A Song of Hannah
My soul exults in the Lord;
my strength is exalted in my God.
My mouth derides my enemies,
because I rejoice in your salvation.
There is no Holy One like you, O Lord,
nor any Rock like you, our God.
For you are a God of knowledge
and by you our actions are weighed.
The bows of the mighty are broken,
but the feeble gird on strength.
Those who were full now hire themselves out for bread,
but those who were hungry are well fed.
The barren woman has borne sevenfold,
but she who has many children is forlorn.
Both the poor and the rich are of your making;
you bring low and you also exalt.
You raise up the poor from the dust,
and lift the needy from the ash heap.
You make them sit with the rulers
and inherit a place of honour.
For the pillars of the earth are yours
and on them you have set the world.
(1 Samuel 2.1-2,3b-5,7-8)
3 He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.
The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus
has set us free from the law of sin and death.
All who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God;
for we have received the Spirit that enables us to cry, 'Abba, Father'.
The Spirit himself bears witness that we are children of God
and if God's children, then heirs of God;
If heirs of God, then fellow-heirs with Christ;
since we suffer with him now, that we may be glorified with him.
These sufferings that we now endure
are not worth comparing to the glory that shall be revealed.
For the creation waits with eager longing
for the revealing of the children of God.
(Romans 8:2,14,15b-19)
7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? 11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!(Mt. 7.7-11)
Luke 3.3-10
3And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins;
4As it is written in the book of the words of Esaias the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
5Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth;
6And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.
7Then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
8Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.
9And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
10And the people asked him, saying, What shall we do then?
A Song of the Word of the Lord (Isaiah 55:6-11)Seek the Lord while he may be found,
call upon him while he is near;
Let the wicked abandon their ways,
and the unrighteous their thoughts;
Return to the Lord,
who will have mercy;
to our God, who will richly pardon.
'For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways', says the Lord.
'For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
'As the rain and the snow come down from above,
and return not again but water the earth,
'Bringing forth life and giving growth,
seed for sowing and bread to eat,
'So is my word that goes forth from my mouth;
it will not return to me fruitless,
'But it will accomplish that which I purpose,
and succeed in the task I gave it.'
Arise, O Jerusalem, stand upon the height:
look to the east and see your children,
Gathered from the west and the east
at the word of the Holy One.
They rejoice that God has remembered them
and has brought them back to you.
For God has ordered that every high mountain
and the everlasting hills be made low,
And the valleys filled up to make level ground
so that they may walk safely in the glory of God.
The woods and every fragrant tree
have shaded them at God's command.
For God will lead his people with joy
in the light of his glory
with the mercy and righteousness that comes from God.
