This was in the E-pistle this week at St. Paul's Church Pawtucket, they also put it in the bulletin for Christmas. I thought it was kind of cool.
This is, as I have learned, the Solemn Proclamation of Christmas. Both Christ Church Lincoln, and St. Paul's Pawtucket began there late service with this.
Several thousand years after the flood, when God made the rainbow shine forth as a sign of the covenant.
Twenty-one centuries from the time of Abraham and Sarah; thirteen centuries after Moses led the people of Israel out of Egypt.
Eleven hundred years from the time of Ruth and the Judges; one thousand years from the anointing of David as king; in the sixty-fifth week according to the prophecy of Daniel.
In the one hundred and ninety-fourth Olympiad; the seven hundred and fifty-second year from the foundation of the city of Rome.
The forty-second year of the reign of Octavian Augustus; the whole world being at peace, Jesus Christ, eternal God and Son of the eternal Father, desiring to sanctify the world by his most merciful coming, being conceived by the Holy Spirit, and nine months having passed since his conception, was born in Bethlehem of Judea of the Virgin Mary.
Now in our own time this marks the Nativity of Our Lord, Jesus Christ, after the manner of all flesh.
Anyway, Merry Christmas to all. May it be a truly blessed 12 days.
Hodie Christus natus est.
Over at Christ Church, we began our 10:00 p.m. service on the Eve of the Nativity with this, the Solemn Proclamation of Christmas. You should have been there -- you'd have liked it. ;-)
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