Antiphon
O Emmanuel

O Emmanuel, our king and our lawgiver,
the hope of the nations and their Saviour:
Come and save us, O Lord our God.
(cf Isaiah 7.14)

Readings (Click the links to see the readings)

Micah 5:2-5a | Song of Mary (APBA, p. 31) or Psalm 80:1-7 | Hebrews 10:5-10 | Luke 1.39-45 (46-55)

A Christmas Card
Thomas Merton

When the white stars talk together like sisters
And when the winter hills
Raise their grand semblance in the freezing night,
Somewhere one window
Bleeds like the brown eye of an open force.
Hills, stars,
White stars that stand above the eastern stable.
Look down and offer Him.
The dim adoring light of your belief.
Whose small Heart bleeds with infinite fire.
Shall not this Child
(When we shall hear the bells of His amazing voice)
Conquer the winter of our hateful century?
And when His Lady Mother leans upon the crib,
Lo, with what rapiers
Those two loves fence and flame their brilliancy!
Here in this straw lie planned the fires
That will melt all our sufferings:
He is our Lamb, our holocaust!
And one by one the shepherds, with their snowy feet,
Stamp and shake out their hats upon the stable dirt,
And one by one kneel down to look upon their Life.

Be-Attitude: Blessed are the peacemakers who are the true children of God.

Prayer

Blessèd are you, Sovereign God,
our light and our salvation,
eternal Creator of day and night,
to you be glory and praise for ever!
As we look for your coming in glory,
wash away our transgressions,
cleanse us by your refining fire
and make us temples of your Holy Spirit. By the light of Christ,
dispel the darkness of our hearts
and make us ready to enter your kingdom,
where songs of praise for ever sound,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit:
Blessèd be God for ever!
— Celebrating common prayer.

Justice, mercy and peace

Anglicare Foster Care ACT is a growing program that helps carers to provide nurturing, therapeutic, healing care for children and young people. It promotes the ability of children and young people to recover from the effects of abuse, trauma and loss.

Maurice Denis. Visitation in blue, 1894
Mary's visit to her cousin Elizabeth (Luke 1.39-43).

"But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who are one of the little clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to rule in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days." (Micah 5:2).
O little town of Bethlehem. Words by Phillips Brooks (1835-93) to a traditional English tune, arr. Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958). Choir and congregation of King's College, Cambridge.