The Second Sunday After Christmas
The collect for today, the Second Sunday After Christmas, from the 1962 Canadian Book of Common Prayer:
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.
For the Epistle: Isaiah 9:2-7
The Gospel: St Luke 2:15-21
Artwork: Nicolaes Maes, Adoration of the Shepherds, c. 1660. Oil on canvas, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles.