The Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ (2)

The Nativity of our Lord, or the Birthday of Christ, commonly called Christmas-day.

The Collect

ALMIGHTY  God, who hast given us thy only-begotten Son to take our nature upon him, and as at this time to be born of a pure virgin; Grant that we being regenerate, and made thy children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by thy Holy Spirit; through the same our Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the same Spirit ever, one God, world without end. Amen.

The Epistle   Hebrews i. 1.

GOD, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
   ²Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
   ³Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high:
   ⁴Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
   ⁵For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?
   ⁶And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.
   ⁷And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.
   ⁸But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.
   ⁹Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
   ¹⁰And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands:
   ¹¹They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment;
   ¹²And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.
The Gospel         St. John i. 1.

IN the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
   ²The same was in the beginning with God.
   ³All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
   ⁴In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
   ⁵And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
   ⁶There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
   ⁷The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.
   ⁸He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.
   ⁹That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
   ¹⁰He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
   ¹¹He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
   ¹²But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
   ¹³Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
   ¹⁴And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.