ordered that every high mountain and the everlasting hills
be made low
   and the valleys filled up, to make level ground,
   so that Israel may walk safely in the glory of God. 
The woods and every fragrant tree
   have shaded Israel at God’s command. 
For God will lead Israel with joy,
   in the light of his glory,
   with the mercy and righteousness that come from him.
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Galatians 3:23-4:7

Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law
until faith would be revealed. Therefore the law was our
disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by
faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a
disciplinarian, for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God
through faith. As many of you as were baptized into Christ have
clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there
is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for
all of you are one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then
you are Abraham’s offspring,* heirs according to the promise.
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Matthew 1:18-25

Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah* took place in this way. When his
mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived
together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her
husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to
public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had
resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream
and said, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as
your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She
will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his
people from their sins.’ All this took place to fulfil what had been
spoken by the Lord through the prophet: 
‘Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
   and they shall name him Emmanuel’,
which means, ‘God is with us.’ When Joseph awoke from sleep, he
did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife,
but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son;* and
he named him Jesus.
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Morning Psalms: Psalm 45, 46

Psalm 45

My heart overflows with a goodly theme;
   I address my verses to the king;
   my tongue is like the pen of a ready scribe. 

You are the most handsome of men;
   grace is poured upon your lips;
   therefore God has blessed you for ever. 
Gird your sword on your thigh, O mighty one,
   in your glory and majesty. 

In your majesty ride on victoriously
   for the cause of truth and to defend* the right;
   let your right hand teach you dread deeds. 
Your arrows are sharp
   in the heart of the king’s enemies;
   the peoples fall under you. 

Your throne, O God,* endures for ever and ever.
   Your royal sceptre is a sceptre of equity; 
   you love righteousness and hate wickedness.
Therefore God, your God, has anointed you
   with the oil of gladness beyond your companions; 
   your robes are all fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia.
>From ivory palaces stringed instruments make you glad; 
   daughters of kings are among your ladies of honour;
   at your right hand stands the queen in gold of Ophir. 

Hear, O daughter, consider and incline your ear;
   forget your people and your father’s house, 
   and the king will desire your beauty.
Since he is your lord, bow to him; 
   the people* of Tyre will seek your favour with gifts,
   the richest of the people with all kinds of wealth. 

The princess is decked in her chamber with gold-woven robes;* 
   in many-coloured robes she is led to the king;
   behind her the virgins, her companions, follow. 
With joy and gladness they are led along
   as they enter the palace of the king. 

In the place of ancestors you, O king,* shall have sons;
   you will make them princes in all the earth. 
I will cause your name to be celebrated in all generations;
   therefore the peoples will praise you for ever and ever.

Psalm 46

God is our refuge and strength,
   a very present* help in trouble. 
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change,
   though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea; 
though its waters roar and foam,
   though the mountains tremble with its tumult.
          Selah 

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
   the holy habitation of the Most High. 
God is in the midst of the city;* it shall not be moved;
   God will help it when the morning dawns. 
The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter;
   he utters his voice, the earth melts. 
The Lord of hosts is with us;
   the God of Jacob is our refuge.*
          Selah 

Come, behold the works of the Lord;
   see what desolations he has brought on the earth. 
He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
   he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear;
   he burns the shields with fire. 
‘Be still, and know that I am God!
   I am exalted among the nations,
   I am exalted in the earth.’ 
The Lord of hosts is with us;
   the God of Jacob is our refuge.*
          Selah
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Christmas Eve

Isaiah 59:15b-21

Truth is lacking,
   and whoever turns from evil is despoiled. 

The Lord saw it, and it displeased him
   that there was no justice. 
He saw that there was no one,
   and was appalled that there was no one to intervene;
so his own arm brought him victory,
   and his righteousness upheld him. 
He put on righteousness like a breastplate,
   and a helmet of salvation on his head;
he put on garments of vengeance for clothing,
   and wrapped himself in fury as in a mantle. 
According to their deeds, so will he repay;
   wrath to his adversaries, requital to his enemies;
   to the coastlands he will render requital. 
So those in the west shall fear the name of the Lord,
   and those in the east, his glory;
for he will come like a pent-up stream
   that the wind of the Lord drives on. 

And he will come to Zion as Redeemer,
   to those in Jacob who turn from transgression, says the Lord. 
And as for me, this is my covenant with them, says the Lord: my spirit
that is upon you, and my words that I have put in your mouth, shall
not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouths of your children,
or out of the mouths of your children’s children, says the Lord,
from now on and for ever. 
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Philippians 2:5-11

Let the same mind be in you that was* in Christ Jesus, 
who, though he was in the form of God,
   did not regard equality with God
   as something to be exploited, 
but emptied himself,
   taking the form of a slave,
   being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form, 
   he humbled himself
   and became obedient to the point of death—
   even death on a cross. 

Therefore God also highly exalted him
   and gave him the name
   that is above every name, 
so that at the name of Jesus
   every knee should bend,
   in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 
and every tongue should confess
   that Jesus Christ is Lord,
   to the glory of God the Father.
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Evening Psalms: Psalm 89:1-29

Psalm 89:1-29

I will sing of your steadfast love, O Lord,* for ever;
   with my mouth I will proclaim your faithfulness to all
generations. 
I declare that your steadfast love is established for ever;
   your faithfulness is as firm as the heavens. 

You said, ‘I have made a covenant with my chosen one,
   I have sworn to my servant David: 
“I will establish your descendants for ever,
   and build your throne for all generations.” ’
          Selah 

Let the heavens praise your wonders, O Lord,
   your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones. 
For who in the skies can be compared to the Lord?
   Who among the heavenly beings is like the Lord, 
a God feared in the council of the holy ones,
   great and awesome* above all that are around him? 
O Lord God of hosts,
   who is as mighty as you, O Lord?
   Your faithfulness surrounds you. 
You rule the raging of the sea;
   when its waves rise, you still them. 
You crushed Rahab like a carcass;
   you scattered your enemies with your mighty arm. 
The heavens are yours, the earth also is yours;
   the world and all that is in it—you have founded them. 
The north and the south*—you created them;
   Tabor and Hermon joyously praise your name. 
You have a mighty arm;
   strong is your hand, high your right hand. 
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne;
   steadfast love and faithfulness go before you. 
Happy are the people who know the festal shout,
   who walk, O Lord, in the light of your countenance; 
they exult in your name all day long,
   and extol* your righteousness. 
For you are the glory of their strength;
   by your favour our horn is exalted. 
For our shield belongs to the Lord,
   our king to the Holy One of Israel. 

Then you spoke in a vision to your faithful one, and said:
   ‘I have set the crown* on one who is mighty,
   I have exalted one chosen from the people. 
I have found my servant David;
   with my holy oil I have anointed him; 
my hand shall always remain with him;
   my arm also shall strengthen him. 
The enemy shall not outwit him,
   the wicked shall not humble him. 
I will crush his foes before him
   and strike down those who hate him. 
My faithfulness and steadfast love shall be with him;
   and in my name his horn shall be exalted. 
I will set his hand on the sea
   and his right hand on the rivers. 
He shall cry to me, “You are my Father,
   my God, and the Rock of my salvation!” 
I will make him the firstborn,
   the highest of the kings of the earth. 
For-ever I will keep my steadfast love for him,
   and my covenant with him will stand firm. 
I will establish his line for ever,
   and his throne as long as the heavens endure.
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