The Holy Night, 1650s, by Carlo Maratti, oil on canvas at the Gemäldegalerie, Dresden

Prime Timers

The Prime Timers were a Bible study group at St. Martin's for eight years. One of the goals of our founder, Jackie Rose, was to have a weekly web page for the group and all the pages are still online here. The group disbanded but the readings below are being kept up to date.

Lectionary readings

The Readings for Sunday, December 29 are from the Lectionary First Sunday after Chrismas: Isaiah 61:10-62:3; Psalm 147 or 147:13-21; Galatians 3:23-25; 4:4-7 or John 1:1-18. The text is from the Bible Study Tools - New International Version.

Isaiah 61:10-62:3

¹⁰ I delight greatly in the LORD;
     my soul rejoices in my God.

For he has clothed me with garments of salvation
     and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness,

as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest,
     and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

¹¹ For as the soil makes the sprout come up
     and a garden causes seeds to grow,

so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness and praise
     spring up before all nations.

¹ For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent,
     for Jerusalem’s sake I will not remain quiet,

till her vindication shines out like the dawn,
     her salvation like a blazing torch.

² The nations will see your vindication,
     and all kings your glory;

you will be called by a new name
     that the mouth of the LORD will bestow.

³ You will be a crown of splendor in the LORD’s hand,
     a royal diadem in the hand of your God.

Psalm 147 or 147:13-21

¹ Praise the LORD.
     How good it is to sing praises to our God,
     how pleasant and fitting to praise him!

² The LORD builds up Jerusalem;
     he gathers the exiles of Israel.

He heals the brokenhearted
     and binds up their wounds.

He determines the number of the stars
     and calls them each by name.

⁵ Great is our Lord and mighty in power;
     his understanding has no limit.

⁶ The LORD sustains the humble
     but casts the wicked to the ground.

⁷ Sing to the LORD with grateful praise;
     make music to our God on the harp.

⁸ He covers the sky with clouds;
     he supplies the earth with rain
     and makes grass grow on the hills.

⁹ He provides food for the cattle
     and for the young ravens when they call.

¹⁰ His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse,
     nor his delight in the legs of the warrior;

¹¹ the LORD delights in those who fear him,
     who put their hope in his unfailing love.

¹² Extol the LORD, Jerusalem;
     praise your God, Zion.

¹³ He strengthens the bars of your gates
     and blesses your people within you.

¹⁴ He grants peace to your borders
     and satisfies you with the finest of wheat.

¹⁵ He sends his command to the earth;
     his word runs swiftly.

¹⁶ He spreads the snow like wool
     and scatters the frost like ashes.

¹⁷ He hurls down his hail like pebbles.
     Who can withstand his icy blast?

¹⁸ He sends his word and melts them;
     he stirs up his breezes, and the waters flow.

¹⁹ He has revealed his word to Jacob,
     his laws and decrees to Israel.

²⁰ He has done this for no other nation;
     they do not know his laws.
     Praise the LORD.

Galatians 3:23-25; 4:4-7

²³ Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. ²⁴ So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. ²⁵ Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.

⁴ But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, ⁵ to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. ⁶ Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” ⁷ So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.

John 1:1-18

¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was with God in the beginning. ³ Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. ⁴ In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

⁶ There was a man sent from God whose name was John. ⁷ He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. ⁸ He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. ⁹ The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.

¹⁰ He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. ¹¹ He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. ¹² Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— ¹³ children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

¹⁴ The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. ¹⁵ (John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ ”) ¹⁶ Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. ¹⁷ For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.

Thanks to Bible Study Tools for today's text.