Readings (Click the links to see the readings)

Isaiah 62:1-5 | Psalm 89:19-29 | Matthew 1:1-25 | Acts 13:16-25

BC:AD
U.A. Fanthorpe

This was the moment when Before
Turned into After, and the future's
Uninvented timekeepers presented arms.

This was the moment when nothing
Happened. Only dull peace
Sprawled boringly over the earth.

This was the moment when even energetic Romans
Could find nothing better to do
Than counting heads in remote provinces.

And this was the moment
When a few farm workers and three
Members of an obscure Persian sect
Walked haphazard by starlight straight
Into the kingdom of heaven.

Be-Attitude: Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, who are the true children of God.

Prayer

Almighty God,
you make us glad with the yearly remembrance
of the birth of your Son Jesus Christ:
grant that, as we joyfully receive him as our redeemer,
so we may with sure confidence behold him
when he shall come to be our judge;
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Luke Frontispiece, from the St John's Bible, Donald Jackson

"For unto us a Child is born" from Messiah, by G F Handel; Stephen Cleobury, The Brandenburg Consort and the Choir of King's College, Cambridge.