Readings and Sermon: Sunday December 29, 2019
View the Bulletin for Sunday December 29, 2019
Service Times: 8:00 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.
Bible Study: 9:15 a.m.
Old Testament Reading -Isaiah 63:7–14
I will recount the steadfast love of the LORD,
the praises of the LORD,
according to all that the LORD has granted us,
and the great goodness to the house of Israel
that he has granted them according to his compassion,
according to the abundance of his steadfast love.
For he said, “Surely they are my people,
children who will not deal falsely.”
And he became their Savior.
In all their affliction he was afflicted,
and the angel of his presence saved them;
in his love and in his pity he redeemed them;
he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.
But they rebelled
and grieved his Holy Spirit;
therefore he turned to be their enemy,
and himself fought against them.
Then he remembered the days of old,
of Moses and his people.
Where is he who brought them up out of the sea
with the shepherds of his flock?
Where is he who put in the midst of them
his Holy Spirit,
who caused his glorious arm
to go at the right hand of Moses,
who divided the waters before them
to make for himself an everlasting name,
who led them through the depths?
Like a horse in the desert,
they did not stumble.
Like livestock that go down into the valley,
the Spirit of the LORD gave them rest.
So you led your people,
to make for yourself a glorious name.
Epistle - Galatians 4:4–7
When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman,
born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might
receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his
Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son,
and if a son, then an heir through God.
The Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew, the second chapter
When [the wise men] had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to
Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt,
and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to
destroy him.” And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed
to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the
Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became
furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that
region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had
ascertained from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet
Jeremiah:
“A voice was heard in Ramah,
weeping and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.”
But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to
Joseph in Egypt, saying, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of
Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.” And he rose and took the
child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that
Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go
there, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee. And he
went and lived in a city called Nazareth, that what was spoken by the prophets
might be fulfilled: “He shall be called a Nazarene.”
