Second Sunday after Christmas

Collect
O God, who didst wonderfully create, and yet more wonderfully restore, the dignity of human nature: Grant that we may share the divine life of him who humbled himself to share our humanity, thy Son Jesus Christ; who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

First Lesson: Jeremiah 31:7-145
This is what the LORD says:

"Sing with joy for Jacob;
shout for the foremost of the nations.
Make your praises heard, and say,
'O LORD, save your people,
the remnant of Israel.'
See, I will bring them from the land of the north
and gather them from the ends of the earth.
Among them will be the blind and the lame,
expectant mothers and women in labor;
a great throng will return.
They will come with weeping;
they will pray as I bring them back.
I will lead them beside streams of water
on a level path where they will not stumble,
because I am Israel's father,
and Ephraim is my firstborn son.

Hear the word of the LORD, O nations;
proclaim it in distant coastlands:
'He who scattered Israel will gather them
and will watch over his flock like a shepherd.'
For the LORD will ransom Jacob
and redeem them from the hand of those
stronger than they.
They will come and shout for joy on the heights of Zion;
they will rejoice in the bounty of the LORD--
the grain, the new wine and the oil,
the young of the flocks and herds.
They will be like a well-watered garden,
and they will sorrow no more.
Then maidens will dance and be glad,
young men and old as well.
I will turn their mourning into gladness;
I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow.
I will satisfy the priests with abundance,
and my people will be filled with my bounty,"
declares the LORD.

Second Lesson: Ephesians 1:3-6, 15-19a
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will-- to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

15For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.

Psalm: 84

  1. How dear to me is your dwelling, O LORD of hosts! *
    My soul has a desire and longing for the courts of the LORD;
    my heart and my flesh rejoice in the living God.
  2. The sparrow has found her a house
    and the swallow a nest where she may lay her young; *
    by the side of your altars, O LORD of hosts,
    my King and my God.
  3. Happy are they who dwell in your house! *
    they will always be praising you.
  4. Happy are the people whose strength is in you! *
    whose hearts are set on the pilgrims' way.
  5. Those who go through the desolate valley will find
    it a place of springs, *
    for the early rains have covered it with pools of water.
  6. They will climb from height to height, *
    and the God of gods will reveal himself in Zion.
  7. LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer; *
    hearken, O God of Jacob.
  8. Behold our defender, O God; *
    and look upon the face of your Anointed.
  9. For one day in your courts is better than
    a thousand in my own room, *
    and to stand at the threshold of the house of my God
    than to dwell in the tents of the wicked.
  10. For the LORD God is both sun and shield; *
    he will give grace and glory;
  11. No good thing will the LORD withhold *
    from those who walk with integrity.
  12. O LORD of hosts, *
    happy are they who put their trust in you!

Gospel: Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23
When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up," he said, "take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him."

So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: "Out of Egypt I called my son."

19After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child's life are dead."

So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets: "He will be called a Nazarene."

Collect & Psalm from the Book of Common Prayer
Other excerpts from the New International Bible

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