Christmas Eve —  Luke 2:1-14

The angel said, “Don’t be afraid! Look! I bring good news to you—wonderful, joyous news for all people. Your savior is born today in David’s city. He is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:10-11, CEB)

Many ages after God created the heavens and the earth,
when humanity was created in God’s image;
long after the great flood,
when God set the rainbow in the clouds as a sign of the covenant;
twenty-one centuries from the time of Abraham and Sarah;
thirteen centuries after Moses led God’s people to freedom;
eleven centuries from the time of Ruth and the judges;
a thousand years from the anointing of David as king;
in the sixty-fifth week as Daniel’s prophecy takes note;
in the one hundred ninety-fourth Olympiad;
the seven hundred fifty-second year
from the founding of the city of Rome;
in the forty-second year of the reign of Octavian Augustus;
in the sixth age of the world,
all earth being at peace,
Jesus Christ, eternal God, Son of the eternal Father,
willing to hallow the world by his coming in mercy,
was born of the virgin Mary in Bethlehem of Judea.
Today is the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ,
God made flesh!

(The Proclamation of the Birth of Christ)

O come, let us adore him, Christ the Lord! Amen!

– Pastor Andrew Chavanak, St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA), Falls City