A few days later Mary hurried to the hill country of Judea, 

to the town where Zechariah lived. 

She entered the house and greeted Elizabeth.  

At the sound of Mary’s greeting, 

Elizabeth’s child leaped within her, 

and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.

Elizabeth gave a glad cry and exclaimed to Mary, 

“God has blessed you above all women, 

and your child is blessed. 

Why am I so honored, that the mother of my Lord should visit me? 

When I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy. 

You are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what he said.” 

Luke 1:39-45

In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, 

God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee,  

to a virgin named Mary. 

She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph,

a descendant of King David.  

Gabriel appeared to her and said, 

“Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!”

Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. 

“Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, 

“for you have found favor with God! 

You will conceive and give birth to a son, 

and you will name him Jesus.  

He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. 

The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David.  

And he will reign over Israel forever; 

his Kingdom will never end!” 

Luke 1:26-33

When Herod was king of Judea, 

there was a Jewish priest named Zechariah. 

He was a member of the priestly order of Abijah, 

and his wife, Elizabeth, was also from the priestly line of Aaron.  

Zechariah and Elizabeth were righteous in God’s eyes, 

careful to obey all of the Lord’s commandments and regulations.  

They had no children because Elizabeth was unable to conceive, 

and they were both very old.

One day Zechariah was serving God in the Temple, 

for his order was on duty that week.  

As was the custom of the priests, 

he was chosen by lot to enter the sanctuary of the Lord and burn incense.  

While the incense was being burned, a great crowd stood outside, praying.

While Zechariah was in the sanctuary, 

an angel of the Lord appeared to him, 

standing to the right of the incense altar.  

Zechariah was shaken and overwhelmed with fear when he saw him.  

But the angel said, “Don’t be afraid, Zechariah! 

God has heard your prayer. 

Your wife, Elizabeth, will give you a son, and you are to name him John.

Luke 1:5-13

This is the Good News about Jesus the Messiah, 

the Son of God.

It began just as the prophet Isaiah had written:

    Clear the road for him!’”

Mark 1:1-3

He was with God in the beginning. 
 

Through him all things were made; 

without him nothing was made that has been made. 
 

In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 
 

The light shines in the darkness, 

and the darkness has not overcome it. 

John 1:1-5

But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,

    are only a small village among all the people of Judah.

Yet a ruler of Israel,

    whose origins are in the distant past,

    will come from you on my behalf.

Micah 5:2

For the LORD God is our sun and our shield.

He gives us grace and glory.

The LORD will withhold no good thing

from those who do what is right. 

Psalm 84:11