THE NATIVITY OF OUR LORD—CHRISTMAS DAY
December 25, 2021
AS WE GATHER
Whether your family exchanges Christmas gifts on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day (or at all), Christians gather here to celebrate, receive, and unwrap the perfect Gift, that is, Jesus Christ Himself. The wrapping paper in our homes temporarily covers a gift and is soon thrown away, but Jesus comes to us this day by His Means of Grace to give to us infinite things we can’t find anywhere else—the love of His life, the forgiveness of sins, and the salvation of our souls. We rejoice in the gift of the Child wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in the manger, knowing the great gifts the Lord comes to bring for us and for the whole world through the Savior given and born for us.
BIBLE READINGS
Isaiah 52:7-10 (ESV)
Hebrews 1:1-6 (ESV)
John 1:1-14 (ESV)
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.
9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.
12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
