Entrance Hymn:  #45 “Oh, Come, All Ye Faithful” 

First Reading:

Isaiah 7:10-14                                                                          

The Sign of Immanuel

¹⁰ Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz: ¹¹ “Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” ¹² But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test.” ¹³ And he said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also? ¹⁴ Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.  

Psalm 24:1, 3-5; antiphon: Psalm 2:7

L:  I will tell of the decree:  The Lord said to me, “You are My Son; today I have begotten You.” The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein.

A:  Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?  And who shall stand in His holy place?

L:  He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully.

A:  He will receive blessings from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation.  Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit;

as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen. 

Prayer of the day: 

L:  O God, You make us glad with the yearly remembrance of the birth of Your only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ.

A:  Grant that as we joyfully receive Him as our Redeemer, we may with sure confidence behold Him when He comes to be our Judge;

L:  through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

A:  Amen.

Epistle:

1 John 4:7-16                                        

God Is Love

⁷ Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸ Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. ⁹ In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. ¹⁰ In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. ¹¹ Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹² No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

¹³ By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. ¹⁴ And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. ¹⁵ Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. ¹⁶ So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

Gospel:

Matthew 1:18-25                                                                     

The Birth of Jesus Christ

¹⁸ Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹ And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. ²⁰ But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹ She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” ²² All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:

²³ “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
    and they shall call his name Immanuel”

(which means, God with us). ²⁴ When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, ²⁵ but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.

Response Hymn:  #54 “It Came Upon the Midnight Clear”

Hymn:  #65 “Silent Night, Holy Night!”

Closing Hymn:  #60 “Hark!  The Herald Angels Sing”