January 4th, 2021

Monday of Sunday after New Years

Christmastide XI

Collect
Morning Psalm · Ps. 121
First Reading · Is. 63:15-65:2
Evening Psalm · Ps. 111
Second Reading · Luke 2:41-52

Collect

Almighty God, You have poured into our hearts the true Light of Your incarnate Word. Grant that this Light may shine forth in our lives; through the same Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

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Morning Psalm · Ps. 121

My Help Comes from the Lord

A Song of Ascents.

121 I lift up my eyes to the hills.
From where does my help come?
²My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.

³He will not let your foot be moved;
he who keeps you will not slumber.
⁴Behold, he who keeps Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.

⁵The Lord is your keeper;
the Lord is your shade on your right hand.
⁶The sun shall not strike you by day,
nor the moon by night.

⁷The Lord will keep you from all evil;
    he will keep your life.
⁸The Lord will keep
    your going out and your coming in
    from this time forth and forevermore.

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First Reading · Is. 63:15-65:2

Prayer for Mercy

¹⁵Look down from heaven and see,
    from your holy and beautiful^[a] habitation.
Where are your zeal and your might?
    The stirring of your inner parts and your compassion
    are held back from me.
¹⁶For you are our Father,
    though Abraham does not know us,
    and Israel does not acknowledge us;
you, O Lord, are our Father,
    our Redeemer from of old is your name.
¹⁷O Lord, why do you make us wander from your ways
    and harden our heart, so that we fear you not?
Return for the sake of your servants,
    the tribes of your heritage.
¹⁸Your holy people held possession for a little while;^[b]
    our adversaries have trampled down your sanctuary.
¹⁹We have become like those over whom you have never ruled,
    like those who are not called by your name.

64 Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down,
    that the mountains might quake at your presence—
²^[c] as when fire kindles brushwood
    and the fire causes water to boil—
to make your name known to your adversaries,
    and that the nations might tremble at your presence!
³When you did awesome things that we did not look for,
    you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.
⁴From of old no one has heard
    or perceived by the ear,
no eye has seen a God besides you,
    who acts for those who wait for him.
⁵You meet him who joyfully works righteousness,
    those who remember you in your ways.
Behold, you were angry, and we sinned;
    in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?^[d]
⁶We have all become like one who is unclean,
    and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.
We all fade like a leaf,
    and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
⁷There is no one who calls upon your name,
    who rouses himself to take hold of you;
for you have hidden your face from us,
    and have made us melt in^[e] the hand of our iniquities.

⁸But now, O Lord, you are our Father;
    we are the clay, and you are our potter;
    we are all the work of your hand.
⁹Be not so terribly angry, O Lord,
    and remember not iniquity forever.
    Behold, please look, we are all your people.
¹⁰Your holy cities have become a wilderness;
    Zion has become a wilderness,
    Jerusalem a desolation.
¹¹Our holy and beautiful^[f] house,
    where our fathers praised you,
has been burned by fire,
    and all our pleasant places have become ruins.
¹²Will you restrain yourself at these things, O Lord?
    Will you keep silent, and afflict us so terribly?

Judgment and Salvation

65 I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me;
    I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me.
I said, “Here I am, here I am,”
    to a nation that was not called by^[g] my name.
²I spread out my hands all the day
    to a rebellious people,
who walk in a way that is not good,
    following their own devices;

Footnotes:

Isaiah 63:15 Or holy and glorious
Isaiah 63:18 Or They have dispossessed your holy people for a little while
Isaiah 64:2 Ch 64:1 in Hebrew
Isaiah 64:5 Or in your ways is continuance, that we might be saved
Isaiah 64:7 Masoretic Text; Septuagint, Syriac, Targum have delivered us into
Isaiah 64:11 Or holy and glorious
Isaiah 65:1 Or that did not call upon

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Evening Psalm · Ps. 111

Great Are the Lord's Works

111 ^[a] Praise the Lord!
I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart,
    in the company of the upright, in the congregation.
²Great are the works of the Lord,
    studied by all who delight in them.
³Full of splendor and majesty is his work,
    and his righteousness endures forever.
⁴He has caused his wondrous works to be remembered;
    the Lord is gracious and merciful.
⁵He provides food for those who fear him;
    he remembers his covenant forever.
⁶He has shown his people the power of his works,
    in giving them the inheritance of the nations.
⁷The works of his hands are faithful and just;
    all his precepts are trustworthy;
⁸they are established forever and ever,
    to be performed with faithfulness and uprightness.
⁹He sent redemption to his people;
    he has commanded his covenant forever.
    Holy and awesome is his name!
¹⁰The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;
    all those who practice it have a good understanding.
    His praise endures forever!

Footnotes:

Psalm 111:1 This psalm is an acrostic poem, each line beginning with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet

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Second Reading · Luke 2:41-52

The Boy Jesus in the Temple

⁴¹Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. ⁴²And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom. ⁴³And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, ⁴⁴but supposing him to be in the group they went a day's journey, but then they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances, ⁴⁵and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him. ⁴⁶After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. ⁴⁷And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. ⁴⁸And when his parents^[a] saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.” ⁴⁹And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?”^[b] ⁵⁰And they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them. ⁵¹And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart.