Order of Daily Prayer for Individuals and Families
Bible Verse for the Week:
“Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall all be changed.” 1 Corinthians 15:51-52
Psalms for the Day:
Morning: Psalm 48, 49
Evening: Psalm 50
Catechetical Instruction: The Sacrament of the Altar
What is the Sacrament of the Altar? It is the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, under the bread and wine, instituted by Christ Himself for us Christians to eat and to drink.
Where is this written? The holy Evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke, and St. Paul write: Our Lord Jesus Christ, on the night when He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and gave it to the disciples and said: “Take, eat; this is My body, which is given for you. This do in remembrance of Me.”
In the same way also He took the cup after supper, and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you; this cup is the new testament in My blood, which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”
Who receives this sacrament worthily? Fasting and bodily preparation are certainly fine outward training. But that person is truly worthy and well prepared who has faith in these words: “Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.”
But anyone who does not believe these words or doubts them is unworthy and unprepared, for the words “for you” require all hearts to believe.
Scripture Readings
Bible Stories for the Family: The Annunciation of Our Lord-Luke 1:26-38
Additional Reading: The Virgin Will Bear a Son-Isaiah 7:10-14
Theme for Daily Prayer:
For marriage and family; that husbands and wives, parents and children live in ordered harmony according to the Word of God; for parents who must raise children alone; for our communities and neighborhoods.
Collect of the Day: O Lord, as we have known the incarnation of Your Son Jesus Christ, by the message of the angel to the virgin Mary, so by the message of His cross and passion bring us to the glory of His resurrection; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Prayer for those who mourn the loss of loved ones: O Lord God, by the sudden deaths of many people in these days, You have shown that Your thoughts are not our thoughts nor Your ways our ways. We thank You for the blessings of body and soul that You have bestowed on the departed. Comfort the members of their families who mourn their deaths, and assist us ever to prepare for Your final summons when we will depart and be with Christ in blessedness and glory; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Hymn of the Day:
Lutheran Service Book 834 O God, O Lord of Heaven and Earth
O God, O Lord of heaven and earth,
Thy living finger never wrote
That life should be an aimless mote,
A deathward drift from futile birth.
Thy Word meant life triumphant hurled
In splendor through Thy broken world.
Since light awoke and life began,
Thou hast desired Thy life for man.
Our fatal will to equal Thee,
Our rebel will wrought death and night.
We seized and used in prideful spite
Thy wondrous gift of liberty.
We housed us in this house of doom,
Where death had royal scope and room,
Until Thy servant, Prince of Peace,
Breached all its walls for our release.
Thou camest to our hall of death,
O Christ, to breathe our poisoned air,
To drink for us the dark despair
That strangled our reluctant breath.
How beautiful the feet that trod
The road that leads us back to God!
How beautiful the feet that ran
To bring the great good news to man! (vv. 1-3)
Hymn of the Week:
Lutheran Service Book 571 God Loved the World so that He Gave
God loved the world, so that He Gave
His only Son the lost to save,
That all who would in Him believes
Should everlasting life receive.Christ Jesus is the ground of faith,
Who was made flesh and suffered death;
All then who trust in Him alone
Are built on this chief cornerstone.If you are sick, if death is near,
This truth your troubled heart can cheer:
Christ Jesus saves your soul from death;
That is the firmest ground of faith. vv. 1,2, 5
This is the day of the day of Our Lord’s Incarnation, the day when our Heavenly Father sent for His Son to be made flesh in the womb of the blessed Virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit. God’s rescue mission to save us from sin, death, and the power of the devil begins with His God’s Word delivered by the angel Gabriel, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.” (Luke 1:30-31) and Mary’s response born out of her faith in God, “let it be to me according to your Word” (Luke 1:38). As her soul “magnifies the Lord” and her “spirit rejoices in God [her] savior” (Luke 1:47-47), so does ours!
St. Bernard declared that there are here three miracles: that God and man should be joined in this child; that a mother should remain a virgin; that Mary should have such faith as to believe that this mystery would be accomplished in her. The last is not the least of the three. The virgin birth is a mere trifle for God; that God should become man is a greater miracle; but most amazing of all is that this maiden should credit the announcement that she, rather than some other virgin had been chosen to be the mother of God.
She did indeed inquire of the angel, “How can these things be?” and he answered, “Mary, you have asked too high a question for me, but the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you and you will not know yourself how it happens.” Had she not believed, she could not have conceived. She held fast to the word of the angel because she had become a new creature.
Even so must we be transformed and renewed in heart from day to day. Otherwise Christ is born in vain. This is the word of the prophet: “Unto us a child is born, unto us, a son is given” (Isaiah 9:6). This is for us the hardest point, not so much to believe that He is the son of the Virgin and God Himself, as to believe that this Son of God is ours.”
Martin Luther’s Christmas Book, Augsburg Fortress, 1948.