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Divine Service -- 1st Sunday after Christmas

Zion Owego

Sunday, January 1, 2023

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1st Sunday After Christmas Circumcision and Naming of Jesus

Sunday Summary: The Lord Jesus Comes in the Flesh to Fulfill the Law for Us and Save Us from Our Sins -- Circumcision is the covenant God made with Abraham and his seed. It sealed God’s promises and blessings in the flesh, but it also signified the burden of the Law. When the Lord Jesus came in the flesh to redeem His people, He subjected Himself to the Law in order to fulfill the Law and release all men from its captivity. “He was called Jesus” (Luke 2:21), because He came to save His people from their sins. He would shed His blood on their behalf, as He did already when “he was circumcised” (Luke 2:21). As He also sacrificed Himself upon the cross, you are “justified by faith” in His blood (Gal. 3:24). Therefore, “you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise” (Gal. 3:29), not by the circumcision of your flesh, but in the flesh and blood of Christ Jesus, the true seed of Abraham. “Baptized into Christ,” you belong to Him and are clothed and covered by His righteousness (Gal. 3:27). Holy Baptism is the true circumcision made without hands, by which the Lord Jesus puts His name on you and blesses you (Num. 6:22, 27).

DIVINE SERVICE SETTING 1

Entrance Hymn: 390

Confession & Absolution - 151

Introit Psalm 40:6–8; antiphon: 40:16

May all who seek you rejoice and be | glad in you;* may those who love your salvation say continually, “Great | is the Lord!” Sacrifice and offering you have not desired, but you have given me an | open ear.* Burnt offering and sin offering you have | not required.

Then I said, “Behold, | I have come;*

in the scroll of the book it is writ- | ten of me:

I desire to do your will, | O my God;*

your law is with- | in my heart.”

Glory be to the Father and | to the Son*

and to the Holy | Spirit;

as it was in the be- | ginning,*

is now, and will be forever. | Amen.

May all who seek you rejoice and be | glad in you;* may those who love your salvation say continually, “Great | is the Lord!”

Kyrie – 152

Collect of the Day

Lord God, You made Your beloved Son, our Savior, subject to the Law and caused Him to shed His blood on our behalf. Grant us the true circumcision of the Spirit that our hearts may be made pure from all sins; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Old Testament Reading Genesis 17:1–14 1

When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, 2that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.” 3Then Abram fell on his face. And God said to him, 4“Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. 5No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. 6I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. 7And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. 8And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.” 9And God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. 10This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. 11You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. 12He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised. Every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring, 13both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money, shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant. 14Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”

Gradual Hebrews 8:10; 10:17

I will put my laws in- | to their minds,*

and write them | on their hearts.

I will be their God, and they shall be my | people.*

I will remember their sins and their lawless | deeds no more.

Epistle Galatians 3:23–29

Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. 24So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. 25But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, 26for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. 27For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.

Holy Gospel Luke 2:21