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FROM LUTHERS PRAYERS:

Lord Jesus Christ, hurry. Do not delay in bringing theblessed day when the hope of happy redemption will be fulfilled.

For this reason you have asked us to pray: Thy kingdom come.Since you have so commanded us to pray, give us grace and help to

pray diligently, firmly believing that we shall finally come to suchglory. Continually mortify this old body that we may finally

receive a new body not so full of sin nor so inclined to all manner ofevil as the life we now live. Give us bodies that will not become

sick, nor suffer persecutions, nor die. Give us bodies redeemedfrom all temporal and spiritual misery, like your own glorified

body, dear Lord Jesus Christ. Grant that the glad and blessed day ofour redemption and glorification may come soon, and that we mayrealize it as we now hear and believe your word. Amen,

Hymn:

Oh, come, oh come, Emmanuel,

And ransom captive Israel,That mourns in lonely exile here

Until the Son of God appear.

Rejoice ! Rejoice ! Emmanuel Shall come to you O Israel.

Oh, come, oh come, great Lord of might,

Who to your tribes on Sinais height

In ancient times once gave the law

In cloud, and majesty, and awe.Refrain

Oh come, strong Branch of Jesse, free

Your own from Satans tyranny;From depths of hell your people save

And give them victry oer the grave. Refrain

Oh come, blest Dayspring come and cheer

Our spirits by your advent here;

Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,

And deaths dark shadows put to flight.Refrain

Oh, come, O Key of David come,

And open wide our heavnly home;

Make safe the way that leads on high,And close the path to misery.Refrain

FOURTH

SUNDAY of

Stir up your power, O Lord and come. Take away thehindrance of our sins and make us ready for the celebration

of your birth, that we may receive you in joy and serve you

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always; for you live and reign with the Father and the Holy

Spirit, now and forever.

GOSPEL: Luke 1: 39-45 (46-55)

In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean

town in the hill country, 40 where she entered the house ofZechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard

Marys greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth

was filled with the Holy Spirit 42 and exclaimed with a loudcry, Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit

of your womb. 43 And why has this happened to me, that themother of my Lord comes to me? 44 For as soon as I heard the

sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy.45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a

fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.

[ 46 And Mary said,My soul magnifies the Lord,

47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has looked with favor on the lowliness

of his servant.

Surely from now on all generations will call meblessed;

49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me,and holy is his name.

50 His mercy is for those who fear himfrom generation to generation.

51 He has shown strength with his arm;

he has scattered the proud in the thoughtsof their hearts.

52 He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,and lifted up the lowly;

53 he has filled the hungry with good things,

and sent the rich away empty. 54 He has helped his servant Israel,

in remembrance of his mercy, 55 according to the promise he made to our ancestors,

to Abraham and to his descendants forever.]

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted

them of low degree.

Luke i.52.

How could God have revealed His loving-kindnessmore divinely than by sinking Himself so deeply into our flesh

and blood, by not despising natural secrecy and by honoringnature most where Adam and Eve had most disgraced it?

All evil and all evil thoughts fall away, however strongthey are, if we but turn our eyes to the nativity, beholding how

the most high Majesty is creatively at work in the flesh and

blood of such a lowly Virgin. As deeply as she is despised onearth, so highly, yea, a thousand times higher, is she glorified

in heaven.Behold, how very greatly God glorifies those who are

despised by men and who rejoice therein. Open thine eyes

and see what the Lord beholds! Only downward doth He gazeinto the deepest lowliness, as it is written: He is throned

above the Cherubim and gazeth into the deepest depth, eveninto the abyss.

Neither did the angels find princes or the mighty, butthe untaught by-people and the lowliest on earth. Might they

not have brought their message to the high priest, the scholars

at Jerusalem who have so much to tell about God and theangels? No, not they, but the poor shepherds were found

worthy of such great grace and honor from heaven, they, whoon earth have no honor. Yea, truly, God casteth out all that is

lofty.

Sermon for Christmas, 1522. W.A.10 I (i). 68 ff.

Taken from the book:

Day by Day We Magnify Thee by Martin Luther

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