1. First Reading Ode on the Morning of Christ’s Nativity John Milton
But peaceful was the night
Wherein the Prince of Light
His reign of peace upon the earth began:
The winds with wonder whist
Smoothly the waters kissed,
Whispering new joys to the mild ocean,
Who now hath quite forgot to rave,
While birds of calm sit brooding on the charmed wave.
The stars with deep amaze
Stand fixed in steadfast gaze,
Bending one way their precious influence,
And will not take their flight
For all the morning light,
Or Lucifer that often warned them thence;
But in their glimmering orbs did glow,
Until their Lord himself bespake, and bid them go.
And though the shady gloom
Had given day her room,
The sun himself withheld his wonton speed,
And his head for shame,
As his inferior flame
The new-enlightened world no more should need;
He saw a greater Sun appear
Than his bright throne or burning axletree could bear.

2. Second Reading First Coming Madeleine L’Engle
He did not wait until the world was ready,
till men and nations were at peace.
He came when the heavens were unsteady,
and prisoners cried out for release.
He did not wait for the perfect time.
He came when the need was deep and great.
He dined with sinners in all their grime,
turned water into wine.
He did not wait till hearts were pure.
In joy he came to a tarnished world of sin and doubt.
To a world like ours, of anguished shame
he came, and his light would not go out.
He came to a world which did not mesh,
to heal its tangles, shield its scorn.
In the mystery of the Word made Flesh
the Maker of the stars was born.
We cannot wait till the world is sane
to raise our songs with joyful voice,
for to share our grief, to touch our pain,
He came with Love: Rejoice! Rejoice!

3. Third Reading The Journey of the Magi T.S. Eliot
A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of year
For the journey, and such a long journey:
The ways deep and the weather sharp,
The very dead of winter.
And the camels galled, sore-footed, refractory,
Lying down in the melted snow.
There were times we regretted
The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces,
And the silken girls bringing sherbet.
Then the camel men cursing and grumbling
And running away, and wanting their liquor and women,
And the night-fires going out, and the lack of shelters,
And the cities hostile and the towns unfriendly
And the villages dirty and charging high prices:
A hard time we had of it.
At the end we preferred to travel all night,
Sleeping in snatches,
With the voices singing in our ears, saying
That this was all folly.
Then at dawn we came to a temperate valley,
Wet, below the snow line, smelling of vegetation;
With a running stream
And a water-mill beating the darkness,
And three trees on the low sky,
And an old white horse galloped away in the meadow.
Then we came to a tavern with vine-leaves over the lintel,
Six hands at an open door dicing for pieces of silver,
And feet kicking the empty wine-skins.
But there was no information, and so we continued
And arrived at evening, not a moment too soon
Finding the place; it was (you may say) satisfactory.
All this was a long time ago, I remember,
And I would do it again, but set down
This set down
This: were we led all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly,
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death,
But had thought they were different; this Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death.

4. Fourth Reading My Lord’s Love Eric Milner White (1854-1922)
I see a wonderful kind of love! The Highness lieth in the straw:
the hands that made the world make tiny gestures in a Mother’s arms:
the eternal Wisdom, of his own will, is powerless to speak, to think.
Whoso is wise will ponder these things
and understand the loving kindness of the Lord.
I see a love no less dumbfounding,
The King of Kings cursed and cast out:
Thy Highness’ head is bowed, thy feet and hands
fastened with nails, thy blood drops: the Author of life is done to death
in the place of skulls, the Holiest laid with the lowest and worst.
Whoso is wise will ponder these things and know the salvation of God.
I see a glory of love more dazzling yet,
Thy Highness on the throne of light
reigning, almighty, eternal; yet reaching out sleepless hands
to the weak and sinful children of faith,
and feeding them on thine own Body and Blood.
This is the Bread which comes down from heaven,
which only if a man eat shall he not die;
and this the Life given more and more abundantly yesterday,
today and for ever.
Whoso is wise will ponder these things and adore the Lord of Lords.

5. Fifth Reading John 1.1-14
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things
came into being through him, and without him not one thing came
into being. What has come into being through him was life, and
the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the
darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. There was a man
sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to
testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He
himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The
true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
He was in the world, and the world came into being through him;
yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own,
and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received
him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children
of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or
of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and
lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a
father’s only son, full of grace and truth.