The Nativity of our Lord - 2013

The Nativity of our Lord, or the Birth-day of Christ,

Commonly called Christmas-Day.

Psalm 98

Cantate Domino

O SING unto the Lord a new song : for he hath done marvellous things.

2. With his own right hand, and with his holy arm : hath he gotten himself the victory.

3. The Lord declared his salvation : his righteousness hath he openly shewed in the sight of the heathen.

4. He hath remembered his mercy and truth toward the house of Israel : and all the ends of the world have seen the salvation of our God.

5. Shew yourselves joyful unto the Lord, all ye lands : sing, rejoice, and give thanks.

6. Praise the Lord upon the harp : sing to the harp with a psalm of thanksgiving.

7. With trumpets also and shawms : O shew yourselves joyful before the Lord the King.

8. Let the sea make a noise, and all that therein is : the round world, and they that dwell therein.

9. Let the floods clap their hands, and let the hills be joyful together before the Lord : for he is come to judge the earth.

10. With righteousness shall he judge the world : and the people with equity.

The Collect.

ALMIGHTY God, who hast given us thy only-begotten Son to take our nature upon him, and as at this time to be born of a pure Virgin: Grant that we, being regenerate and made thy children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by thy Holy Spirit; through the same our Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the same Spirit ever, one God, world without end. Amen.

Epistle Reading: Hebrews 1.1-12

Gospel Reading: St. John 1.1-14

Toon: “The Collect is addressed to the Almighty Father, as in the Creed --- I believe in one God, the Father Almighty.

In addressing the Father, and in his holy presence, we remind ourselves with due reverence and awe, of the supremely important Event that lies behind Christmas Day. That the eternal Father has given to the world, has sent into the world, his only-begotten Son, and in doing so has caused him to assume as his own, to take unto himself, our very human nature; and to achieve this by taking that human nature within the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary and being born from her, both as her son and as the Incarnate Son of God. Thus the One Person of the Only-Begotten Son by making his own our human nature became One Person with two natures, one divine and one human. He is Immanuel, God with us.

On the basis of this Fact and this Truth, we are well placed in genuine humility to offer our earnest petition to the Father in the Name of this Son.

"Grant" is a verb that suggests that what we ask for only God can supply. We pray that we (who have been baptized by water and the Spirit and made God's children by being adopted into his family) may daily be renewed by his Holy Spirit. That is we need God's immediate assistance through the presence of the Holy Ghost in order to live daily as faithful children of God, disciples of Christ, who call his Father, "our Father."

We celebrate the Incarnation at a specific time ("as at this time") in the Christian Year; but, we are to live as God's born-again people every day.

The Son of God may be said to have had two "births" - an origin/birth of the Father (and beyond our understanding) in eternity, and a birth as man from the Blessed Virgin Mary in space and time. Likewise his disciples may be said to have had two births - one from their mothers and one from above (in holy Baptism with regeneration). By their second birth they are united through the Holy Ghost with the Incarnate Son and in him to the Father.

The Collect ends with a full recognition of the sovereignty of the one God as Three Persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost” (http://www.pbs.org.uk/bcp/commentary_detail.php?CommentaryID=7).

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[If in any Church the Holy Communion be twice celebrated on Christmas Day, the following Collect, Epistle, and Gospel may be used at the first Communion. [Appropriate for Christmas Eve]

Psalm 8

Domine, Dominus noster

O LORD our Governor, how excellent is thy Name in all the world : thou hast set thy glory above the heavens!

2. Out of the mouth of very babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength, because of thine enemies : that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.

3. For I will consider thy heavens, even the works of thy fingers : the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained.

4. What is man, that thou art mindful of him : and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

5. Thou madest him lower than the angels : to crown him with glory and worship.

6. Thou makest him to have dominion of the works of thy hands : and thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet;

7. All sheep and oxen : yea, and the beasts of the field;

8. The fowls of the air, and the fishes of the sea : and whatsoever walketh through the paths of the seas.

9. O Lord our Governor : how excellent is thy Name in all the world!

GOD, who makest us glad with the yearly remembrance of the birth of thine only Son Jesus Christ; Grant that as we joyfully receive him for our Redeemer, so we may with sure confidence behold him when he shall come to be our Judge, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.]

Epistle Reading: Titus 2.11-15

Gospel Reading: Luke 2.1-14